The Ryder Cup is decidedly non-IU related and it's not football or basketball so, I'm hoping the Water Cooler can maybe have one thread that is a much different type of "us" vs. "them" (USA vs. Europe on the golf course). Hopefully whomever is interested can enjoy this thread for Ryder Cup discussion! Who do you think wins? Which player or players shine and which ones fold under the pressure? Will the crowd cross the line (I think there are significant concerns about this given the current reality of the country and the relationship with Europe...and with each other)? It should be a fascinating three days.
Tom Homan will be at Bethpage Black to check visas. Got to get in their heads.
Trump will be there Friday.
Rumors are he's EO'ing and will be Bryson's Friday afternoon partner - no cap.
We'll be up 8-0 before the weekend.
He just departed the WH with Kai.
This guy's a good watch for finding out how difficult competition courses can be. He's (I think) a high single digit handicap (could be mid singles by now). Good production quality. Has done stuff for the the Golf Channel in the past. Used to be married to Sia (go figure).
We have World Number #1 and #3 in the same pairing and they’re gonna get closed out on the 14th hole.
What laxatives does Team USA take before every Ryder cup to bring on this constant stream of shit running down their legs?
@carramrod It really is something I can’t understand. Is it just a choke job? Our guys do great in the majors, is there more pressure here that they can’t handle? There’s not much doubt that overall the Euros care more about it, but is that the difference? Do our guys just not like each other much? So weird & depressing. We’ll get to hear Rory talk about how this is the greatest achievement in golf, blah blah blah, sickening.
@oneeyedundertaker For whatever reason, our top golfers aren't as good at the specific team formats. Using different golf balls maybe... I never considered this, but evidently its one of the more important dynamics at play for the alternate shot format they're playing this morning...
In the end... I just think it means more to the Europeans. So there's a different level of buy in, preparation, GAF... and in a game that is decided by micro fractions of an inch...it doesn't take much to tip the scales.
Some of our players not wearing hats, and demanding pay...while not a huge deal, is a very visual example of how the Euros are wired differently.
US needs to shake things up a little bit going forward. Establish a full time coach... maybe a prominent caddie, or a former player that isn't really playing a ton either on the PGA or Champions tour. Smart guy, someone that has played in the Ryder/President's cups. And give them a 4 year contract or something. They get a couple Ryder Cups, a couple Presidents Cups, and an Olympics.
Lets just say Fred Couples is the guy.
Encourage him to establish team guidelines. Maybe that its an honor to be on a US Golf Team. And that if you won't do it without pay, they'll move on to someone that will.
They gotta change the dynamics somehow. Sure appears like it isn't working.
@carramrod The US beat Europe 19-9 in 2021. That's the largest margin of victory since 1967. The US won 17-11 in 2016 at Hazeltine. I don't think the narrative of a "constant" stream of disappointment and choking by the United States in the Ryder Cup is accurate.
The United States got a big win in the anchor match as Xander and Patrick Cantlay grabbed a point. As expected, Russell Henley to take a seat after playing pretty dreadfully in the morning session. Scheffler will pair with JJ Spaun this afternoon. Ben Griffin (who I quite like) joins the fray to pair with DeChambeau against Fleetwood and Rose. Cam Young and Justin Thomas (who was also pretty bad) and then Sam Burns tags in to pair with Patrick Cantlay against the best friends duo of McIlroy and Lowry. Surprised Xander Schauffele aren't paired again with Cam Young and Sam Burns together. I'd have benched Justin Thomas and paired Young and Burns. We'll see how that plays out.
What's correct...
"The US is trailing."
or
"The US are trailing."
Well this is some garbage. What a stupid rule. Hovland can’t play due to injury, match is halved automatically. Should be a forfeit, or at least no point.
Not that it matters. It was over after Saturday Morning.
https://twitter.com/RyderCupEurope/status/1972323690625777917
What's correct...
"The US is trailing."
or
"The US are trailing."
The first one.
Is there anything you're not wrong about?
Or just very old. The US literally changed from are to is after the court case Lee v Grant was decided in Grant's favor. Below is from Google AI but I have heard a historian discuss it.
Yes, "the United States are" was once a grammatically correct and common phrasing, used to emphasize the nation as a collection of individual states. The shift to the singular "the United States is" became standard after the Civil War, a linguistic change that reflected the nation's new identity as one single, indivisible entity