Team USA will win Ryder Cup
By: Brian Gabrielle
US golfers have a lot to prove this weekend in the 2006 Ryder Cup event in Kildare, Ireland.
This Ryder Cup, despite the pomp and circumstance, despite Olympic dreams, which you’ll notice do not attend the sport’s four major tournaments, actually has some story lines: Darren Clarke’s return to competition after the death of his wife, Tiger taking more of a leadership role for the American side, and the possibility for Phil Mickelson to somewhat salvage his season and the devastating loss at the U.S. Open if the Americans can win.
There’s another aspect of Tiger’s role, which is that he’s having quite a finishing third of the season on tour and could destroy the suggestion that he’s much more of an individual competitor than a team player given his less than stellar record in match play, at least as compares to his record on his own.
The European side, you can be sure, is going to sweat it out to try to win for Clarke. The Americans have the better players, all things considered, but that hasn’t meant much in recent Ryder Cups. They seem to want this one more, though. They flew to Ireland a couple weeks ago. Tiger took the rookies out to eat. He’s paired with Jim Furyk, which is a winning combination. They’ve got some grit on their side in Scott Verplank.
Sooooo...For this week’s Ryder Cup, take the United States to defeat the European team (11-10), 1½ units.
By: Brian Gabrielle
US golfers have a lot to prove this weekend in the 2006 Ryder Cup event in Kildare, Ireland.
This Ryder Cup, despite the pomp and circumstance, despite Olympic dreams, which you’ll notice do not attend the sport’s four major tournaments, actually has some story lines: Darren Clarke’s return to competition after the death of his wife, Tiger taking more of a leadership role for the American side, and the possibility for Phil Mickelson to somewhat salvage his season and the devastating loss at the U.S. Open if the Americans can win.
There’s another aspect of Tiger’s role, which is that he’s having quite a finishing third of the season on tour and could destroy the suggestion that he’s much more of an individual competitor than a team player given his less than stellar record in match play, at least as compares to his record on his own.
The European side, you can be sure, is going to sweat it out to try to win for Clarke. The Americans have the better players, all things considered, but that hasn’t meant much in recent Ryder Cups. They seem to want this one more, though. They flew to Ireland a couple weeks ago. Tiger took the rookies out to eat. He’s paired with Jim Furyk, which is a winning combination. They’ve got some grit on their side in Scott Verplank.
Sooooo...For this week’s Ryder Cup, take the United States to defeat the European team (11-10), 1½ units.