Running Ryder Cup '06 thread - SPOILERS (like you couldn't figure that)

I love the lede which describes the wealth of the American golfers like Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia live in the fucking dregs of slumtown Europe.

 

I thought Tiger enjoyed being paired with Furyk, based on their successes in last year's President's Cup.

 

I don't think he enjoys being paired with anyone outside of O'Meara, Riley and Notah Begay III. I think he can play with Furyk, but I'd put him with the rookies. He went 3-2 this week, I'm sure 4-1 or 3-1-1 or 4-0-1, etc. would've been better, but even if Tiger is perfect, someone else needs to generate nine and half points.

 

Or, in the case of Luke Donald (Palm Beach Gardens) and Paul Casey (Scottsdale), who live within gated communities and in sumptuous mansions in America, enjoying every fringe benefit of being a millionaire golfer in America as the Americans do.

I also love the quote by Paul Casey who said, given the choice between winning a major or winning a Ryder Cup, he'd take the Ryder Cup every time.

I don't think Paul Casey, given more than a minute to think about it, believes that himself. Your success in the majors defines you as a golfer, not in the Ryder Cup. Would Casey really have us believe that he wants to be the next Colin Montgomerie: good at team play but a choking dog in the majors.

Fact: There are only three golfers in the World Golf Hall of Fame who did not win a major: Chi Chi Rodriguez, who made it for a lifetime of humanitarian good; Charlie Sifford, who made it because he was the first African-American to be a fully-exempt player on the PGA Tour; and Isao Aoki, who made it because of his Japanese PGA Tour record.

All props to the European team. But when it comes down to it, Paul Casey, Sergio, Luke Donald and most of all, Monty, would trade every winning Ryder Cup team they've been on for a major. And if they say otherwise, they're lying their ass off.

 

Hondo, I think you're absolutely right about what those guys think, 103 weeks out of every two years. During Ryder Cup week, I think they actually psych themselves up to believe it's more important than the majors. Then it wears off when they wake up on the following Monday with a champagne hangover.

 

can't say that I could argue in any different direction, save for one thing.

The majors are no longer what they used to be. Every year, tournaments are adding money that make winning majors less important. There are plenty of guys on the Hooters and Nationwide Tours that would take a win in the BC Open or the Tucson Invite every year and retire to the senior tour after a successful career...to say that a player is defined by major titles won is fair for a handful of players but not for the majority.

The goal now for the majority of professional golfers is to play the Tour five years in a row...no matter what happens after that, you've qualified for the pension which will net you about $1 million annually for the rest of your life. And trust me, there are plenty of players who couldn't care less about winning a major...most would prefer Woods win them all, they see the $'s that the man produces for them.

 

When we talk about former PGA golfers, do we mention their Ryder Cup record or their majors?

 

that's a good point and indicative of the new era and generation we face in golf. The Ryder Cup became an event when it was staged Kiawah in '91...prior to that no one gave a shit...in fact in was more a fraternal Scotch drinking, pussy chasing kinda thing. Now, we demand majors and Ryder Cups. Woods has a stigma now....he's wonderful individual player, but he's not an All-American team player....I know that to be a load of shit....but perception is reality and he, Mickelson and some other American Prima Donna's are viewed as elitist cock suckers....

Now, induction of Ray Floyd, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, etc. etc. will be defined by an older set of rules. But the generation playing now will not. You think Colin Montgomerie will not be a Hall-of-Famer because he "choked" in the majors. The guy won the Order of Merit like seven times in a row...more than any other player before him and his grind-it-out play in the Ryder Cup is loved and appreciated by Euros and Americans a like. People heckled the shit out of Monty forever, but the guy is older, still playing at a championship level and you gotta give him his kudos.

As for the American squad, they lost a lot of MoJo after '99. They took an apologetic tone for the reaction of fans after that stirring comeback...but what do we expect? It's Boston, at the time starved for any fucking championship, and an excuse to party like Rock Stars. Since then, we are conducting gentlemanlly matches...what a crock...

Someone posted earlier that they felt the American squad lost some MoJo after the pay for play issue came up in '99 led by David Duval. There was a better way to handle it, but after that event, Duval did a mea culpa on live TV saying that the things he said and did were wrong...and although he still felt players should be compensated in some way, he would always play on teams for as long as he earned his way on. He went on to say that things he felt for his teammates that week were like nothing he had ever encountered in golf.

So, yeah, a player's Ryder Cup record is important, and everyone's hero Woods is 1-4 and probably should be 0-5

Fuck the Euros, that's where we need go.

 

To set the record straight, Duval never led the pay for play thing. It was O'Meara, who then talked Tiger and Phil into following along, to a certain extent. Because Duval was tight with those three guys, he got lumped into it, but Duval was on the record many times as saying that he only wanted the PGA to take some of the money and designate it to the charity of the players' choice each Ryder Cup year. This year, $200,000 was donated in the name of Lehman and the 12 players. $100,000 of it went to golf development programs at the college of their choice (usually their alma mater) and the other $100,000 went to any charity they wanted, and they usually put it back into their home towns or where they reside now.

And Gahndi has it wrong. The majors have never been more important. Thank Tiger and his chase of Nicklaus' record of 18 majors for that. The danger now is that the heavier emphasis on the majors is marginalizing other PGA Tour events. Phil has already said he's taking the rest of the year off. Tiger will play this week and maybe the Tour Championship (which Phat Phil is skipping). Only Vijay among the top starts will play 2-3 fall events.

 

What would be great is if somebody at the Masters or U.S. Open next year would ask Montomgerie or Garcia or Howell or Casey or whatever European if the Ryder Cup is more important than the major they're playing that week. Let's see those bozos try to claim it is during the week of a major.

 

Exactly...so how do I have it wrong? Do you know what the minimum standards are for having a Tour event. The majority of players don't want Vijay, Tiger and Phil there. The standards are the same whether they play or not. The possibility that they will play, keeps the corporate sponsors giving.

You're buying into the hype. Nobody gives a shit whether he reaches 18 majors or not. People just want to see the guy beat the shit out of anybody at any tournament. You've got to admit, the five wins in a row were a big thing. If he chose to play Mississippi this week, throngs of people would go to the event and people in Mississippi would talk about him playing there, not at Medina or Hoylake this year.

Now I will say that people will talk if he threatens 11 in a row....that's a serious achievement. The majors are just not as significant as they used to be. If anything, they are tournaments that the PGA Tour has no control over.

 

Dude, you need to give this argument up. You don't know what you're talking about. Did you really say: "No one gives a shit whether Tiger reaches 18 majors or not?" I'm not buying into any hype. I'm just reporting what fans and other players say and care about.

By the way, I've covered every major (except the British) every year since 1996. Sorry, but you're off base on this one.