Europe soundly defeated Team USA to claim the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National. Photo: Getty Images/Frank Fyfe
Bernard Gallagher says it makes no sense that the US Ryder Cup team hasn't won in Europe in 30 years. He believes they shouldn't have won in 42 years.
“We really shouldn’t have lost in 1993,” the Scot told Telegraph Sport. “Two of my main golfers, two of the greatest Ryder Cup legends [Bernhard Langer and Seve Ballesteros], asked to sit out, we lost Sam Torrance to a foot injury and then when we had a chance to at least get half and retain the Cup, Constantino Rocca scored three 17ths before losing the last one as well. It was a great match, but I left thinking, “How the hell did we lose that?”
That Sunday evening the bats were in the Bell Tower, but soon the anomalous work resumed. Valderrama, The Belfry, K Club, Celtic Manor, Gleneagles, Le Golf National… Since then, United Flakes of America arrived on these blue and gold grounds with grandiose intentions and left without returning.
They came close in Newport, Gwent in 2010 (14 1/2-13 1/2), but otherwise their closest achievement was a three-point defeat in 2002. Over the same period, Europe beat the USA three times and gave the lively almighty Stars and Stripes a scare, losing their last game in 1999.
America bolstered the Good Ship Uncle Sam with successive comfortable triumphs at Hazeltine in 2016 and in the Whistling Straits two years ago, but three-time major champion Jordan Spieth is just one of the brave new men who recognize they are running their own backyard. not enough.
“Until we get one win here, no one can talk about changing the Ryder Cup,” Spieth said at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.
Spieth was asked about the reasons for the drought but was unable to answer. They never could, and even if they could, they wouldn't want to. This has been going on for so long that scarcity theories have long since faded into the realm of banality.
One remembers Jim Furyk lying before the 2014 match to the poor BBC radio operator who dared to suggest that the visitors were closer than in previous attempts. “Are there any more clichés you want to throw at me?” Furyk barked at the host, who was actually trying to put a positive spin on the American challenge.
“Are the Europeans more of a team and we perhaps just individuals? We're not having fun in our team room and they're causing trouble every night? That we are arrogant? Just taking care of ourselves? Why don't we love each other? That we can’t be together?”
Furyk later suffered as captain of Team USA in Paris in 2018. He never came close to articulating why his team fell apart — with Patrick Reed criticizing the team and Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson getting into a physical altercation — let alone suggesting that the Europeans played better. Gallagher was there too and believed that clichés — such as they usually are — are not so far from the truth.
«They won the first session 3-1 and after that, when Europe refused to give up, everything went downhill, their heads went down,» he said. “The Americans don't seem to like it when Europeans get stuck. They look stunned when we also make a hole to get half with them. “Yes, we are good at this, we make money from this too.” For some reason, it gets to them.
“At Le Golf National, their superstar Koepka couldn't hit the fairway, and no one wanted to play Reed, who, no matter what you think of him, showed himself great Ryder Cup player. And I think: “This doesn’t happen in the European camp.” Just think of Seve [Ballesteros] and Nick [Faldo] in Oak Hill.»
“The US says we exaggerate our camaraderie compared to theirs.”
Faldo and Ballesteros were far from bosom friends. But when Faldo conjured what was essentially the winning point against Curtis Strange in 1995, he and Siv hugged on the final green and cried.
«The US says we exaggerate our fellowship compared to theirs,» Gallagher, who was also a captain there in Rochester, said. “But that scene with Siv and Faldo summed it up for me. It was not forced at all, it was completely natural for a pair of great golfers, completely opposite to each other and sharing a common cause. Looks like they won't be able to do it again, no matter how hard they try.»
The “Togetherness Factor” has always been the grassy knoll of Ryder Cup theorists. Europe has complete unity; The US is a bunch of selfish people with all the binding properties of axle lube. Europe eats, sleeps and plays together on its cozy tour; The Americans silently play against each other before heading to their hotel rooms to order room service.
In their team room, the Europeans walk on whips, sing and dance, laugh and cry together; In the team room, the Americans play ping pong and are forced to sing their brotherly songs to each other. Europe is getting along; America, take up Pong. You see, national characteristics…
It was a catchy, if simplistic, thing back then, but it doesn't make much sense now. Only two of this 12-man European team do not have PGA Tour cards, and Bob McIntyre and Nikolaj Hojgaard will also receive those playing privileges in a few months.
In addition, six members of Luke Donald's team live in America, like their captain. Judging this anomaly based on geographic characteristics has long been absurd. Europe mostly eats in the same burger joints as their opponents.
So what then? Scar tissue? Spieth claims no, because most of his team did not participate in the futile race. Only four players from Zac Johnson's team have played (and therefore lost) games overseas.
“Rickie [Fowler] has played in three games here; Here I played together; Brooks [Koepka] and Justin [Thomas] played in the same game here,” Spieth said. “We weren’t on all these losing teams. I was in a couple of them, but I played well. Justin played well. Brooks played well. So it doesn't matter to us.”
Xander Schauffele agrees. “People told me we haven’t won since I was born,” he said. “I think it’s great because I don’t care. I don't think anyone cares.» Schauffele, an Olympic champion, added that he doesn't think it will take «anything special» to win this week. “It may sound strange, but we didn't do anything special in Whistling Strait.”
“The US hates slow greens; We’re not used to them.”
However, Rory McIlroy disagrees. “Winning the away Ryder Cup is probably one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now,” he said. The reasons are simple — course organization and home support. Americans hate grass surfaces that stick and don't slide, and aren't fans of thick, rough, compact surfaces that limit their desire to hit it off the tee.
2709 Ryder Cup Grass
“The US hates slow greens; they are not used to them and they find it difficult to adapt after just a few days of practice,” Padraig Harrington said. “I suppose things might even out if more and more of our kids came to play there and live there, but I don’t think so because growing up in different environments makes Europeans more adaptable.”
Captain The 2021 team also argues that the noisy, ever-increasing tension of the «football crowd» outside the ropes makes the task doubly difficult. “Think about it: in the last 17 years there has been one road win and six Ryder Cups. And this happened in Medina in 2012 and was described as a “miracle.”
“It is now more difficult than ever to win away games. I began to think that this had a lot to do with the hostile atmosphere that visitors had to face. We might soon say that Europe didn't take long to win back, etc. But now the pressure is on the Americans.”
Paul McGinley, captain of the 2014 team, agrees with his friend. «Fair enough, Jordan says this is a young team that doesn't have the scar tissue of what it used to be, but it's easy to add scar tissue when you add to a losing record,» he said.
«Jordan himself said that winning on the road is vital to give this American team the importance it deserves, so they are clearly thinking about it. So if they lose, will it become self-perpetuating? Will it be more difficult if 34 years have passed in 2027 when we go to Adare Manor? History does play a role and there are a lot of young players emerging in Europe. This is very important for the USA.”
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