Ryder Cup Saturday: What has gone so wrong for the Americans? | Golf Channel Podcast

Ryder Cup Saturday: What has gone so wrong for the Americans? | Golf Channel Podcast

Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Show podcast with Rex and Lav. I want to lean into the idea that as bad as the United States has been and they haven’t been very good, that European team has been brilliant. I would argue based on what they did two years ago in Rome, based on the idea that there’s 11 of the 12 sane players based on what they’re doing this week and away Ryder Cup, which Rory Maroy himself said is the hardest thing in golf to win. I I just think it’s going to go down as the best European Rder Cup team ever. And I would argue if Luke Donald was able to pull this off, and I can’t imagine under any scenario that he’s not able to, I would argue he goes down as the best RDER Cup captain, European or American, ever. I don’t want to gloss over that. And I do want to pull back and do a very, very quick Mia. To be clear, thank everyone so much. We had over a hundred comments on yesterday’s podcast. We really appreciate those comments. Thank you so much. I clearly was on the wrong side of history when it comes to Bryson D. Shambo, so I’m just going to clean it up real quick. Bryson Dshambo is a generational player who has defined a new way to play the game. He is brilliant. He’s going to go on to a brilliant career. I don’t care what tour he plays. I’m not here to hate on Bryson D Shambo. Tiger Woods wasn’t a good alternate shot player. He’s still the GOAT. Bryson Dshambo, I still argue, is not a good alternate shot player. That’s all I had to say. Bryson Shambo, though, this week was a good alternate shot player on this golf course. Beth Paige Black bears little resemblance, of course, to the golf national. Again, this is not a Bryson Dashambo discussion. If you had a different golf course, it may have worked out differently. Bryson Dambo, the way he’s playing, the way his skill set matches up for this golf course with a toothless setup, I still think was a good play. That is not the reason why the US is losing. It is not the reason why the the US is losing. And that’s why I wanted to start with Europe is the reason they’re losing. And again, we’re going to dissect what happened to the United States team for a long time. This is the beauty of the Ryder Cup. content for ages and there are again there are plenty of things to do it. One final pin though he won this morning his first forsome session ever with the best using your data golf numbers with the best player in the field period not US or Europe. So he needed to have the best player in the field next to him to pull that off. Sure it doesn’t hurt and the US was sort of planning that hurt. Yes it doesn’t hurt to have that obviously the US was planning on that. There was a reason why Bryson Nambo, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas, and Cameron Young were all in the same practice spot. I actually think that was one of the best moves uh that Keegan Bradley has made to this point. If we’re in sort of doing these Mia Kulpas, I would also like to have one. I predicted on the preview podcast that this would end into a tie. The more likely scenario than a tie, Rex, is actually that Europe can get to 19.5 points, which would be the largest margin of victory in Rder Cup history. That is significantly more likely than this thing ending in a 144 tie. As we sit here right now, all they need is two and a half points to retain the cup and bring it back to Europe. Uh, I picked the United States to win a very, very close match. Mia Copa, I picked Scotty Shepard to be the man of the match. I picked Scotty Shepard to be the man of the match. He is 0 and4. The first player in RDER Cup history to go 0 and4. He was already making has not won a Ryder Cup match in eight matches going all the way back through Rome. So it this goes back a while. I also I also picked the the breakout star Russell Henley. That’s not going to happen. And I picked the biggest disappointment to be Luke Donald. There’s a lot of Mia Copulas we’re throwing out right now. I can’t even remember who my breakout star was, but I can assure you it was not the correct one. I I’m glad I’m glad you brought up Scotty because I think when you look at sort of the the US issues, it starts and stops with Scotty. I think it’s in stark comparison to what has happened on the European side. Tommy Fleetwood has been flawless. Roy Moy is unbeaten going 30 and one. John Rom 3 and one. Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, they have combined for 19 birdies in their two fourball sessions. Like just absolutely clinical nearperfect golf. in what is pretty extraordinary conditions. We’re going to get to the crowd in just a little bit. Contrast that to what Scotty Shuffler is doing. And I don’t think this is necessarily Sky Cheveler being completely off his game. It’s not like he’s making bogeies. It’s not like he’s making clumsy mistakes. Certainly his putter let him down on day one. Caught fire a little bit in the fourball session on Friday. You look at the number of birdies his opponents have made against him. Nearly two dozen birdies going up against Scotty. So clearly they’re rising to the challenge playing against the dominant world number one. Scotty hasn’t quite met the moment yet. And I think that’s been the most disappointing part for the Americans. And to be fair, you can’t pin this on Bryson Dshambo. That that was the fun part of that conversation. You could probably in a universe start to pin it on Scotty Sheffller. Not not to sort of single him out, but you needed production from your world number one. You needed production from your top players. You needed production from that Russell Henley, Scotty Sheffller, specifically in the Forsomes. That was the United States side only hope that and Xander being Xander and him and Pat Gantley coming up with a way. Otherwise, you were ju it was just wishful thinking. You were thinking that maybe one of the rookies would step up. Maybe this combination of Color Morocawa and Harry Harris English would step up. It just didn’t work out. And it’s baffling. Again, this goes all the way back. He had two ties and two losses in Rome. So, he hasn’t won a Ryder Cup match going all the way back to 2021 at Whistling Straits. And it’s a bit of an unfair comparison, but and I don’t know if it’s really apples to apples, but we’ve spent all year long comparing what Scotty does on the golf course to Tiger Woods. This is unfortunately the wrong kind of comparison. Yeah, it’s the wrong road. And I don’t think someone I I think it was Jamie Weir. I did a pod with him for our Sky Sports colleague tonight. He did point out he felt like Tiger Woods’s problem in the Ryder Cup in these team events was a little bit different. He was such an alpha male that he almost had an intimidation factor for his own shortener. Scotty Shuffler is the kindest, nicest man in the world. You we watched them coming down the stretch today in four ball play alongside Bryson Dshambo who you would think they aren’t particularly close but he they have been successful together. They went one whistling straight and he was right there. He had his arm around him the whole time. It was really an interesting dichotomy because I don’t think that’s the problem here. I don’t think players are intimidated to play with him. I think on this particular course Scotty’s not one to make birdies and birdies and birdies. That’s not his mo. he wants to go out and grind and as you pointed out that’s not what that golf course is. So I do have a particular theory that I want to trot out as it relates to Sky Shuffler and the Forsome session. Okay. Right. So when you’re when you’re doing foresomes and you’re doing alternate shot, the game plan for the captains is to get the absolute best ball strikers on the golf course. So obviously Scotty Sheffller, even though he was not maybe playing his best golf, maybe he’d struggled to find a partner. We thought Russell Henley was going to be that answer ended up not being. So So you’re going to play Scotty Sheffller regardless. But what Scotty does really well in stroke play tournaments over the course of 72 holes is let’s say he flags an iron shot. He pays it off with a birdie. Builds some momentum that way. Let’s say he gets out of position. One of his his his immense gifts is his touch in his hands and his scrambling ability. Let’s say he makes a five to 10footer uh to save par sustain momentum that way. He builds it naturally or in organically throughout the course of the round. And when you add it up at the end of the day, it’s a 66 67 and it’s really impressive. But he is building on shots. He’s stacking shots over and over and over again. When you were get to Scotty Sheffller in the alternate shot in the forsome session, he might flag an approach, but all of a sudden it’s up to Russell Henley to pay it off. Then maybe he’s not hitting a full shot. I was wondering where you’re going with this. I didn’t know for 10 or 15 minutes. I think he really struggles to build momentum in that sort of format and in that sort of situation. And when you pair him with another sort of subdued and laconic partner in a Russell Henley, I think it it just tends to fall a little bit flat. And Scotty, although on the outside he appears very stoic and very um unlikely to get flumxed, inside he’s burning as intensely as any competitor. And so I think those two dynamics are contributing to the fact that he is now 0 and4 in forsomes over the last two RDER cups in again a situation and a format that should really suit his skill set as the best ball striker on the planet. And I think you landed it. Yeah, I was I wasn’t quite sure how you were going to get there, but you did land it. But I think this has something to do as well going back to the Bryson Dshambo conversation because it is weird to do. Most people don’t play alternate shot. You and I used to play in a company tournament. It’s just uncomfortable to stand on a tea and know you’re probably not going to hit a shot until you get to the green and then god forbid you end up putting your partner underneath a tree. Suddenly you’re dealing with that anxiety. So for a player, you’re absolutely like right like Scotty Sheffller who likes to get into a rhythm. It’s difficult to do that when you’re only hitting half the shots. How about the crowd Rex? That to me was one of the biggest stories besides the Europe uh Europeans going absolutely berserk going 3-1 in the morning forums 3-1 in the afternoon session to build this 7point lead. The crowd was really a big storyline particularly how hostile they were. We sort of signaled this was the potential that was going to happen over the weekend. There was sort of this theory, Aean Lynch was one of the biggest conspiracy theorists as it relates to this over the past couple months that oh, if the if the Americans get down, all of a sudden the 50,000 fans here are going to turn on them and all of a sudden they’re going to be cheering for the Europeans and it’s going to be very hostile towards the Americans. That obviously was not going to happen. If anything, they were more emboldened. They were more encouraged to uh be more vitriolic towards the Europeans. We saw that particularly in that fourball match with Roy Mroy and his partner Shane Lowry. The give and take there with the fans. What did you make of it? Did it get out of control? Did it get across the line? And if so, who’s to blame for it? Yeah, Aean wasn’t right on this one. They just got more angry, they got louder, they got grosser. I I just think it it they just double down on the things that they don’t like. And in this particular case, it was Rory Maroy. I was just on live from and I went on right after our colleague Jaime Diaz, who both you and I have. so much respect for. But Jaime had gone out and walked a couple of holes with Rory and didn’t think it was that bad. I I guess and I will circle back around and say this as only half jesting. I I don’t This isn’t about the volume. This isn’t even about the tenor. This is about the timing of these jers. When they come in the middle of a back swing where you’re intentionally trying to interrupt the competition, you’re intentionally trying to insert yourself into the competition. That’s where it should stop and that’s where I think it crossed the line. As far as what was said and yes, there was gross things and things that I’ve never heard at golf tournaments. My bigger deal was it just wasn’t creative. I expected better. Like I I I was a little disappointed on that front and I’ve made this argument before and it seems apppropo to do it now. We This happens every two years at the Ryder Cup. I knew it was going to happen this year simply because it was in New York City. Those in golf always talk about making golf a mainstream sport, not a niche sport. Mainstream sports look like that. They’re ugly and they’re uncomfortable and it’s fans who feel like they’re entitled because they’ve spent a lot of money to be there. You go to Yankee Stadium, you’re going to hear the exact same things. I will give Roy Moy a monsoon of credit because you and I both were out walking. He heard so many things and there was so much screaming going on. You and I both covered Tiger Woods in his prime. I can tell you I’ve never seen Tiger Woods have more than four or five uniform police officers walking with them. And they were only there because the crowds were so big. They were there for crowd control. Today, things really went bad for Rory on six and seven. That’s when they really got gross. I was told by a security officer on the site that that at that point they called in about two dozen additional security officers. I mean police officers. You heard me. Two dozen additional police officers. And they were essentially leaprogging. They would create a wall between Rory and the gallery of three officers and then leaprog ahead and do it again and do it again. And eventually, I think that calmed things down. But it got really nasty to the point that I I was I wasn’t fearful for Rory, but certainly it was an atmosphere I’ve never felt before because the vitriol going both ways sometimes was really really high. Yeah. I mean, there was a moment on six green where the heckling was so intense and so prolific that Rory told the referee in the match, I’m not going to putt until they shut up. So, at that point, you thought, boy, is this thing going to bog down? Is there going to be some sort of delay? Is there going to be some sort of uh intervention? PJ of America or the security guards are gonna have to do. I did think it lessened over the course. I have to give a lot of credit to Rory and Lowry basically for sucking it up. I also have to give a lot of credit to Justin Thomas and his uh Caddyy Mat minister trying to quiet down every single shot. They were going out of their way to put their hands up to ask for silence and to ask for peace. Now Justin Thomas was also whipping the crowd into a frenzy, but that’s what he should do. Yeah. When the Americans are hitting a good shot, I have absolutely no problem with him turning to the crowd and trying to get them uh riled up. That’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s supposed to be the homec course advantage where it in my opinion crossed the line was was yes the personal attacks. Rory about his personal life, Shane Lowry about his weight, Bob McIntyre about his appearance. I mean, you can go on and on. Every single player was dealing with these sort of barbs. But you’re exactly right. It’s the timing of when you’re getting into your routine, when you’re settled over the ball, all of a sudden then you’re hearing these lone cries out and then you back off that gets the crowd even more animated and it just creates a really, really vicious cycle. I do think, Rex, that some blame can be sort of shared. I point to the PJ of America who made $750 tickets and so you have 50,000 fans on site who basically think that they have a free license to do whatever they want because they paid immensely for these tickets. I still point to players such as Roy Moy who in the run-up to this event was very anti uh antagonistic and basically preempted this by saying, “Yes, we’re anticipating something is going to happen and it’s all about how we’re going to respond. You can get abuse. You can deal with it in spurts, but over the course of three days, you are eventually going to snap.” We saw Roy Moy have sort of mini snaps over the course of Saturday, giving it to the crowd, them telling Rory, “F you.” Rory responding back, “F you.” It got a little bit hand or hand gestures as well. To me, that was a little bit um across the line as well. And I also, Rex, I think the American players are somewhat to blame for this in sort of a inadvertent way where they led for a total of three holes in the morning and they led for a total of three holes in the afternoon. They are not giving the crowd much to cheer about. And so in the absence of angry, what they’re basically doing instead of cheering is just outright heckling. They’re angry. They wanted to see better performance and they’re taking it out on the Europeans, unfortunately. And I I will add that on the 14th hole, Rory hit a very important putt. And to your point, I I wrote a story about this about he he just embraced the role of being antagonistic. And we saw fullthroatated base in his voice Rory where he went to the crowd. He wasn’t celebrating with Shane. He wasn’t high-fiving his caddy. He went towards the crowd pumping his chest and throwing his hands. There was a very small pocket of European supporters that I’m assuming he was Jeff. Sure. But I I think he embraces that as well as we did. I will say I probably walked six holes with that group. I think Shane probably took it harder than Rory did. It seems like Shane had to be restrained a couple of times by his caddy even once by a police officer when they’d gone in to like a portaotti situation and some fans had started barking at him. I I mean I don’t know how Rory did it, how he was able to execute getting that much vitriol, getting that much hatred. It’s it’s amazing that he’s able to kind of feed off of that. I mean, that’s what is so impressive. Obviously, you can look at Tommy Fleetwood, the way he’s played. You can look at Justin Rose in the way that he’s played at the age of 45. You can look at the the play of John Rom, who is, I think, reminding everyone this week of his greatness. Just because he went to live golf, all of a sudden, he did not sort of diminish his status as a worldclass generational type PL player. But I look at Roy Moy who clearly, ever since he pounded the table, the table just like this, in fact, two years ago in Rome, he was asking for all the smoke to back it up. Got the manner in which he did. He is now 71 and one in his last nine RDER Cup matches. It’s an incredible performance by Roy Mray under the circumstances, under the gun, delivering what is now a seven-point advantage heading into Sunday singles. And so my question for you, Rex, obviously I think we could discount an American uh comeback. Keegan Bradley could talk about 283. He was at that Super Bowl where the Patriots came back against the Atlanta Falcons. can cue up the images of Alcarez center when Alcarez the fiery Spaniard came back uh to to win that one in five sets. You can use whatever sort of motivational tactic you want. It is very likely actually it is almost a mathematical improbability that this is going to happen. So what’s the score and what do you anticipate RDER Cup Sunday being like particularly after what we saw today? Well, and I will say that Keegan Bradley was just sitting probably in that chair that you’re sitting in right now when he did his press conference and he was asked what the message to the team would be. That seems like the obvious question and I knew where he was going. He was at that game when the New England Patriots uh beat Atlanta. Epic comeback. In my mind, I kept thinking to myself, Tom Brady’s not walking through that door. Grank might walk through that door. I don’t think Tom Brady’s walking through that door. And the other thought that occurred to me, and we didn’t touch on it, but Victor Havlin had some back issues, had to get pulled out of the afternoon lineup. Like, I’m sorry, neck issues, had to get pulled out of the afternoon lineup, was going right now to get an MRI late in this evening. So, what happens in a scenario where he can’t play tomorrow, the way the ride of Cup rules work is each captain has to put a name in an envelope and if there is an injury, that name is pulled off the other team and they simply simply split the point. So in this case scenario, let’s say I don’t know, I’m going to pick a random name. Harris English gets put into to the envelope. He would get pulled if Victor Havlin can’t go tomorrow and they just split the point. It dawned on me that the brilliant way to do this is to have all 12 European players just call in sick and they win by default in commanding style. I mean, we can all we can all just watch Red Zone on Sunday and it’ll probably be more much more entertaining than what we’re going to have. 17 and a half. Am I doing the math with that right? Yeah. 17 and 12, which would be again a pretty dominant victory. Almost 17 and a2 to 10 and a half. Almost a historic victory and they never have to hit a shot on Sunday. I didn’t answer your question. It’s going to be a blowout. I think the part that scared me and as I already pointed out, I picked the United States team to win. And usually when we’re sitting here on Sunday night, and hopefully it’s close enough where we can start going down the lineup and picking like who’s going to win, where do you think the match could could possibly end? And I was thinking to myself, well, I guess I I got to go with the guy in 11, assuming the first 10 win is my only chance. Uh I think my my biggest curiosity, as I mentioned, is whether the Europeans can get to 19 and a half. Keep in mind, it was 19 to9 four years ago at Whistling Straits. That was supposed to represent sort of the low point for the European team. This was a team that was in flux. This was a team that needed sort of a changing of the guard to get rid of the Westwoods and the Pters and the Sergio and usher in a new era. Who could have imagined that four years later we’re on the precipice of potentially crowning the best European team ever, potentially crowning the best captain, European or US ever, potentially crowning one of the greatest uh legacy making moments for Roy Moy in what has already been a hugely significant year personally for him. Uh, and so I think that’s my biggest curiosity. I don’t think they’re quite going to get there. I mean, that’d be still once again a a a hugely impressive performance in Sunday singles just to get to 19 and a half as they sit here now at 11 and a half, but I wouldn’t rule it out entirely. I think they’ll get close. I think they might get to 18 and a half. Uh maybe even 19, but 19 and a half would be uh just a complete overwhelming show of force. These are still really proud players on the American side, but I would not discount there’s ab going to be absolutely zero complacency as it comes to the Europeans. I think they want to stamp themselves as a a very historic bunch. There was a moment on 18 when that last group was finishing up and give JJ Spawn credit. He was able to grind out the only flag for the United States in the afternoon and he did it probably with two of the best iron shots that the Americans had all day long. I went off for a rookie. That was a really birdie birdie. That sound familiar for JJ Swan? Yes. Exactly at the US Open. Yes. And it kind of looked like it. I talked to his swing coach. He said he actually does not hit those shots if he doesn’t win at Oakmont that he learned what a great player he was. However, that maybe gives you a glimmer of hope that maybe you can climb this historical mountain. You don’t see it happening. But watching the Europeans, you could have been lapsed into thinking that, oh, they’re already celebrating, but given the stats, you only need three points. Like, at some point, you snap out of it. So, no, I think you’re right. I think everyone bears down. All right, that is going to do it for this edition of Golf Show podcast with Rex and Lab. As a reminder, we’ll be back on Sunday night for the full 52minute made for TV edition. We’re going to be breaking down RDER Cup Sunday, Router Cup week. We’ll also be handing out report cards for all 24 players plus the two captains. I got a feeling Luke Donald is going to be getting a A++ as always. You guys know the drill. mcports.com/golf akaolfj.com. I have a long column up on the website right now about exactly what Ryder Cup Saturday was like. Also has some blogs as well. Thanks for listening. Thanks for the support. Enjoy the final round. The 45th ladder cup.

In this edition, the guys, live from Bethpage Black, break down all of the storylines from Day 2 of the Ryder Cup, from the Europeans jumping out to a historic lead, Scottie Scheffler’s shocking winless streak and what’s in store for Ryder Cup Sunday. #golfchannel #rydercup #golf

Chapters:
0:00: It’s mea culpa time!
04:00: Scottie Scheffler is 0-for-4 and it epitomizes what’s gone wrong for the U.S.
09:00: Did the crowd cross the line during the Saturday matches?
17:00: What we’re expecting in Sunday singles

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Ryder Cup Saturday: What has gone so wrong for the Americans? | Golf Channel Podcast
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