
The biennial golfing tournament that pits Europe against the United States returns at the end of September and it shaping up as one of the most hotly contested to date. Many people consider the U.S to be the favourite, but this tournament has taught us that form lines don’t always tell the story. You only have to look at Europe’s upset comeback victory from 2012 to know that. The North Americans hold a 25-13-2 lead over Europe and have been backed by many to collect their 26th Ryder Cup victory.
Looking at the potential teams for both sides, it’s important to remember that Europe and the U.S pick their sides differently. The top eight ranked players in America gain automatic qualification into the tournament while for Europe, it’s the top nine. That means the United States get four captain’s selections as opposed to Europe’s three.
U.S Top Eight: Zach Johnson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker, Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker.
Europe Top Nine: Rafa Cabrera Bello (Spain), Matthew Fitzpatrick (England), Sergio Garcia (Spain), Rory McIlroy (North Ireland), Justin Rose (England), Henrick Stenson (Sweden), Andy Sullivan (England), Danny Willett (England), Chris Wood (England).
As for the remainder of the teams, the United States are yet to name their captains selections, but there is a lot of depth for them to pick from. Captain Davis Love hasn’t ruled out picking younger, more inexperienced players either due to the experience in their top eight. Some of the competitors up for selection as captain’s picks include veteran Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, J.B Holmes and Olympic bronze medallist Matt Kuchar. Justin Thomas, 23, seems to be gaining some momentum as well as is in consideration.
Europe have played their cards, revealing their three captain’s selections as Lee Westwood (England), Thomas Pieters (Belgium) and Martin Kaymer (Germany). Kaymer was an important part of the European side in the 2014 Ryder Cup, while Westwood will compete in another Ryder Cup, having not missed one since 1997. This shows the Europeans mentality to go for experienced golfers. Pieters goes against that mentality however as he’ll be competing in his first Ryder Cup.
As already mentioned, the Americans come into this tournament as the favourites and that will have something to do with the competition being on their home soil, literally. Davis Love has seen to it to have 600 trees removed from the course and built 15 yards of semi-rough on each hole. What this does is give an advantage to the big hitting Americans in what can only be described as a home field advantage.
While the European team sports the Olympic gold and silver medallists in Justin Rose and Henrick Stenson, the Americans weren’t as well represented at the games and so you can’t take too much out of it from their perspective.