Day 1 is already a success!
So Day 1 is in the books and already this tournament is a success. Why would I say that? If you can think back to last year, and remember how competitive the President’s Cup was? What I should be saying is how competitive the President’s Cup wasn’t. Then you will understand why I’m thrilled that this is a Ryder Cup year. Even though the Americans entered this tournament as heavy favourites. They find themselves two games back after Day 1. Now that doesn’t mean that they still aren’t favourites to win, cause I believe that they still are. What it simply illustrates is that on their continent, the Europeans remain difficult to beat. Unless you are a fan or both the PGA tour, and Euro tour you wouldn’t necessarily understand. The courses each tour frequents are generally quite different from one another. The largely American PGA tour favours Parkland, Stadium, and long hitter tracks. Whereas the European tour favours Links, Precision Ball striking, and Weather condition tracks. One of the primary reasons so many PGA tour, and specifically American Players rise to the top of the World rankings is because it’s easier to adapt their game to shorter precision courses, than it is for the Euro tour Players to suddenly start bombing it off the tee. The President’s Cup doesn’t share the same course advantages for the International players because depending on where you are from the style of golf you’re accustomed to playing might be similar to your opponents or wildly different from your own teammates. So whether the event is held in the United States or somewhere else. The advantage will always remain with the higher ranked team.
I told you so
At the beginning of the year Oliver and I briefly discussed (on the Cobe Life YouTube channel) what we felt Team Europe’s chances were. Keep in mind that this was just a few months removed from the President’s Cup drubbing. The majority of Golf analysts thought that the same dominance was going to be on display at the Ryder Cup. We didn’t think that would be the case. The Americans rarely beat the Europeans on their turf. Even though this might be the strongest American team ever assembled. They still have to beat a very skilled team made up of mostly young Ryder Cup rookies looking to establish themselves on the world stage in front of their fans. Although many of them aren’t familiar names on the PGA tour, they are superstars in Europe. Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen, and Alex Noren are sure to leave a lasting impression by the time it’s all done.
What to expect Days 2 & 3
Even though the Le Golf National course is set up to be as unfriendly to the Americans as possible. The individual matches are sure to favour the Americans. Which means the Europeans have to hope that Day 2 finishes a lot like Day 1. The Americans are actually quite fortunate to be only down by 2 games. If it wasn’t for an extremely lucky bounce for Tony Finau on the 16th, and some sloppy play by a couple of the European teams on the back nine they could have easily been up by another game. In order for the Europeans to win I believe that they will need to be ahead by at least 3 points going into the final day. If they enter Day 3 tied or trailing it’s as good as over. It will be interesting to see how well they play tomorrow when they are no longer perceived as huge underdogs. Should be another great day of golf. Too bad I have to get up at 2:30am to watch it.