Tag: 2023 Ryder Cup

Robert MacIntyre’s caddie bib at Valspar Championship rubs in European Ryder Cup victory

Well played, Bobby Mac.

Robert MacIntyre doesn’t want the Americans to forget what happened in Marco Simone.

The 27-year-old rookie from Scotland is making his first appearance at this week’s Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida, but he has made his name known around the world for his performance on the DP World Tour and in the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Bobby Mac went 2-0-1 in Rome, helping the Europeans dispatch the Americans. And at the Valspar Championship, he’s not letting the Americans or fans in attendance forget.

At the Valspar, caddies get to pick what they want on their bibs. Instead of player names, they can put pretty much anything. MacIntyre and his caddie didn’t want anyone to forget the final score in Rome.

Well played, Bobby Mac.

How ‘intimidating’ Ryder Cup selection propelled Ludvig Aberg on stellar year-end run

Aberg would move into the top 10 in the world with a win this week.

When Ludvig Aberg was selected as the final captain’s pick for the European Ryder Cup team last year, he was put into a group chat with many of the game’s biggest stars.

Rory McIlroy. Jon Rahm. Viktor Hovland.

Problem is, he had no idea whose number was whose in the team group chat.

He had only Nicolai Hojgaard’s and Sepp Straka’s numbers.

“None of the other guys,” Aberg said.

The 24-year-old Swede’s rise has been meteoric. A year ago, he was playing in college for Texas Tech. Now, he’s one of the game’s brightest young stars and in the field at the season-opening The Sentry at Kapalua in Hawaii. Formerly known as the Tournament of Champions, the event is reserved for those who won on the PGA Tour in the previous year or finished in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup standings.

The Sentry: Photos | Thursday tee times

Aberg didn’t get his PGA Tour card until May, making his first start at the RBC Canadian Open. In between then and now, he has won on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and has been a part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team.

And it was Aberg’s selection to the latter that helped show him he belonged on the biggest stage.

“It was definitely intimidating,” Aberg said Wednesday of being a captain’s pick. “If I said it wasn’t, I would be lying because it is what you want to do, but it’s also quite nerve-racking at times. I think I did it quite well, just to be OK with it being intimidating and nerve-racking. I was just being OK with all the emotions that might show up and I didn’t try to fight it, I didn’t try to block it out, it was just try to embrace it and obviously have a lot of fun as well.”

His win in the Omega European Masters solidified his spot on the Ryder Cup squad. Then, he closed his rookie PGA Tour season going 61-61 on the weekend to win the RSM Classic.

Now, expectations are high for Aberg, who’s excited for his first appearance at Kapalua.

“I think there’s always going to be expectations, it’s kind of what you sign up for in professional sports,” Aberg said. “So I do understand that it is a part of it, but I’m always going to have a lot of expectations on myself as well. I know my qualities and I know what I want to do, so if I don’t live up to that, I’m going to be pissed myself.”

“So obviously I understand all the things, the outside noise, but that’s also nothing that I can really control. It is what it is and all I can try to do is play each tournament the best I can and then kind of see where that goes.”

With a win this week, Aberg would move into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

As far as his expectations this year, he’s looking forward to playing many of the famed courses on the PGA Tour’s schedule.

“We were looking at the schedule the other week, and it’s just one tournament after another that I’m like, ‘Whoa, I just want to play it,'” Aberg said. “Bay Hill, Players, Pebble, Genesis, I think that’s what I’m really looking forward to. Obviously you want to perform, and I’m a competitor, so I want to compete, but I don’t have like a set number or something like that that I’m looking toward.”

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Ryder Cup Europe wishes you all a Merry Christmas (while dunking on Team USA)

“Merry Christmas from everyone at Ryder Cup Europe,” said captain Luke Donald, “and a happy two more years.”

When it comes to online content, the DP World Tour has dominated on social media compared to other tours and golf’s governing bodies. That’s why it’s no surprise that Ryder Cup Europe shared a hilarious video on Saturday.

In the video, winning 2023 captain and future 2025 captain Luke Donald is seen polishing one of seven Ryder Cups (most likely to represent the seven victories Team Europe has in the biennial bash against the Americans in the last 20 years).

“Merry Christmas from everyone at Ryder Cup Europe,” Donald said, “and a happy two more years.”

The 2025 event will be held Sept. 25–28 at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York. As mentioned earlier, Donald will return for two more years as the captain of the Europeans, while the U.S. have yet to announce a captain.

The video paid homage to some of the best chants from the 2023 edition in Italy – where the Europeans dominated – including Team Europe and Rory McIlroy’s celebration song, “the USA is terrified, Europe’s on fire.”

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‘Any pics from Rome???’: Shane Lowry won’t let Justin Thomas forget about 2023 Ryder Cup in recent Instagram post

There’s a good chance the trash talk between the two teams won’t stop until 2025 at Bethpage Black.

The United States’ struggles in Europe continued at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside Rome, losing to the Europeans 16½-11½.

Many of the players who participated in the biennial bash stayed put for a few days after Sunday night to take in the sights and spend some time with their loved ones.

Justin Thomas was part of that group, and he posted a photo dump of a Lake Como vacation with his wife, Jillian, to his Instagram.

One of the comments on the post came from European Ryder Cupper Shane Lowry — who went 1-1-1 in Italy — who posed a simple question: “Any pics from Rome???”

JT — who went 1-2-1 — replied, saying, “Shane it’s been two weeks and was starting to forget……”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyOHwQoLDWl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

There’s a good chance the trash talk between the two teams won’t stop until 2025 at Bethpage Black.

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2023 Ryder Cup in Italy sets TV viewership record

It was a record-breaking week near Rome.

More than 270,000 people from 100 different countries attended the 2023 Ryder Cup to watch the Europeans defeat the Americans, 16½-11½, and reclaim the cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy.

Even more watched from home.

On Tuesday, Ryder Cup Europe shared early numbers that showed a rise in average viewership on Sky Sports, particularly in the United Kingdom, which saw a 38 percent increase compared to the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and a 25 percent increase from the last European-hosted Cup in 2018 at Le Golf National near Paris.

“The 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy once again underlined the global appeal and continued growth of one of the world’s leading sporting events,” said Guy Kinnings, Executive Director of the Ryder Cup. “This year’s contest, played against the backdrop of the historic city of Rome, truly connected with fans around the world, and our early figures show significant increases in engagement even from the recent record-breaking editions.”

While the 2023 edition was the most watched Ryder Cup ever on Sky Sports, the NBC Sports coverage in the United States left fans wanting more.

Not even two hours into the coverage of the Friday foursomes matches and television viewers who were awake at 1 a.m. ET for the start were already fed up with the coverage (or lack thereof).

Airing on USA Network, the broadcast missed the introductions and tee shots from the third match of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka vs. Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa and showed more commercials than golf shots. This year’s broadcast featured a score bug in the bottom right of the screen that showed the matches and live results, which was a nice innovation, except when the coverage didn’t provide context for how those scores came to be.

The 2025 Ryder Cup, the 45th playing of the biennial bash between the U.S. and Europe, will be held at Bethpage Black in New York.

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Golf gone wild? Ryder Cup, PGA Tour stories show golf might be missing a little civility

The new adage might be that golf is a five-letter word. And that word is chaos.

An old line in sports is that golf is a four-letter word. That saying is no doubt from all the words you might hear on a golf course from all the golfers in the world hitting bad shots.

But the new adage might be that golf is a five-letter word. And that word is chaos. Nowhere has the chaos that is engulfing the golf world been more obvious than in the last month.

What once was a sport with a reputation for sportsmanship, civility and good fellowship is showing cracks at the professional level. Sniping, name-calling and greed seem to have taken over.

Ryder Cup first hole hospitality stand goes up in massive flames just days after event ends near Rome

Ryder Cup Europe confirmed that no injures were reported.

A structure at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy, went up in massive flames on Thursday just days after the club hosted the 2023 Ryder Cup.

A video surfaced on social media of a three-story hospitality stand engulfed in fire, producing large black smoke clouds that could be seen from miles away. Local news stated that five teams of firefighters are on the scene and that no injuries were reported. A notice was sent to local residents to close their windows.

“A fire was reported in one of the temporary hospitality structures to the right of the first fairway at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club earlier this afternoon,” a statement from Ryder Cup Europe read. “Local fire crews were called to the scene at 5:07 p.m. local time and quickly brought the blaze under control. Nobody was injured in the incident and the fire did not spread beyond the hospitality structure. There was no damage to the golf course or any over structure. The cause of the fire is currently being investigated.”

Hundreds of thousands of fans were at the club over the last week to witness Team Europe defeat Team USA and reclaim the Ryder Cup, 16½-11½.

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome originally was designed by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio and opened in 1989. The layout was completely renovated in 2018-2020 by a team of European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson in conjunction with Tom Fazio II, a leading American architect and the son of Jim Fazio – Tom Fazio worked for his dad on the original layout. The renovation included a complete rerouting of the hilly layout with the Ryder Cup in mind. With 155 feet of elevation change across the course, the holes were laid out to favor match play, with several drivable par 4s. Marco Simone is a public-access layout with tee times available on the course’s website.

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Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka say PGA Tour, LIV Golf players are ‘sick’ of Alan Shipnuck after latest book excerpt

“Bring positivity and good stories to help grow the game of golf, not try and make money bashing guys,” said JT.

Justin Thomas is enjoying a little extended vacation this week in Italy after he and Team USA lost the 2023 Ryder Cup to Europe near Rome.

The 30-year-old two-time major champion went 1-2-1 at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, where his lone win came during Sunday singles against Sepp Straka, 2 up. Thomas, who now holds a 7-4-2 record in the Ryder Cup, also attended Patrick Cantlay’s wedding down the road in Rome on Monday, a day after the U.S. lost the Cup.

While on his vacation, Thomas took to social media to respond to a 3,000-word excerpt of Alan Shipnuck’s new book, “LIV and Let Die: The Inside Story of the War between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf” that was shared on Wednesday. The book is available Oct. 17.

The excerpt included some juicy and Not Safe For Work comments about the battle for supremacy in professional golf over the last two and a half years, but Thomas didn’t much care for what was shared.

In response to part of the book where a former Ryder Cup teammate is critical of Rory McIlroy, Thomas spoke up “on behalf of a lot of Tour players” to say they are “sick” of Shipnuck “doing what he does.”

Brooks Koepka – who was featured in the excerpt with an expletive-riddled take on “country club kids who talk (expletive) about me,” allegedly referring to the likes of Thomas, Jordan Spieth and others – said LIV Golf players feel the same way about the Fire Pit Collective writer and author.

It didn’t take long for Shipnuck to join the party and defend himself online, saying that Thomas wants “PR or hagiography, not journalism.” He also defended his use of anonymous sources, who gave a few of the more controversial opinions.

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Ryder Cup dissension? U.S. vice captain Jim Furyk denies any rumors

“Pat, he’s got a big noggin,” Furyk said. “We have a hard time getting him in a hat.”

An unfortunate narrative that often comes out after the U.S. loses a Ryder Cup is that there was either a lack of overall team comradery or outright dissension.

Jim Furyk, the host of this week’s PGA Tour Champions Constellation Furyk & Friends at the Timuquana Country Club, heard it as a Ryder Cup player and captain and he’s hearing it again after serving as one of Zach Johnson’s vice captains in Rome last week when the U.S. lost to Europe 16.5-11.5.

He said reports of disunity are “absolutely not the case.”

“I was in that team room each and every night,” Furyk said on Tuesday during a news conference to promote the World Champions Cup, a match-play event for PGA Tour Champions players in December. “Those 12 guys really bonded, really got along. I know we’re disappointed that we didn’t bring the cup back to the United States but I can say and I’ll stand by it, those 12 guys really got along well and supported each other. As captains, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Furyk also said reports that Patrick Cantlay ostracized himself from the team and didn’t wear a USA hat during competition as a protest over not getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup were false.

The rumors were so viral that European fans on-site took their hats off and doffed them sarcastically whenever Cantlay passed their way.

Team USA vice captain Jim Furyk talks to Team USA golfers Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns during a practice day for the Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports

Furyk said that resulted in a show of U.S. bonding when the entire team and caddies took off their hats and waved them at the fans after Cantlay birdied his last three holes on Saturday to win a fourball match with Wyndham Clark against Rory McIlroy and Matthew Fitzpatrick.

“I’m not sure where [rumors of team disharmony] came from, especially after you saw the support Patrick had with the guys raising their hats in front of the green,” he said. “He took a lot of beating that day from, whether it was from the media, from the fans about not wearing a hat, the speculation that maybe he didn’t want to wear the American flag, whatever it may be. I think you saw the support from the players.”

Furyk said Cantlay’s decision not to wear a hat came down to being unable to find one that fit.

“Pat, he’s got a big noggin,” Furyk said. “We have a hard time getting him in a hat. He hasn’t worn one for three or four years in the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. If he’s going to birdie 16, 17 and 18, he can wear whatever he wants, I’ll say that.”

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Patrick Cantlay marries Nikki Guidish day after 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome

Cantlay didn’t have anything to celebrate on Sunday, but he sure did on Monday.

Patrick Cantlay didn’t have anything to celebrate on Sunday in Italy after the United States lost the 2023 Ryder Cup to Europe, but he sure did come Monday.

Just a day after the 44th playing of the biennial bash between the Americans and Europeans, held this year at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Cantlay, 30, married Nikki Guidish 13 miles down the road at the St. Regis.

Guidish, a doctor of pharmacy, shared photos from the luxurious wedding on Tuesday on her Instagram page, writing “Yesterday was a dream” while she thanked her wedding planner, photographer and the staff at the venue. In attendance were the likes of Cantlay’s Ryder Cup teammate Justin Thomas, as well as LPGA player Jessica Korda.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx7yC11uZBU/?hl=en

Cantlay’s week in Rome was marred by a controversy involving his decision to not wear a hat, which became the story of the week and even led to a dust-up on the 18th green Saturday night. Cantlay went 2-2-0 on the week in Rome and now has a 5-2-1 record in two Ryder Cup appearances for Team USA.

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