“We have got some congestion and some just signs of things that are unfortunate.”
Zach Johnson tried his best Friday evening to squash any notion he was disappointed in his team’s showing during the opening day of matches at the 2023 Ryder Cup.
The United States captain said he was proud of how his team fought, even considering the Americans are in a 6½-1½ hole against the Europeans at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy. The U.S. didn’t win one match on Friday and was swept in the morning session of foursomes but managed to halve three fourball matches in the afternoon.
However, Johnson hinted the Americans may not be 100 percent in the health department. He was asked whether the afternoon lineup was scripted and answered there were things they could and couldn’t control, and then he said this to a follow-up question.
“The bottom line is there’s been some unforeseen things that we’ve had to navigate around, which is really unfortunate, in the sense of health,” Johnson said. “It’s not an excuse, because we have depth, but I’ll just say, I’m grateful we have a team doctor.
“We’re just fighting things, I mean, internally. It’s kind of passed around a little bit, caddies, players. It is what it is. But it’s nothing more than that. Guys are fighting and playing regardless. I mean, it’s not anything that’s kind of weighed us down because of the depth we have and because of the many options we think we have.”
That’s certainly not anything American fans want to hear after what transpired on the course Friday. Some may view it as the U.S. making excuses. Others may look at it as an actual crutch to the limping American team after the first day of play.
Later in his press conference, Johnson elaborated more on the illness.
“We have got some congestion and some just signs of things that are unfortunate,” Johnson said. “It’s one of those where sometimes the energy is probably a little low, but the ability and desire to go out and play is still there. That’s what we are weighing. Every one of them still wants to play every match, which is encouraging.
“It kind of has, yeah, I’m being honest, yes, it has. It has spread through my team.”
Sounds like the Americans need some Benadryl and NyQuil before Saturday’s play begins.
Johnson needs decisions without fear or favor, but doing so runs counter to the U.S. culture that has been cultivated.
Two numbers confer stature among elite golfers. World ranking is one, despite the mutterings of LIV loyalists. Europe’s Ryder Cup team boasts the second, third and fourth-ranked players in the game, so captain Luke Donald had them lead off Friday’s opening session at Marco Simone. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland each returned a point. Major championship victories also separate top players. U.S. captain Zach Johnson’s starting line-up combined for four major wins. The guys he benched have 11, including two this year.
If pressed, Johnson can probably offer reams of analytics and statistical profiling to support his decision-making, but then many a dubious position can be defended by data that confirms what we wish to believe. If the U.S. goes on to lose for the tenth time in the last 14 Ryder Cups, the calls Johnson made before lunchtime on day one will be picked over mercilessly. Yet, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, it may be his responsibility but it is not his fault. Or at least not entirely.
The American skipper has been consistently transparent about how much influence he grants his players, and during a Tuesday press conference essentially acknowledged that the U.S. captaincy is crowd-sourced. “I can say this in full confidence with our six guys that made this team: Those guys were, you know, adamant they wanted those six other guys to help complete their team,” he said.
“Adamant.”
So the locks for the team decided who would get the picks.
Scottie Scheffler (lock) and Sam Burns (pick) are close friends. They played together three times at the Presidents Cup last year and didn’t win a match, losing two and halving one. Advocacy for a pairing with that record ought to be dismissed by a captain, not indulged. And certainly not sent out first in alternate shot when one guy is struggling to find fairways and the other has issues finding the hole from short range.
Much will also be made of who didn’t work the early shift.
Like Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Sure, neither has played well recently, but the former is a talismanic figure with a winning record in foursomes, while the latter is a .500 and unlikely to be intimidated by the raucous opening-day environment. Or Brooks Koepka, a current major title holder, who blistered Marco Simone in the last practice session on Thursday.
Team USA golfer Justin Thomas (right) lines up a putt on the ninth hole as golfer Jordan Spieth looks on during day one fourball at the 44th Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Captains hewing to an analytics-based strategy must know when to adapt in fluid situations, but tentative leaders may view changing tack as an abandonment of all their advance planning, ultimately finding themselves adrift with a life vest that won’t fully inflate. To his credit, Johnson rejiggered partnerships for Friday afternoon fourballs and his players displayed a flicker more life. But he could ill afford a misstep that gifted Europe a sweep of the first session, and he knows it.
Europe already had a strong team. Now it’s a strong team buoyed with confidence. Rahm’s heavyweight swagger is even more pronounced, his burly embrace serving to settle the young rookie Nicolai Højgaard. Hovland has shown more emotion in this unremunerated team affair than he did while winning more than $30 million on his own last season. By sunset, McIlroy had already won more points than in the entire ’21 Ryder Cup, and Tyrrell Hatton barely had reason to reach double digits in cuss words. None of those facts augurs well for Team USA.
To stem the tide, Johnson needs to make decisions without fear or favor, but doing so runs counter to the culture that has been cultivated in the U.S. team over the last nine years.
After the acrimony at Gleneagles in ‘14 — when the most impactful shot any Yank delivered came during the Sunday night post-mortem press conference, and was directed at his own skipper — the PGA of America formed a widely-mocked task force. The objective for the organization was obvious: absolve itself from future criticism by handing over control (and potential blame) to the players themselves.
The toxicity, theatrics and treachery were eventually eliminated: Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, who has a better chance at winning one of his lawsuits than another Ryder Cup. But congeniality in the team room wasn’t just a by-product of the task force, it was the goal. Players at ease will perform well, went the logic. And while last year’s Presidents Cup showcased a unified, brilliant American team, ensuring comfort and companionship for 12 individuals isn’t always conducive to a winning performance.
As with the PGA Tour, the players now wield enormous power when it comes to the Ryder Cup, especially on the U.S. side. Their influence is decisive when it comes to choosing captains, picks and pairings. The actual team leader is there to give speeches and provide air cover. Johnson will defend the process and culture that has the U.S. facing a rough weekend in Rome because he’s loyal to his guys and a true believer in the task force product. But he’s going to face harsh criticism for decisions over which he almost certainly had something less than complete control.
There’s a ways to go in this Ryder Cup, but if the U.S. loses there will be plenty of blame to go around. But don’t expect it to be fairly apportioned. Team USA’s captain has been stripped of power, but not of responsibility.
To say it was a slow start at the 2023 Ryder Cup for the United States would be an understatement.
In the morning foursomes matches, Europe won every one, taking a controlling 4-0 lead into afternoon fourball. In fact, the Europeans dominated to the point where the United States never led in any of the morning matches.
Not until Justin Thomas, who many deemed a controversial captain’s pick, birdied the par-4 sixth hole in fourball did the United States finally take a lead in a match at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, Italy. Seems taking the guy who has made a name for dominating in team competitions could pay off after all.
The lead was short-lived, however. Viktor Hovland, playing with Tyrrell Hatton against Thomas and Jordan Spieth, threw a shot to a couple feet on the par-3 seventh and converted for birdie to tie the match back up.
However, the Europeans are in total control early. Last week at the Solheim Cup in Spain, the Americans were up 4-0 after the opening session and ended up tying the Europeans, who retained the cup.
We’ll see whether the American men can turn it around, but it has to happen quick.
The host course, Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, is a public-access layout with tee times available on the course’s website starting at 190 Euros for international players. The course playing to a par of 71 with the scorecard showing 7,181 yards. The rough is deep and thick, putting an emphasis on accurate tee shots to relatively tight fairways.
The Americans, captained by Zach Johnson, are trying to win on foreign soil for the first time since 1993. Team Europe, meanwhile, is hoping an influx of young talent will help captain Luke Donald reverse a lopsided loss at Whistling Straits in 2021.
Speaking to SiriusXM’s Taylor Zarzour, Burns recounted – TMI alert – how U.S. Captain Zach Johnson called him with the good news that he was one of six captain’s picks for the U.S. 12-man team.
Johnson sent him a text Sunday night after the Tour Championship letting him know that he should expect a call the following day. After a restless night of staring at the ceiling, Burns was waiting to for his phone to ring and told his wife, Carolyn, that they should get out of the house to pass the time. When they got back, Burns felt the call of nature, and – of course – that’s when his phone rang.
“Literally as soon as I sit down, Justin (Thomas) started texting me, like, ‘Have you heard anything yet?’ While I’m responding to him, Zach called me,” Burns recounted.
Burns, who received a call that he didn’t make the team two years earlier, said he was “mid poop” when Johnson invited him to be a member of his team and he started crying.
“While I’m on the phone, I’m trying to wipe, I’m trying to tell Carolyn, she came around the corner and I gave her a thumbs up,” Burns said. “That’s real life right there.”
Indeed, it is.
Words don’t really do it justice. You can watch Burns tell his story from the throne here.
Who’s winning the shoe fashion battle at the 44th Ryder Cup?
There are some serious fashion statements being made at the Ryder Cup.
Golfers from both sides showed off their fancy duds with their wives and girlfriends at the Wednesday night gala.
The fans are already out in force sporting the Red, White and Blue of Team USA or the blue and gold for Team Europe.
There’s plenty of Ryder Cup gear available for fans on-site or rooting on from home.
And we can’t forget about the shoes at the 44th rendition of the biennial matches, taking place this year at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy.
The Americans lead the all-time standings at 27-14-2 but since 1979, Europe holds an 11-9 edge.
But who’s winning the shoe fashion battle? You decide.
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Drivable par 4s are the most interesting holes in the pro game. Measuring somewhere south of 350 yards, the best of them entice the game’s top players to grab driver – or sometimes 3-wood, and in a few cases with the longest hitters, even a driving iron – and smash the ball onto the green in pursuit of an eagle, birdie at worst.
There is, of course, a flip side: bogeys, double bogeys, humiliation and a tumble down the scoreboard when things don’t work out as planned.
These short par 4s are sometimes called half-par holes, but even pros who only halfway commit or halfway execute are prone to full-blown scorecard disasters. And with so many options and strategies available – especially when factoring in match play – the short par 4s are where the fun will begin at this week’s Ryder Cup in Rome.
It’s a whole different galaxy of distance and options than encountered by most amateur players, who are far more likely to experience the thrill or despair of a somewhat drivable par 3 than a reachable par 4. Tour players are a different kind of animal, with the advantage typically tilted to the biggest guns in what used to be a knife fight.
Each year we see several drivable par 4s send PGA Tour pros into fits. Always in the spotlight is No. 10 at Riviera and its almost unhittable green. It’s the same story at No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, with water in play left and a tucked Sunday pin location – undoubtably a better strategic hole than the amphitheater par-3 16th that has gained so much fame in recent decades. These holes and dozens of others have oversized effects on eventual prize payouts.
In recent years, even the major championships have embraced their drivable par 4s. No. 6 at Los Angeles Country Club thrilled and confused in this year’s U.S. Open – Wyndham Clark just missed the green with a driving iron in the final round but produced a brilliant up-and-down from the gunch for birdie en route to victory. Likewise, Justin Thomas grabbed control of the playoff at the 2022 PGA Championship with a 3-wood blast that carried a creek to bound onto the putting surface of No. 17 at Southern Hills. Glory beckons on these short holes.
This week’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome promises such fireworks with several drivable par 4s. The fifth measures just 302 yards, but a pond guards the approach. No. 11 clocks in at 329 yards with a deep depression to the right of the green to gobble up wayward aggression. Both of these holes are within range for these Ryder Cuppers, but at what risk?
But 5 and 11 are mere warmups for No. 16, where plenty of high-pressure matches are likely to end and some Ryder Cup dreams are apt to crater. Just 303 yards long, the 16th has a small pond guarding the right side of the green. The hole is within reach, but so is the water. It’s do or die with the world watching.
A bunker plopped into the center of the fairway some 235 yards off the tee only complicates things, as does the water crossing 60 yards short of the putting green. Wary or wise players can lay up short of the center bunker and still hit a wedge into the green, or they can try the more unlikely path of carrying the bunker yet remaining short of the creek to set up an even shorter wedge approach – don’t count on too many players attempting that route.
Or … they can fire away at the green. It’s just right there, within reach, tucked between three bunkers and the acqua. Coming so late in the matches, it could be the one decision and one swing that decides who is the GOAT and who is the scapegoat.
The StrackaLine yardage map for No. 16 at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, site of the 2023 Ryder Cup (Courtesy of StrackaLine)
No. 16 has seen its share of splashdowns in the Italian Open since the course was redesigned by Dave Sampson and European Golf Design, with American architect Tom Fazio involved as a consultant hired by the club. Most notably, Rory McIlroy pushed his tee ball into the drink while in contention at last year’s Italian and eventually finished fourth. Will that memory provide motivation or scar tissue for Europe’s highest-ranked player and arguably the best driver of the golf ball of his generation?
Of course, not all tee shots that miss the 16th green will find the water. Some might land in a bunker, or tall rough on a downhill slope with the pond beyond, or even the closely cropped fairway approach. The players and their stats masters have to factor if playing a shorter second shot from any of those areas is more advantageous than playing a full wedge from 120 yards back in the fairway. Yes, the goal is to drive the green, but most players who try won’t find the putting surface, instead relying on a spot of luck and their elite short games.
Ryder Cup format matters, too. In the fourball matches – two-man teams with each man playing his own ball, and the lowest score for each team counts – plan to see at least one player on each side swinging for the green on the short par 4s, perhaps after his partner lays up safely. Things are more interesting in foursomes, in which the alternate-shot format often focuses on not leaving your partner in a bad spot. Then the gloves come off in singles, each man (and his team of advisors) having to choose the best route to birdie or better by considering his strengths versus those of his opponent as well as his own bravado versus his own demons.
There are so many options, so many possible outcomes. The realistic scores range from 2 to 6. Expectations are high, as are demands on length plus precision multiplied by some unknown confidence factor.
Brian Harman plays from a greenside bunker on No. 16 during a practice round at Marco Simone before the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome. Players who try to drive the green but miss might find themselves in such a spot, with a long sand shot to a green backed by water. (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
Both team captains were titans of the precision and confidence parts. European captain Luke Donald was never known for his distance off the tee but he climbed to No. 1 in the world, and American captain Zach Johnson proved to be the master of the layup by never going for a par-5 green in two en route to his 2007 green jacket. What will be their marching orders? Bet that reams of data will be analyzed figuring out go versus no-go.
There’s no doubt today’s professionals can reach the green of any of the short par 4s at Marco Simone, even guys such as American Brian Harman, who dominated this year’s British Open with a mix of precision iron play and gutsy putting. Short in comparison to Ryder Cup bombers such as McIlroy or European rookie Ludvig Aberg, Harman is still more than capable of driving the ball 300 yards downhill. But will he try? Better question: Should he?
On No. 16 in particular with the hopes of two continents on the line, it’s distance versus control, carpet bombing versus a sniper sneaking up on you. Expect to see eagle putts that knock opponents onto their heels, and also know there might be watery crashes. Hang on to your headcovers.
Here are some other essentials facts all golfers should know about the Ryder Cup.
The Ryder Cup will be staged for the 44th time this week at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy.
The U.S. won the last outing, two years ago at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. The Americans won 19-9, one of the bigger routs in the history of the series.
The U.S. squad has 12 members, as does the European contingent. Zach Johnson, who played in five Ryder Cups, is a first-time captain this year. Luke Donald is heading up the European squad. He assumed the role after the original captain, Henrik Stenson, joined the LIV Golf League forcing him to relinquish his Ryder Cup duties.
Here are some other essentials facts all golfers should know about the Ryder Cup.
“I had the same opportunity as every other LIV player, and I’m here.”
Brooks Koepka is the lone LIV golfer of 24 playing in this week’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy. The five-time major winner captured the 2023 PGA Championship, his third Wanamaker trophy, to essentially clinch his spot in the field.
And Koepka, never one to mince words, said this when asked whether LIV golfers were snubbed in the selection process for the biennial competition between the United States and Europe.
“Play better,” he said. “That’s always the answer.”
Bryson DeChambeau, who last week won the LIV Golf event at Rich Harvest Farms in Chicago, has said numerous times he felt snubbed by U.S. captain Zach Johnson, even saying he never received a call in the weeks leading up to the captain’s selections. Not even after he shot 58 to win the LIV Golf Greenbrier event in August.
“If you look at it, it would have been nice to at least just have a call,” DeChambeau said. “There’s numerous people that I think Zach should have called out here, and we didn’t get that.
“I understand, I get it, but we’re nothing different. We’re still competing. We’re still working super hard to be the best we possibly can be.”
Team USA’s Brooks Koepka tees off on eight during a practice day for the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)
In addition to DeChambeau, who represented the Americans at Whistling Straits in 2021, Dustin Johnson also commented recently he probably would’ve made the team if he was playing on the PGA Tour.
Meanwhile, Koepka, who also finished T-2 at the 2023 Masters, said the Ryder Cup came into focus after that week in Augusta, Georgia. He admitted he had a lot of other things going on in his mind when he made the jump to LIV last summer, and the Ryder Cup wasn’t one of them.
But a T-2 and a win in the first two majors of the year vaulted him up the board, and he earned one of six captain’s picks to head to Rome. Yet Koepka doesn’t think anyone was snubbed.
“I don’t make the decisions,” Koepka said. “It doesn’t — everybody had an opportunity to get there. I mean, I had the same opportunity as every other LIV player, and I’m here.”
This is Koepka’s fourth consecutive Ryder Cup, where he has a 6-5-1 record and is 2-0-1 in singles.
“It’s almost impossible to think we’re the favorite just considering we haven’t won (on European soil) in 30 years.”
ROME — Who is the favorite at the 44th Ryder Cup between Europe and USA? It depends who you ask.
During Team USA Captain Zach Johnson’s press conference on Tuesday, an Italian journalist asked him why the media has tabbed the Americans the favorite to retain the Cup and win on European soil for the first time in 30 years.
“The media is saying we are the favorites? Well, the media knows everything, so that makes sense,” he said with a wry smile.
Despite the U.S. having won the biennial bash two years ago at home at Whistling Straits by the largest margin in the modern era, Johnson has been adamant his team is the underdog. He argued playing on the road places the U.S. at a disadvantage and singled out the role of the 13th man for Team Europe.
“It’s hard to win outside of your comfort zone,” Johnson said. “The way I see it when it comes to favorites or this, that or the other, we are not the favorites when we step onto the first tee because of the crowd. We are not the favorites because of what’s happened and transpired over the last so-many-odd years, and they have got a really, really good team playing well. So, hey, I love that. Our backs are against the wall, and that’s the way we are going to approach it.”
NBC lead analyst Paul Azinger, who was the winning U.S. captain at home in 2008, said he couldn’t believe the U.S. is being judged as the favorite.
“The Euros are the favorite by a mile,” Azinger said. “They have the home course advantage, and that’s becoming a huge thing.
“This is an emotional event for the players,” he continued. “It means the world to them. I think for Europe it’s immeasurable what it means for them to win the Ryder Cup. I think it’s more measurable for the Americans. I always feel that Europe should be the favorite in these events.”
Max Homa is a Ryder Cup rookie, but he didn’t hesitate in naming the Euros the favorite based on history alone.
“It’s almost impossible to think we’re the favorite just considering we haven’t won (on European soil) in 30 years,” Homa said. “I would imagine it is very even. It would be impossible to say we are some glaring favorites considering how great their team is and our lack of success over there.”
But European Team Captain Luke Donald has staked claim to being the underdog too and pushed back that the U.S. are the favorites. Donald cited the bookies as naming the Americans the favorites.
“If you look at betting forecasts, we would be the underdogs, and we’re fine with that. Americans are very strong,” he said. “Obviously they are coming off an amazing win two years ago, but I have full faith in our team.”
Speaking with Golfweek recently in Napa, Johnson compared the talk of who is the favorite to mattering about as much as college football’s preseason polls.
“This is one tournament, this is like one game, the first game of the year and in preseason polls who gets all the love? Well, it’s Alabama, Georgia, USCs and Texas, the big schools because they win. And Europe has won a lot over there,” Johnson said. “Plus their best players are playing really good. The guys that qualified for the team are playing great. So I think there’s a lot of truth in the matter that it’s hard to win over there. They usually rise to the occasion and on paper, they’re really good.”
Perhaps the most interesting part of this debate over who is the favorite is how each captain is seeking that mental edge. Has traditionally being labeled the favorite been a burden to Team USA that Johnson is attempting to minimize. Homa mused, “I guess both sides are doing it (touting themselves as the underdog) to take some pressure off.”
Padraig Harrington, who was captain at Whistling Straits, has his own theory that touches on the mental aspect of the competition and the pressure of expectations.
“We go to try to win the Ryder Cup, whereas the U.S. tries not to lose it,” he said. “Because they’re favorites, because they should win, they’re afraid, whereas we’re the country cousins. We have a point to prove. Even if we did find oil in our backyard, we’d still have a point to prove.”
And to Azinger it all adds up to a 1 percent advantage to the Europeans.
“I always looked at the Ryder Cup, in my generation, my era, as being razor thin. I would compare it to being in Vegas. There’s only a 1 percent advantage in blackjack, but they’re building some pretty nice hotels on it.”
