narrominded
Jake Narro, PGA professional, head golf coach at Southeastern Louisiana University and
Backspin publisher
4
celebrating and
congratulating wins
Now that the major golf events of the year
are complete, let’s break down the Ryder Cup
a bit. As usual, the hype leading up to the
biannual matches had me extremely excited
about watching. Unfortunately, by the time
Sunday’s singles matches rolled around, my
excitement had diminished to the point I did
not even watch the end of the competition.
One of the reasons I was so pumped to
watch was the fact that most of the players
on both sides were playing so well leading
into the event. Highlighted by Tiger’s 80th
career win at East Lake, other players like
Justin Rose, Rory McIlory, Tony Finau and
Brooks Koepka were hitting on all cylinders.
Another reason for the anticipation was a few
players were not playing well. This includes
Phil Mickelson, Jordan Speith, Sergio Garcia,
and Henrik Stenson – all great players and
with tons of Ryder Cup experience. Were
they gonna turn it around and how were the
captains going to use them?
Let’s get to the matches. I was up at 2 a.m.
ready to watch and was still an hour late to
the fi rst match. Needless to say, I went to
bed early Friday night. What a perfect start
to the day as the U.S. won three of the fi rst
four matches in the four-ball format. Only
Tiger and Patrick Reed lost their match to
Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari.
However, no one on the American side was
able to beat that duo.
It seemed like the next time we looked
up Saturday afternoon, the matches were
essentially over. Continental Europe won nine
of the next 12 matches to take a commanding
10-6 lead into the singles matches Sunday.
1999 at Brookline and 2014 at Medinah
would remind us the matches were not over
as in both cases, the side that was down came
back and won. However, it didn’t feel that
way this year as the U.S. wasn’t playing good
and looked as if they had very little energy.
The singles matches followed suit as the
Europeans widened the gap and ending up
winning in a landslide 17-11. Then it really
got interesting.
I guess we should start at the top with
Mr. America Patrick Reed. I’ve always like
Patrick despite the confrontational way
he carries himself. It’s easy to see he has a
chip on his shoulder which obviously fuels
him. The way he four-spotted his way onto
the Tour speaks volumes about his tenacity.
Like most of us, his greatest strengths are
his biggest weaknesses which lead him to
say some things he may regret one day. I
questioned as well why Captain Jim Furyk
would bust up he and Speith as they’re
record together in team competitions rivals
the best duos ever. But we all know Speith
and his best friend Justin Thomas wanted
to play and after all, they went 3-1. He then
gave an interview claiming he was blindsided
by the decision which was refuted by Furyk,
Speith and Thomas. It’s a shame they could
not have kept this in the locker room.
Next up is Phil Mickelson. The last
time Phil was at a losing Ryder Cup press
conference, he took a swipe at Captain Tom
Watson, stating they had gone away from
what worked during the 2012 matches at
Valhalla. This time, Mickelson took a shot at
the course setup, stating the greens were too
slow, fairways too narrow and rough too high.
Mickelson must have forgot the statement he
made when Justin Rose suggested the course
in the 2016 matches won by the Americans
at Hazeltine was setup for a birdie fest.
Mickelson’s reply was basically “home fi eld
advantage,” but I guess what’s good for the
goose is not good for the gander. Sour grapes.
Finally how about Dustin Johnson and
Brooks Koepka!? The two best friends
reportedly had to be separated at a post
tournament party in which Dustin’s wife
Paulina was present. I guess all that working
out with Joey D has got them more in a
Conor McGregor UFC mindset than shake
the hand after the match golf etiquette.
John Feinstein, one of my favorite authors
and sports writers, wrote a great piece about
how the Americans react to losing the Ryder
Cup. He states that over the past few years,
the U.S. has tried to mimic the Europeans’
approach to everything Ryder Cup. Feinstein
suggested the U.S. has done a great job of
this but have failed miserably in one glaring
way – learning how to lose gracefully.
Jake