The long overdue ass-kicking of Sergio (who I thought behaved himself surprisingly well), Poulter (who got in a few glares, but was happily forced to keep most of it in), and a few others is now in the books, and nobody needs me to rehash what's been reported pretty much non-stop for the past 24 hours.
While it is fun to bask in the victory......and pretty much everyone currently believes yesterday was/is the beginning of a new golden age of US Ryder Cup golf......an awful lot can happen in the next 2 years. Myself, I'm simply going to re-focus on the Tour for now and pickup on RC thinking during the summer of 2023.
Meanwhile, the attached is an article from Golf Digest which addressed an issue I myself have heard little, if anything, about; and that's basic course setup. Nobody will deny that the Straits was a beast of a course for everyone involved, but it accurately discusses how the basic setup played to the strengths of the US players (as one would expect).
It goes onto address the disadvantages the bomber Americans were up against at Le Golf National in 2018 (whose setup accentuated qualities that Jim Furyk appeared to largely ignore in his selections). Seems to me you can bet a fair amount of your respective retirement funds the next Euro captain will almost assuredly setup the Rome track in a manner similar to what Thomas Bjorn did.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/ryder-cup-2021-home-captains-course-set-up-overlooked-influence-on-matches
Now, even the folks who thought the US was a clear favorite going into the Straits......I freely admit I myself was not one of them.....probably didn't envision a 10 point win. And it's therefore probably reasonable to go into the 2023 RC with high confidence in the US prospects.
But this piece got me to realizing how much track setup.......the responsibility of the home captain.....can influence things. And that's all before we acknowledge the role of the home crowd (which I myself felt wasn't discussed enough this past weekend).
At the end of the day, there can be no true golden age for either team until they win on the road. The US takes stacked teams (on paper) to Europe everytime......not just in 2018.......and gotten their clocks cleaned. Let's hope clearing out the old wood this year in favor of the new lumber will symbolize a fundamental change in this matchup.
While it is fun to bask in the victory......and pretty much everyone currently believes yesterday was/is the beginning of a new golden age of US Ryder Cup golf......an awful lot can happen in the next 2 years. Myself, I'm simply going to re-focus on the Tour for now and pickup on RC thinking during the summer of 2023.
Meanwhile, the attached is an article from Golf Digest which addressed an issue I myself have heard little, if anything, about; and that's basic course setup. Nobody will deny that the Straits was a beast of a course for everyone involved, but it accurately discusses how the basic setup played to the strengths of the US players (as one would expect).
It goes onto address the disadvantages the bomber Americans were up against at Le Golf National in 2018 (whose setup accentuated qualities that Jim Furyk appeared to largely ignore in his selections). Seems to me you can bet a fair amount of your respective retirement funds the next Euro captain will almost assuredly setup the Rome track in a manner similar to what Thomas Bjorn did.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/ryder-cup-2021-home-captains-course-set-up-overlooked-influence-on-matches
Now, even the folks who thought the US was a clear favorite going into the Straits......I freely admit I myself was not one of them.....probably didn't envision a 10 point win. And it's therefore probably reasonable to go into the 2023 RC with high confidence in the US prospects.
But this piece got me to realizing how much track setup.......the responsibility of the home captain.....can influence things. And that's all before we acknowledge the role of the home crowd (which I myself felt wasn't discussed enough this past weekend).
At the end of the day, there can be no true golden age for either team until they win on the road. The US takes stacked teams (on paper) to Europe everytime......not just in 2018.......and gotten their clocks cleaned. Let's hope clearing out the old wood this year in favor of the new lumber will symbolize a fundamental change in this matchup.
