In Ryder Cup, Europe Leaves Egos at Door. Those of U.S. Slam the Door.

Here is the European perspective if you’re interested.... A. Brendan Steele was the first to play the course thinking at the time he might make the team. Thomas played it this year, when it was most relevant. No one else joined Thomas who made the team. Lack of respect for the course. B. The Americans played the course in over par, most days. The Europeans won matches close to par. So it could be assumed the Americans underperformed. The rough was high. C. The rough was high, and the Americans were in it. Not only in it but deep in it. And not only this they were in it with irons. Sometimes rather than chipping out hitting for the green which also caught out some Europeans. D. The wind got up and it got cold. The Americans were not hitting it as far and were hitting it off line. Bad course management. Tiredness from having the Tour Championship the week before, which included five Europeans. Notice there is no mention of Captain or team. It is because this came secondary, the fact is they drove poorly, played poorly and never got any better, or at least not enough to win. Patrick Reed shushing the crowd didn’t help, neither did the T-Shirt with Beat Europe which angered European players....

I don't understand all the fulminating about team chemistry. The American team spent too much time in the rough and didn't make putts. Was that because they couldn't park their egos at the door or because they didn't play well enough to win? The answer's pretty obvious to me.

The Ryger Cup and its so-called spirit of teamwork is an anachronism in the days of $2 million prize money for the one person who wins the next major. It's like asking Tom Brady and Joey Porter to be best buds for a weekend. Put your egos away, really? I have a hard time mustering sympathy for affluent entitled guys whose million-dollar feelings are hurt because they didn't get to play with Mr. X Y or Z. It doesn't square with how they build up their trust funds the rest of the year on tour.

Match play rewards the gutsy player and stroke play calls for caution. The Euros were considered underdogs and the old saying goes: You can’t joke if you’re behind.

Cheering loudly after the other side misses a putt is not golf. It's football or soccer. Same goes for beating your chest after your side wins. The Ryder Cup should be abolished.

Just the usual arrogance from the Americans.

**"In the end, though, the United States lost despite parading out an all-star team that included nine players who have won majors, for the same reason as ever: The Americans are not a band of brothers."** is most of what one needs to know.

Can we now move on from Tiger Woods?

Surprised? lack of sportsmanship, civility and fair play have finally reached our once revered game of golf. "America great again..." No, it's regressing more-so!

Wow, people making such a huge deal about this. Americans golf is one of the most individual of all sports. The Ryder Cup is really just the PGA Tour members from Europe playing the PGA Tour members hailing from the US. There really is hardly any distnction. I've yet to hear a real analysis of just how well did the Yanks play? Were they shooting well above par or were they just outplayed on a course that didn't fit their games. Noone was going to beat MoliWood.

As much as I admire Jim Furyk he was, by his own admission, beaten by a better Captain. Jim made a massive error in pairing Tiger with Reed again on the second day after a dismal display on day one’s four balls then not putting them out in the afternoon we thought he would split them for the second day. To pair them in the same format again sent a big signal to Tommy Bjorn and the rest of the European Team either player power was ruling the dressing room or he lacked the nouse to Captain. Another big surprise to us was why didn’t he play Webb Simpson who is a brilliant thinker on a golf course, not a massive hitter but plays strategically...surely a needed skill in a pairing. Europe has a big advantage over America in that the core of our tour is quite small compared to the US tour, the players know each other really well and don’t let “ego’s” into the mix...if they do they are soon grounded by their peers or senior players. Mr Arnold Palmer once summed it up when he said after a tournament in Britain all the players go for a drink together afterwards, the Americans he said are off doing their own thing. Hardly any of the US team had played a competitive round in Paris at it may be coincidence that the best player on the US team played in the French Open just weeks previously. America needs to pick its next Captain wisely and build a team around Thomas, Simpson, Speith, Reed (who gets the Ryder Cup ethos). I predict a US win next time.

Phil Mickelson once groused that the draconian tax laws in California made it difficult for his family to live on a pre-tax income of, oh, $60-million. Recently, fans of Tiger Woods wave to him on the golf course and he returned the greeting with a smile and a raised golf club with his middle finger raised alongside it...twice. These two cannot lose enough to make me happy.

Patrick Reed is a sullen, self-absorbed jerk; it is a wonder Furyk could find anyone to partner with him.

Furyk made some bad captain's picks, hitting fairways was a must, he knew this, but, there must have been pressure from outside to include some picks. With Woods and Mickelson gone, the 2020 team will have a better chance at camarada. Patrick Reed would have trouble being buddies with anybody, he's disliked by everyone, a real jerk, exclude him from the next team.

Maybe the US courses are too easy compared to European courses. Our courses are set up for long hitters with finely manicured fairways and with the exception of the US open the rough is really not that rough for the pros. Playing European links courses with killer roughs and less than stellar fairways requires all the pros over there to be creative. Looks like the US golfers can learn a fee things from the Europeans.

It appears the match being played the week following the Tour Championship and the conclusion of the FedEx Cup was a huge handicap to the Americans. Hats off to the Euro's!

Bottom line our guys just didn't play good smart golf. Phil, Bubba, Patrick all played poorly in the last few tournaments. Admit it or not Tiger was spent. Dustin is dealing with personal and putter issues. Bryson's game is obviously hot and cold. Now figure in the slower greens, narrow fairways high rough on a course our guys hadn't played much and this adds up to a loss. Let's face it all Euro's grew up playing slower greens which makes it easier for them to adjust there putting style to match the greens. Hopefully with the schedule changes in four years the guys won't be as tired and have additional time to get acclimated to the time change and needed rest. But we still need our guys to get along. I think there's an issue between Jordan and Patrick and from what I just read it sounds like it may get worse before it gets better. I would guess had we won there would have been nothing said about the pairing change and Jim would look like a genius. Well better luck in two years.

The curse of Kuch, dancing on his opponents lie in the 2010 Ryder Cup!

It appears the match being played the week following the Tour Championship and the conclusion of the FedEx Cup was a huge handicap to the Americans. Hats off to the Euro's!

Oh, my. In the most individual "sport" with a ridiculously oversized ego being one of the most important attributes, the US lost a team event. The republic will surely crumble and we will all die. Mr Furyk can now get back to his preferred cat herding career and we can go back to wringing our collective hands over the state of US men's tennis.

Honoring the "old guard" via nostalgic picks of Mickelson and Woods proved to be costly. Phil hadn't been playing well, and Tiger, despite his 2018 renaissance, had not compiled a reliable Ryder Cup record. Experience does count, but it can be applied behind the ropes. Today's crop of youthful breakout stars comprise the real tigers, but not enough of them were chosen to fill out the squad. That,along with Furyk's counterintuitive pairings, sealed the deal. Bu,t hey ... let's give credit where credit is due; the Europeans were game on. Congratulations.

The Ryder Cup has lost my interest since Mickelson's outburst in 2014. This article says it all. If Mickelson were so dedicated to the Ryder Cup he would have declined the captain's pick because he already knew he couldn't hit the narrow fairways. Even in defeat, the US team shows what they are about. A bunch of individuals answering teed up questions in a veiled manner so as to not accept blame for just getting beat. Even if they would have won, the US players would have boarded their private jets in the afternoon and gone their separate ways. The Euros are probably still partying this morning.

The schadenfreude after a US Ryder Cup loss is so much fun. Almost as good as when New Zealand fails to win a Rugby World Cup.

Reed seems to have come a long way since he was ostracized by his former teammates at FSU for consistently cheating. Perhaps he learned something from the experience.

can we ask bubba watson to professionally rescind any further spots on the ryder cup team - he's awful! Hate to say it, time to get rid of the old guard as well - Tiger, Phil, Webb, etc!!!

I agree on Tiger and Phil - what about Bubba, Spieth (I understand they qualified, but can you show up!). Stop treating this event like its made for TV and go compete or stop playing...

The only international competition that I root wholeheartedly against the American "team". They make it easy because in a team competition, they still only think about themselves and come across as selfish entitled jerks. The Europeans look like they're having fun. Americans look like they're planning who to blame. Again.

Reed is just cementing the reason why he is not well liked. Take responsibility for playing so your own poor play because e didn't play well at all. Spieth went out and won matches. He's basically saying playing with Tiger Woods coming off a win was a downgrade!!!! Funny stuff. All this psychological stuff is wrong anyway. The US was a huge underdog. Playing an away game against a team that is also stacked with talent...Golf is a game of form. The US had no less than 5 players who were in poor to middling form for a number of months leading into the event while the Euro's had one, Sergio Garcia, who stepped his game. Mickelson playing disgusting golf. Reed way out of form. Fowler coming off injury. DJ out of form. Koepka out of form. Watson out of form and truthfully, not an elite golfer when the courses are set at a championship level. Spieth struggling. Out of those guys only Spieth found his game.

This was a heartbreaking week. I don't think it was about ego as much as camaraderie, captain's picks and the course. Making the captain's picks based on ranking along with popularity when the course was undoubtedly going to be set up narrow as can be was just plain stupid. Captain's will be picked apart no matter what they do, but a win for national pride makes a lot of questions go away. Phil Mickelson has been an amazing and inspiring golfer for twenty years, but his poor performance over the past six months and his absolutely dreadful driving meant he shouldn't be on the team. I hope the next captain makes their picks a couple of weeks earlier and there is a mandate that the team has to spend some time together and playing together to gel as a group. Finally, knowing that the Ryder Cup was going to be played on this course several years ago, wouldn't you think maybe most of the US team would have tried to play it in a tournament set-up at least once? The crowds in Europe are always going to be a factor, but these other issues can be mitigated.

Reed complaining is rich. Paired with Tiger he shot a likely 85 or higher. That doesn't win most matches at the local muni against a quality player, much less an event against the best in the world. He choked HARD. And if he did so because he was miffed at not getting to play with Speith? Ridiculous. Team Euro is simply more cohesive. They like each other, and have fun trouncing the Yanks. Meanwhile our guys are individual-first types. Proper perspective is due though - can we be honest? Beating the Europeans (BTW - are the UK guys going to have to "Brexit" the team?) hasn't been high on our "to do list" since the middle 1940s or so. Exciting theater, but I wouldn't have lorded our win over anyone, and won't hear about the loss from any of my European friends.

The Ryder Cup is only of secondary interest to the US players, at best a consolation prize if they should never win a “real” major tournament. Yes, it carries prestige, but … meh. Not that the Euros don’t want to win Majors, they do (and they do win them). But it means so much more to Europe, because they know and appreciate that it’s so much harder to win as a team in this weird and wonderful game. European players treat the Ryder Cup as the fifth Major Championship (and probably ranked behind or between The Open and The Masters), as the icing on the cake, a crown jewel. The US players just can’t be bothered and it shows.

The Americans failed to compete, never mind win because of two simple facts. They had a hard time hitting fairways and they couldn’t putt consistently. Pairings weren’t going to stop Reed from hitting the ball off line or allow Spieth, who has putted terribly all year, to sink those 20 footers. I love Ryder Cup play. I believe it is the truest test of golf because it forces the golfers to compete against their opponent and not the scoreboard. Until the Americans take this premise to heart, their success will be limited.

Reed's concerns are justifiable. Thomas and Spieth are too good as individuals to be paired together all the time. And, the Euros are going to provide tight courses with long rough every darn time, so Americans will just have to learn to hit stinger 3 woods and hard 2-irons. Tiger Woods had to do this in the past even during his heyday, so is this not obvious? The Americans were not coached well and were not prepared well either, imo.

Camaraderie is a factor, but I think a bit over rated. I think the main reason Euros have such a good record recently is that they always have that underdog mentality, which is easier than playing as the favorite. Euros play more relaxed, they sink more putts, they make more birdies. This has even more impact when Euros play in the US locations, where they have had an unusual run of success. Golf is a very hard sport when you are expected to win (Tiger's record notwithstanding; Tiger of old was a total, freakish aberration).

The American team should be ashamed by their performance - in particular, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson played horribly (neither one earned any points) and, in my opinion the only reason they were picked was because they increase TV ratings and hence revenue, which to the PGA sponsor, are the single most important factor; if you don't believe this then you didn't watch the telecast which had so many commercials that it was difficult to maintain interest. Moreover, Tiger was clearly tired and disinterested. When TV ratings are more important than fielding a competitive team the result is almost always a loss. There are a number of other reasons way the American team did so poorly, but the above was the most important one.

As someone else said, the venue was known 6 years ago - Tiger last played here as a junior - not ideal preparation - the one American who did play here recently also did rather well, reinforcing the point. I thought the best we could do was a draw or a narrow defeat, not a wipe-out in the other direction. Furyck didn't have a huge choice of wildcards, but one should never have been picked and he seriously needed to look at his pairings after Friday - but it seems he went for easy options rather than the tough arguments.. Ryder Cup golf must be the most pressured of arena's and time and again the USA crumbles. Poulter may not win much but in Ryder Cups he'd die for the team and therein may well lie the difference. The USA needs a new Payne Stewart to lead the countering heroics.

It seems to me the US team was picked more for tv ratings than for performance potential. Phil Mickelson? Tiger Woods? I know Tiger has played well lately but he is anything but a team player.

Each team could be said to reflect the ethos of their homes: Europeans are much more comfortable finding success together, Americans are more comfortable seeing success as an individual achievement. Unfortunately for Americans, life, like the Ryder Cup, is something that is best done together.

The fact that at least half of the European team had just played on that same golf course during the French Open a few months earlier and therefore had a far better experience with the course and the greens had more to do with their victory than any camaraderie issue.

Several of the US players should not have been on the team and are only there because of pressure from their sponsors. Until the US turns the page on the "former" players and moves on, this will repeat itself. Again.