The 2023 “Who Dey?” Ryder Cup

As the PGA Tour’s year winds to a close with two events to go, the talk in men’s golf now shifts to who will be playing in the Ryder Cup in late September. The four majors produced a variety of results in 2023.  This spring, Jon Rahm won The Masters while Brooks Koepka claimed the PGA Championship.  The summer months produced two surprise major winners in Wyndham Clark (US Open) and Brian Harmon (British Open). Those major victories carry such weight (in Ryder Cup points, that is) that the four major winners are almost a 100% lock to appear on either the US team (Koepka, Clark, and Harmon) or Team Europe (Rahm).   Each team has 12 positions with the top six point leaders guaranteed a spot.  The remaining half-dozen will be selected by the US Captain Zach Johnson and European Captain Luke Donald. This year’s Ryder Cup matches will be played in Rome, Italy for the first time.  The three-day event will start on Friday, September 29 and continue through Sunday, October 1. On paper, the US team looks to be the clear favorite.  Don’t fall for it! Just like good ol’ Charlie Brown (the US) tries to kick that football every fall, his holder (Lucy – the European team in this case) seems to find a way to embarrass Chuck in this event in the past two decades. The Europeans (usually the clear underdogs) have won seven of the past ten matches against the better known and higher ranked golf squad from the United States.  This September’s matches in Rome will provide a boisterous Italian home crowd a chance to supercharge the European golf team. Based on recent history, “We’re doomed, Charlie Brown! This three-day event opens with a couple of days of 2-player team competition and concludes with Sunday’s individual match-ups. The best ball matches feature the two US players against two European golfers with each playing their own golf ball from tee to green.  The lower of the two players’ scores will count for the team. The other 2-man competition involves the unique alternate shot format.  In these matches, the two teammates play just one ball from the tee box into the hole.  If one player hits the golf ball into the rough off the tee, his partner’s first swing on the hole will come from the deep grass.  . Trying to figure out the best pairing of teammates can be quite stressful. Nearly twenty years ago, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were clearly the best players in the world.