Ryder Cup - Europe's Chances

[IanM]

Always closer than is looks on paper... (in the past 20 years!)

Molinari winning yesterday big boost - dont want USA going in holding all 4 Majors!

Worried to hear on the TV, that several Americans shared a house for Carnoustie and are getting all "Teamy!" That will do them lots of good...

Shame the Cup is in a place where the locals couldnt give a stuff about it!

 

[Orikoru]

So after The Open the Ryder Cup possible teams look like this

Molinari
Rose
Hatton
McIlroy
Rahm
Fleetwood
Noren
Casey

Then four wildcards which imo three will be

Poulter , Stenson and Garcia which leaves one spot

Currently Fitzpatrick is the next in line on the points just behind Casey and every chance he can over take him

Then there is Rafa , Pieters , Knox and I guess Levy might be the one Frenchman

That for me is very strong team

US Team at the moment is

Koepka
DJ
Reed
Thomas
Watson
Spieth
Fowler
Simpson

Wild Cards could be - Schuaffle, Kisner ,

Then you have three vets they could pick - Woods , Mickleson and Zach Johnson

For a while a lot of talk has been about how the US are going to walk it - but is that really going to be the case ?

Yes.

 

[merv79]

I think the line ups are pretty evenly matched, I believe that Europe will be stronger lower down the team.

Form has much to do with it, it becomes very difficult if you have to carry players. Not sure about Hatton, he doesn't seem to be in good form so hopefully that will pick up. I think Europe has a really good mix of fourball and foursomes players

A lot of bombers on the US team so if they set the course up to allow the players to hit it anywhere, it will be tough for Europe, but the European Tour will be crazy if they don't make hitting fairways a premium!

 

[mhwgc]

Yes.

Earlier this year I would have gone with Poulter, Stenson and Garcia as the 3 wild card picks. However, all 3 are suffering in terms of form although Stenson has had an injury.
I see Oleson making it but the next month or so will be vital for those 3 to show some form or Bjorn may have other ideas. I can't see him passing on all 3 but don't expect him to go with them all.

I think the US team look very strong and you even with some relatively new players. think it will be close.

 

[Dasit]

Odds are pretty much even now

How anyone can think USA are going to walking it looking at those line ups must be bananas

Hoping it is going to be a real close one, I just hope Europe comes in with the most in form guys, 2 years ago we got destroyed because half the team were out of form

 

[Slab]

Odds are pretty much even now

How anyone can think USA are going to walking it looking at those line ups must be bananas

Hoping it is going to be a real close one, I just hope Europe comes in with the most in form guys, 2 years ago we got destroyed because half the team were out of form

Yeah I see it much closer then I did in the build up to the last one

For me the biggest concern isn't the captains picks but the ones he has no choice over (which was the big problem two years ago)

This time round it looks much stronger to the point that Europe's auto-qualified weak links are arguably Hatton & McIlroy where both could be out of this world but equally it could be that Hatton's mental frailties surface and Rory still cant hit a decent short iron (& putt better)

So I guess if the weakest players are those two the team's actually looking pretty good

 

[Orikoru]

Yeah I see it much closer then I did in the build up to the last one

For me the biggest concern isn't the captains picks but the ones he has no choice over (which was the big problem two years ago)

This time round it looks much stronger to the point that Europe's auto-qualified weak links are arguably Hatton & McIlroy where both could be out of this world but equally it could be that Hatton's mental frailties surface and Rory still cant hit a decent short iron (& putt better)

So I guess if the weakest players are those two the team's actually looking pretty good

Yeah I kinda wish Hatton wasn't there. He looks quite likely to let us down if anyone does.

 

[Dan2501]

US look a lot stronger since my post in Jan. Koepka is back healthy and playing awesome, and so the top 7 of:

Koepka
DJ
Reed
Thomas
Watson
Spieth
Fowler

Looks very strong indeed - especially when you've got a fit and in-contention Tiger, and Phil and Kuch playing some decent stuff + all the young guns that can step in with the likes of Schauffele, Finau, Cantlay, and DeChambeau playing some good golf. We've definitely got our work cut out for us.

I don't think Simpson will end-up in the team. I think that Top 7 will be accompanied by Cantlay, Finau, Tiger, Phil and Kuchar. Would be amazed if Tiger's not in the team.

 

[Orikoru]

US look a lot stronger since my post in Jan. Koepka is back healthy and playing awesome, and so the top 7 of:

Koepka
DJ
Reed
Thomas
Watson
Spieth
Fowler

Looks very strong indeed - especially when you've got a fit and in-contention Tiger, and Phil and Kuch playing some decent stuff + all the young guns that can step in with the likes of Schauffele, Finau, Cantlay, and DeChambeau playing some good golf. We've definitely got our work cut out for us.

I don't think Simpson will end-up in the team. I think that Top 7 will be accompanied by Cantlay, Finau, Tiger, Phil and Kuchar. Would be amazed if Tiger's not in the team.

I'm sure they would pick Tiger if he continues to play reasonably well as he is doing. The boost he would give to their camp and his influence shouldn't be underestimated.

 

[patricks148]

I think the line ups are pretty evenly matched, I believe that Europe will be stronger lower down the team.

Form has much to do with it, it becomes very difficult if you have to carry players. Not sure about Hatton, he doesn't seem to be in good form so hopefully that will pick up. I think Europe has a really good mix of fourball and foursomes players

A lot of bombers on the US team so if they set the course up to allow the players to hit it anywhere, it will be tough for Europe, but the European Tour will be crazy if they don't make hitting fairways a premium!

lets hope so, from what ive seen of it, it was pretty tight and the rough was very long, though with all the good weather that might not be the case come the end of September

 

[MendieGK]

I don't think Simpson will end-up in the team. I think that Top 7 will be accompanied by Cantlay, Finau, Tiger, Phil and Kuchar. Would be amazed if Tiger's not in the team.

I'm not sure Cantlay has done enough to be considered. He's currently 28th in the rankings. Agree with the others though. Bryson will be close though

 

[Grant85]

I would be surprised if America win this to be honest.

I like the look of team Europe at the moment. Perhaps the form of Hatton is a worry who gained a lot of his points early in the campaign.

It looks like the picks will probably be Stenson, Poulter, Garcia and AN Other form player.

Maybe Stenson will not be available if he is unable to play 36 holes in a day. But I still think they will pick him. Form of Garcia could do with a top 5 in the next month or so.

There will not be the same number of Rookies as last time and Europe have a massive advantage on European soil. They have not lost in Europe since 1993 and have only had 2 close calls with 3 victories by a good margin.

America have a good list of players, but they have a few issues.
DJ and Bubba - great players, but with very poor records outside of America.
Spieth and Thomas - again, marquee players but not at their best in recent weeks. Need to find some form and confidence.
Webb Simpson - very poor in Gleneagles, topping his 1st tee shot. Tough to block that out mentally.

Koepka & Reed - probably their best players and they will need big weeks from these guys, one of whom is a rookie.

And what to do with Mickelson and Tiger? Two guys who will probably need a pick, will probably want a pick and the captain will be under massive pressure to pick them. But - both the wrong side of 40, both with Ryder Cup records that don't reflect their abilities and both a doubt to play more than 3 matches out of 5. Not that both these guys will be dead wood, far from it, but it's something that they will have to deal with and it will probably mean leaving a form player at home.

The other side of the coin is - what if they pick say, Xander Shauffle or Tony Finau, ahead of Woods. That would put the guy under quite a bit of pressure.

Also the fact that Phil won a WGC and is still out of the top 7 shows you how the rest of his season has gone. And the fact he has been an unsettling influence in other events will be in the mind of Furyk. He's not far out of the top 7, but is going backwards as guys around him are accumulating more points than him.

Anyway, I've pretty much talked myself into a comfortable Europe win - which won't be the case, but I do think that Europe will win it.

 

[Grant85]

Also blindginly obvious but a European Tour set up at le Golf Nationale will be the play. Maybe even that bit tougher.

The set up in America 2 years ago was embarrassing with every par 4 and 5 basically playing as a birdie hole.

A few weeks ago, Noren won the event in Paris with -7 over 4 days with those at +5 over 2 days getting cut. Given that most PGA tour cuts are under par, it shows you that the PGA tour players just do not play in tough or diverse conditions often.

For me this is the main reason why Europe has been so dominant in the Ryder Cup. A few Americans are realising that playing some European events is massively helpful, and of course Brooks Koepka played his 1st years as a pro over here.

 

[Steve Bamford]

I think it was commonly accepted at the Open de France that the course will be made slightly easier for the Ryder Cup. You won't see a course as tough as 3 weeks ago.

The Americans look strong. Top-7 are home and hosed. Simpson in the last automatic spot has work to do. Phil and TW will be Captain's Picks leaving an automatic and 2 more CPs with Furyk. Simpson, DeC, Finau, Schauffele, Kuchar - even potentially Kisner - plenty of disappointed players there.

More clear-cut in Europe. Casey, Garcia, Poulter and Stenson will be in the side in-addition to the 7 who are there already. That leaves a single spot for Olesen, Knox or even Eddie Pepp.

 

[Grant85]

I think it was commonly accepted at the Open de France that the course will be made slightly easier for the Ryder Cup. You won't see a course as tough as 3 weeks ago.

The Americans look strong. Top-7 are home and hosed. Simpson in the last automatic spot has work to do. Phil and TW will be Captain's Picks leaving an automatic and 2 more CPs with Furyk. Simpson, DeC, Finau, Schauffele, Kuchar - even potentially Kisner - plenty of disappointed players there.

More clear-cut in Europe. Casey, Garcia, Poulter and Stenson will be in the side in-addition to the 7 who are there already. That leaves a single spot for Olesen, Knox or even Eddie Pepp.

Agree with that - but would also include Thomas Pieters, Alex Levy and Rafa C-B, who could get a pick if they have a big result in the next few weeks.

Not certain that Casey will get a pick if he falls out of the automatic spots. He has not made the Ryder Cup his priority at all in previous seasons, not even being a tour member in 2016 - leaving Clarke with a lot of rookies and no option to give him a pick. Thomas Bjorn is a big supporter of the European tour and he may choose to overlook him for this reason.

 

[USER1999]

I don't think Poulter has done enough for me. I would need him to qualify.

I think this RC might be won or lost on the Captains picks, more so than the qualifiers.

 

[Grant85]

I don't think Poulter has done enough for me. I would need him to qualify.

I think this RC might be won or lost on the Captains picks, more so than the qualifiers.

Poulter is a lock for a captains pick. Unless he was injured or gets the yips in the next month, he is in the team.

 

[Pin-seeker]

I don't think Poulter has done enough for me. I would need him to qualify.

I think this RC might be won or lost on the Captains picks, more so than the qualifiers.

But what about his passion?
Haven’t you seen him beat his chest?🙄

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Poulter is a lock for a captains pick. Unless he was injured or gets the yips in the next month, he is in the team.

Murph isn’t a fan of Poults

You are right though - unless he is injured then Poulter will be there either as a wild card or through the qualification

It seems the one people don’t expect to make it is Fitzpatrick despite him just being behind Casey

I think Fitzpatrick will be the more consistent one until the end of the season and get into those qualifiers

Also don’t think there will be any worries about Hatton - he is going to be a feisty one and clearly can play some great golf

Did giggle at someone who suggested Rory will be a weak link :rofl:

 

[Imurg]

Look at Poulter's form and it's not exactly stellar
Apart from his win and a couple of relativity recent top 10's, his form in the last 2 1/2 months doesn't suggest he's going to be anywhere near the team.
Bearing in mind that Big Tom is likely to pick form players, I really feel Poults has got to step up a gear in the next few weeks.