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Ryder Cup

USA Strives for Historic Ryder Cup Day

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KOHLER – The last time the USA Ryder Cup team was in such control of a tournament, it was 1979 and The Knack’s “My Sharona” was the No. 1 hit in the country and USA team captain Billy Casper was treated to a 17-11 win at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. America’s Larry Nelson went 5-0 just as ESPN launched as a small cable network in Bristol, Connecticut.

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This Sunday morning, the United States leads Europe 11-5 as the singles portion of the 43rd Ryder Cup will soon begin. Twelve matches will commence and the USA will begin with a -5000 wagering advantage.

Tee Times range from 12:04pm to 2:05pm (EDT).

No team has ever come back to win from a six point Sunday morning deficit. But, 12 points are on the line today.

Sunday Morning Scoreboard: UNITED STATES 🇺🇸 11, EUROPE 🇪🇺 5

Ryder Cup Leaderboard (link)

Overall Scoring (RyderCupCom)

Singles Matches: (USA vs. Europe)

Xander Schauffele vs. Rory McIlroy

Patrick Cantlay vs. Shane Lowry

Scottie Scheffler vs. Jon Rahm

Bryson DeChambeau vs. Sergio Garcia

Collin Morikawa vs. Viktor Hovland

Dustin Johnson vs. Paul Casey

Brooks Koepka vs. Bernd Wiesberger

Tony Finau vs. Ian Poulter

Justin Thomas vs. Tyrrell Hatton

Harris English vs. Lee Westwood

Jordan Spieth vs. Tommy Fleetwood

Daniel Berger vs. Matt Fitzpatrick

USA Stays Hot at Ryder Cup Day 2

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KOHLER – At 9am (EDT) today, coverage of the 43rd Ryder Cup switched from Golf Channel to NBC and as they made the switch, the USA’s Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger were 3-up after three holes over Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia, Europe and Spain’s very best.

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In the second match this morning, Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawabegan Saturday morning foursomes just as hot as their teammates, and lead (at 9am) 3-up through three against Europe’s Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton.

Europe’s Bernd Wiesberger and Viktor Hovland grabbed a 1-up lead over Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth while Lee Westwood & Matt Fitzpatrickwere just in progress against their American hosts, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele

It’s all in the start of Day 2 at Whistling Straits after the US staked the largest Day 1 lead in 46 years.

Ryder Cup Leaderboard (link)

Overall Scoring (RyderCupCom)

Friday’s Results

Afternoon Four-Ball

Europe’s Paul Casey & Bernd Wiesberger lost to

USA’s Dustin Johnson & Xander Schauffele, 2 & 1

Europe’s Tyrrell Hatton & Jon Rahm

Halved

USA’sScottie Scheffler & Bryson DeChambeau

Europe’s Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry lost to

USA’s Tony Finau & Harris English, 4 & 3

Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood & Viktor Hovland

Halved

Justin Thomas & Patrick Cantlay

Morning Round – Foursomes

USA’s Jordan Spieth & Justin Thomas lost

3 & 1 > to

Europe’s Jon Rahm & Sergio Garcia

USA’s Dustin Johnson & Collin Morikawa

< 3 & 2

over Europe’s Viktor Hovland & Paul Casey

USA’s Daniel Berger & Brooks Koepka < 2 & 1

over Europe’s Matt Fitzpatrick & Lee Westwood

USA’s Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay

< 5 & 3

over Europe’s Rory McIlroy & Ian Poulter

The Basics

COURSE: Whistling Straits – (Kohler, Wisconsin)

ARCHITECT: Tom and Alice Dye

YARDS/PAR: 7,390 yards/Par 71

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Team Europe (17 1/2 to 10 1/2)

PAST RESULTS: Last Ryder Cup at Le Golf National – France (Link)

SOCIAL MEDIA: #RyderCup @PGA #RyderCupUSA #GoUSA @RyderCupEurope #TeamEurope

OFFICIAL SITE: (Ryder Cup)

2021 Ryder Cup Preview: Brooks Koepka Fuels an Old-Fashioned Controversy

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KOHLER – What’s the run-up to the Ryder Cup without a little Team USA controversy? While Team Europe seems to groove into its own special chemistry for each Ryder Cup event, the U S of A always approaches the match play tournament with a combination of complaining, griping, and theatrics.

This year the controversy started with comments by Brooks Koepka and were magnified with Paul Azinger did a media-only call to promote NBC Sports coverage of the event.

Let the commentary speak for itself:

“It’s tough,” said Koepka to Golf Digest. “There are times where I’m like, I won my match. I did my job. What do you want from me? I know how to take responsibility for the shots I hit every week. Now, somebody else hit a bad shot and left me in a bad spot, and I know this hole is a loss. That’s new, and you have to change the way you think about things. You go from an individual sport all the time to a team sport one week a year,” he said to a question about the differences between the PGA Tour and Ryder Cup (team) format.

“Brooks, I just read that article, I’m not sure he loves the Ryder Cup that much,” Azinger said during an NBC Golf call with the media. “If he doesn’t love it, he should relinquish his spot and get people there who do love the Ryder Cup.

“Not everybody embraces it. But if you don’t love it, and you’re not sold out, then I think Brooks should, you know, especially being hurt, consider whether or not he really wants to be there,” added Azinger.

“And then if you add the Bryson dynamic to that, that might be an easier decision for him. But Brooks is one of the most candid, most honest guys there ever ism and if he’s blatantly honest with himself and he doesn’t want to be there, he should come out and say it. But, I don’t know, I’m a fan of both players, and I just feel like it’s gonna be one or the other. They’re gonna put the weight of the team on their shoulders or they’re gonna be a pain in the neck,” noted Azinger.

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Team Rosters

Europe 🇪🇺

Team Europe Page (link)

Padraig Harrington Captain

Robert Karlsson Vice captain

Luke Donald Vice captain

Martin Kaymer Vice captain

Graeme McDonald Vice captain

Henrik Stenson Vice captain

Paul Casey Automatic qualifier

Matt Fitzpatrick Automatic qualifier

Tyrrell Hatton Automatic qualifier

Tommy Fleetwood Automatic qualifier

Rory McIlroy Automatic qualifier

Viktor Hovland Automatic qualifier

Jon Rahm Automatic qualifier

Lee Westwood Automatic qualifier

Bernd Wiesberger Automatic qualifier

Sergio Garcia Captain’s pick

Shane Lowry Captain’s pick

Ian Poulter Captain’s pick

USA 🇺🇸

USA Team Page (link)

Steve Stricker Captain

Phil Mickelson Vice captain

Fred Couples Vice captain

Collin Morikawa Automatic qualifier

Dustin Johnson Automatic qualifier

Bryson DeChambeau Automatic qualifier

Brooks Koepka Automatic qualifier

Justin Thomas Automatic qualifier

Patrick Cantlay Automatic qualifier

Daniel Berger Captain pick

Harris English Captain pick

Tony Finau Captain pick

Xander Schauffele Captain pick

Scottie Scheffler Captain pick

Jordan Spieth Captain pick

Ryder Cup Odds (by Fan Duel)

USA (-195)

Europe (+175)

Draw (+1200)

(As of 9/15)

Ryder Cup News & Notes

  • The September 24th golf tournament marks the beginning of the much-awaited 2020ne Ryder Cup competition, delayed a year because of the restrictions in travel for the COVID-19 global pandemic. There will be a combination of celebrity matches, practice rounds, a pre-opening ceremony, then the official Opening Ceremony at Whistling Straits’ Dye Plaza.
  • It is customary for the two team captains to reveal their planned line-ups for Friday morning’s foursome matches.
  • Aside from the constant controversy with Bryson DeChambeau and now former great and current TV commentator Paul Azinger, Brooks Koepka says he’s “ready to go” after a hand injury while hacking through the root of a tree at the TOUR Championship two weeks ago. “I’ll be there. I’m good to go,” he said via text message to Golf Week on Wednesday. “I’m feeling good. Been doing my rehab, doing everything I need to do to be ready for the Cup. I’ll be there ready to play.”

Europe Finalizes Ryder Cup Roster

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SHEBOYGAN – Team Europe Captain Padraig Harrington finalized the 12 members of his team on following the conclusion of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England, the final tournament to determine the automatic qualifiers and the captain’s picks for this week’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.

With his captain’s picks, Harrington chose Ryder Cup veterans Sergio Garcia of Spain and Ian Poulter of England along with Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who will be making his event debut.Left off the team was Justin Rose of England, who has played in the past four Ryder Cups for Europe.

Harrington said he selected Garcia and Poulter for their abilities but also for their leadership. Garcia is Team Europe’s all-time points scorer in Ryder Cup play, and Poulter will be playing in his seventh event. As for Lowry, who won The Open Championship in 2019, Harrington said he earned his first opportunity.

Entering Sunday, Harrington knew five of the players who would be traveling to Wisconsin but had to await the results of the tournament to determine four more automatic qualifiers. They turned out to be 11-time Team Europe member Lee Westwood of England and 35-year-old Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, a Ryder Cup rookie. They were joined by England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Matthew Fitzpatrick, who had all but wrapped up their spots.

Players who previously had secured their positions were world No. 1 Jon Rahm of Spain, Tommy Fleetwood and Paul Casey of England, Viktor Hovland of Norway and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. This will be the first Ryder Cup for Hovland.

The United States team will attempt to regain the coveted Ryder Cup, which Team Europe won 17 1/2 to 10 1/2 in 2018 at Le Golf National in Paris. The delayed 2020 Ryder Cup will be held Sept. 24-26 on American turf again in rural Wisconsin, along the shore of Lake Michigan.

Team USA consists of automatic qualifiers Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, along with captains picks Jordan Spieth, Harris English, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Daniel Berger and Scottie Scheffler.