Ryder Cup 2018: Why the U.S. lost, and lessons they need to learn
The team was set up on star power, not on-course chemistry
Looking at the makeup of the team, it was 12 four-ball players and only a couple who could legitimately play alternate shot. Next time we are in Europe, we need to learn to pick some alternate shot, hit-it-in-the-fairway guys, even if they have not won the most that season.
Alternate shot is the reason Thomas Bjorn picked Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia, guys who most of the time hit a straight ball and park it in the short grass and on the green. They came through for him. So, did Paul Casey who has been left of teams in years past.
Maybe Zach Johnson should have been picked as a player and Phil Mickelson as vice-captain, just as an example. It’s hard to leave friendship out of it, but Europe manages to do that. Sure, people get hurt feelings, but if it’s to make the rest of the team more successful, they have to understand.
Based on the success Europe had all week, and the wild amount of support European players who were watching from home sent the team’s way on social media, that formula clearly works, and it paid off big time this week.
Tiger – among others – just ran out of steam
Woods shouldn’t have played more than three matches, two fourball and the singles. He looked exhausted. Probably was. He’s not the only one. Finishing near the end of the Tour Championship included four members of the U.S. team: Koepka, Reed, Watson and Mickelson. Were they tired from the long season? Were they just playing poorly? These are things we will never know because they will never tell us. It wasn’t a good sign in Atlanta.
American putters struggle to adapt to European green speed
Slow greens drive our players nuts because they are unaccustomed to them on a week-in-week-out basis. Europe plays slow greens most of their year. When even the best putters on the American side are used to putting on the turf equivalent of an NHL hockey rink, it takes more than a day or two to adjust. By the time players get caught up, it’s often too late.