Ryder Cup 2018: Why the U.S. lost, and lessons they need to learn

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CHASKA, MN – OCTOBER 02: Matt Kuchar of the United States celebrates during the closing ceremony of the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club on October 2, 2016 in Chaska, Minnesota. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images) /

Now, it’s on to 2020.

It if were me, I’d mow down the rough at Whistling Straits to make the course look like Augusta National used to in the pre-Tiger-proofing days. Maybe a tad of rough, just because the course is hilly, and you don’t want the ball to roll backward 100 yards.

I’d get rid of that bunker in the middle of the 18th hole, because it can always be put back, and if Dustin Johnson is still playing well, which I’m going to assume he will, I sure as heck would not want him to have a penalty for hitting there.

I’d put some collar around the greens for chipping to the putting surface and to prevent balls from rolling back off the green 50 feet.

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I’d make sure I had some guys for alternate shot, which the U.S. used to dominate, and now doesn’t because our players have been trained to hit it as far as possible with the knowledge that from there, they can wedge it to the green. And they do. So, if we don’t have any alternate shot, hit-it-down-the-middle-guys, we have to have a course with rough that’s manageable. Plus a PGA Tour set up.

I’d hide the guys who aren’t playing well, just like Euros used to do. Just because somebody won three events between October and June doesn’t mean they are in great form in September or whenever the next Ryder Cup is actually played.

If possible, I’d find some great partnerships, like Rory and Sergio. I mean, they were at each other’s weddings. Nobody over here knew that Molinari and Fleetwood were such good buds, but a team like that can only help. A team of Rickie Fowlers might be ideal. He seems to like nearly everybody, and nearly everybody likes him.

Next. Patrick Reed took the low road in blasting Jim Furyk, Jordan Spieth. dark

Of course, you can only work with what the points system gives you. And other than maybe resting Woods and Spieth one match, Furyk worked with the guys who showed up. Yeah, they were all pretty frustrated and annoyed. In the end, the golf course got them. Each day it became more frustrating. By Sunday it was like Dante’s Inferno, his descent into the nine circles of hell, each one worse than the one before it.

Maybe by 2020 we can get it turned into Paridiso, Dante’s journey into heaven.

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