Why the USA will win this Ryder Cup..

I am a proud Canadian, but also a Scotsman and the Ryder Cup is only 8 miles from my birthplace in Perth, so this hurts me ..


I said it first on my TSN 1050 radio hit Sunday morning on the ISR, my gut has been telling me for a while now that this is the perfect storm for the Americans..they are rated as under dogs, but I believe they are going to win this year..


Here's why..


Lets look at the first at the world rankings...apparently the team with the best average World Ranking has won the last five Ryder Cups? The Euros average position is 19.8 compared the Americans at 16.4.


1. Euros  Rory 1, Sergio 3, Henrik 5, Rosey 6, Kaymer 12, GMac 18, Dubuisson 23, Donaldson 25, Bjorn 30, Gallagher 34, Poulter 38, Westwood 44


Yanks  Furyk 4, Bubba 7, Kuchar 9, Fowler 10, Phil 11, Speith 13, ZJohnson 16, Walker 19, Mahan 21, Bradley 26 Reed 27, WSimpson 33


Euros..Apart from the Rory, Sergio, Stenson, Rosey at the top of McGinley's line up, look how solid the Yanks are 4 thru 26..


Rory has gone off the boil of a brilliant summer, Kaymer has been invisible since his week of weeks at the US Open, please tell me, apart from Donaldson's T4 last week in Wales,  who is hot on the Euro squad ??


Yanks   Despite their brilliant individual career records, Furyk and Mickelson along with Tiger have the worst Ryder Cup records for USA , however Bubba is in the top four for length important here on this soft, heavily roughed, long Century course and paired with steady Webb Simpson is formidable, while  Kuch, Fowler, Phil and Bradley together are the meat of the order and backed by under rated Jimmy Walker who led the Fed Ex for much of this year, Zach Johnson, and nerveless Jordan Speith, they could well handle the likes of off form Kaymer, GMac, Bjorn and Gallagher....
Advantage Yanks..




2. The Course
At 7,243 yards, Gleneagles PGA Centenary course is soft and playing long so that will play into the hands of the longer hitters.  Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy, Victor Dubuisson and Keegan Bradley, are the longest in this year’s matches, all average more than 300 yards off the tee. This summer an in form Rory drove the ball astonishingly long and with a slight controlled draw, the question is can he do it again..
More important this is a soft, heavily roughed parkland course, the likes found all over the US...No disadvantage here for them..
The average driving distance of the European team (293.48 yards) and the US team (293.25 yards) is the same.  As for fairways hit again there is little difference with the US averaging 62.1 per cent and Europe 61.4 per cent All square on this one

3. The Prelude....I watched the captain's presser today, both said the right things but Tom Watson is a legend, Paul McGinley nothing more than a grinder with a great Ryder Cup record..
The Yanks are all about redemption after blowing up on Sunday at Medinah last time round. They all flew in together, bonding with Ray Floyd, Steve Stricker etal as travel companions and coaches. Rickie has USA shaved in his head, Tiger is at home sending inspiration while the Euros are arriving indivdually from all over. I remember when the Europeans won in 1995 and flew over together to Rochester at Oak Hill in the Concord, and it's a small thing but they felt like they were first class, they belonged and they bonded.Advantage USA..
4.Scrambling .
Six of the seven best “scramblers" headed to Gleneagles are in Tom Watson's team with Sergio Garcia the only European that gets up-and-down more than 65 per cent of the time. On the greens, Jordan Spieth averages the fewest putts per round (27.86). 11 of the 12 US players average fewer than 29 putts while there are only seven EuropeansAdvantage USA




5. Ryder Cuppers..


There are three rookies on each team, but of the rest, Europe more experience. They have a total of 31 individual Ryder Cup appearances with 78 total points won, while the US team has 29 appearances with 52 points won.
I read a stat that said Lee Westwood has raised the Ryder Cup trophy on more occasions (6) than all the players on the US team combined.  Advantage Europe..




6. The secret..


If you are not of British, or even European heritage this is hard to explain but I'll try because for me it is at the heart of the European motivation.


For the rest of the world the USA is the land of milk and honey, it's why so many of us immigrated. Yanks are considered whether it's fair or not as richer, more spoiled, more affluent, better weather, houses, cars, toys etc than the rest.


Now take that backdrop to the Ryder Cup. From 1927 -1985 GB only had 3 wins and a tie in 1966.  Every year it was David vs Goliath...Unheard of players in the States like Neil Coles, Ronnie Shade, Brian Barnes and many more were pitted against Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino, Hogan, Snead...


It meant everything just to get a half never mind a win. European players earned their pro status serving club members as assistant pros, some of the Spaniards like Seve as caddies, while Americans were on all paid 4 year scholarships in Florida and California etc, virtually playing and practicing golf 12 months a year, preparing to be a pro.


That is why European players bond together so easily, they are from common everyday stock, compared to the spoiled, big name self absorbed Americans..


However !.. All that is changing as more and more Euros are not only taking a residence in the States, joining the PGA Tour ( see Rory, Lee and Ian Poulter) and now being awarded golf scholarships to those very same colleges, and pro golf is now truly a world wide game..


With Tiger gone and Phil in a lesser role I sense under Tom Watson's legendary influence, the USA is bonding strongly with new leadership from Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley, Jordan Speith, Matt Kuchar and willing foot soldiers like Patrick Reed, JimmyWalker and Zach Johnson..


It's them against the world this week, a perfect storm, if they lose they were expected to by all the pundits, but not by me for one..


I think they are way under rated, I think they have taken some of the secret that has been the Euro edge for 7 wins in the last 9 Cups..


And I think they are going to win and it shouldn't be a surprise..




Bryan Angus