Kumbaya Cup: Thankfully, It Was Only Tuesday
/I trudged through the transcripts from Tuesday's busy interview schedule and found the U.S. and European Ryder Cup teams had nothing but admiration and respect for one another…think Tavistock Cup without the helicopters. Oh and Paul Lawrie is jet lagged, Tuesday's other big reveal. 
There are egos to deal with on the American side but Love also made it clear that each player will play at least three matches and that it’s likely that no player will play in all five matches. He wants players fresh.
“We’ve got some guys on this team that realize the ultimate goal is to win, not to play five and be 5-0,” Love said.
Olazabal was asked Tuesday if he was going to bring any guest speakers into the team room Thursday evening to set the mood and rally his troops.
“You would have to have a guy that really knows what the Ryder Cup is to get into the hearts of those players,” Olazabal said. “So, in that regard, I never thought of anyone that could really get to the guys that way.”
Good point. Olazabal is that man.
Doug Ferguson says we got our first glimpse of likely pairings Tuesday if you go by the practice round groups.
The Americans, dressed in navy blue shirts, headed out for the first full day of practice under warm sunshine in the Chicago suburbs. They played four-ball matches among the three groups, which was evident when Bubba Watson and his pink-shafted driver drove through a dogleg on the 440-yard 11th hole and over the gallery's head. He still played that shot (and they won the hole).
U.S. captain Davis Love III finally showed his hand — and confirmed some obvious pairings in mind — by sending out Woods and Steve Stricker, Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, Watson and Webb Simpson. Other pairings were Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson, Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson, and Furyk and Brandt Snedeker.
There were few surprises on the European side.
European captain Jose Maria Olazabal had Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood in one group; Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and Paul Lawrie in another; and Mark Kaymer, Nicolas Colsaerts, Francesco Molinari and Peter Hanson in a third.
Jeff Rude has a nice mix of notes if you are hankering for a bit of this and that, including this on the course setup:
“When we got over there (Europe), the fairways (pinch in) at 280 or 290 yards and there’s a lot of deep rough,” Love said Tuesday at Medinah. “I’m not real clever, but I would just do the opposite of them and have it go the other way.”
Ron Sirak and John Huggan kick off the prediction game, the totally pointless exercise of trying to guess who might win. Oh, and I'm liking the U.S. to win handily, 16 to 12. Like I said, totally pointless.
