So to counter the Team USA thread its only fair that we big up our boys and how they will try to defend their title over in Chicago. With all the talk of how the course will be set up and playing into the Americans hands it will be interesting to see how Olazabel sets his team up and who partners who. The fact that most pairings for the first two days will be almost certainly playing first into the green i think will help the Europeans. Aside from Rory, who's stats against the Yanks are good, 5th in Driving, 41st in GIR and 57th for Putting, the rest of the team will have to use their knowledge of how to play Foursomes and Fourballs to get them through the first two days. This is something that the Americans have struggled with over the years and its definitely our biggest strength. Foursomes... We have some very good, and i mean very good players when it comes to the Foursomes. Luke Donald is playing at his home venue this week and that will help him. But to be honest with a 6-0-0 record in the Foursomes he just feels at home anyway in this format. None of the Americans will want to be paired up against him. Plus he has beaten all the Big Boys as well. Woods, Mickelson, Furyk and Watson have all felt the full 'Force of Luke'. We also have Sergio Garcia who's record stands at 8-0-1 and will be hard to stop again here. His only defeat came back in 2002 at the Belfry against Woods and Love, so we will be looking for him to gaining at least 2 points in this years Ryder Cup. Lee Westwood is the other player who is mightily impressive in this gormat. A 7-2-4 record stands up to anything anybody else has done with not one defeat in the last 5 Ryder Cups, he will be a great player to be partnered up with again. Fourballs... This is the other of the partner formats and again we are so much stronger here than the Americans. Again its the usual suspects that feature at the top of the Ryder Cup points and again we start with Lee Westwood, 7-4-2. He has only lost 1 Fourball match since 2002 and so obviously he likes playing in these paired formats, he is pretty much unstoppable. Garcia as you would expect is another player who enjoys the freedom of playing with a partner. Currently stands with a 5-2-3 record so you know that he will be strong when the pairings are made. Ian Poulter is one who has yet to even taste defeat in any of the Ryder Cup formats. 3-0-0 in the Foursomes, 3-2-0 in the Fourballs and 3-0-0 in the singles. He is based permanently in America, like so many others now, so he will have now problem feeling at home over there... Team Spirit and Experience... This is where i do think that we are so much stronger than the Americans, and although Tiger Woods gets a bit of criticism from the press about not being a Team Player, i do think you can pose that question to a few others. The Americans seem to take the Ryder Cup so seriously that they dont look like they are enjoying it. The Europeans enjoy the feeling of sinking a putt that they know they dont have any right to hole. They seem to revel in a bit of good luck as much as a bit of misfortune, something that i do feel gets at the yanks if something dosnt go their way. Hot streaks happen in this event and the fact that some players could go 2,3 or maybe more holes without actually putting out adds to the whole tactical way the first 2 days will be played... Again we are the stronger team here and with only one rookie this year, Nicolaus Colsaerts, the rest of the team have decent records in the Ryder Cup. A lot will be made of Rory McIlroy, Peter Hanson, Martin Kaymer and Francisco Molinari all having no more than a handful of Ryder Cups behind them. But to add to that, of those who have played in a Ryder Cup before only Justin Rose and Peter Lawrie have not tasted a team win in the Ryder Cup... We do have the big hitters, we have players who can hit a green from any position on the golf course, and of course they can putt to. Maybe the fact that we will be hitting into the green first on so many occasions might just be the tactic we need to put the yanks under pressure for them to get inside us. Tactics are a big part of the Ryder Cup and this is where i feel we can do the job and retain the cup if not win the cup... Its all to play for and i can not wait for the start...
Well all that experience got us no where...!!! That maybe a harsh statement but we got taught a lesson today good and proper... In saying that we are only 2 points behind the yanks with another day of foursomes and fourballs to go, we could yet turn it around... All i can say is that that Belgium kid, Colsaerts has become my new Ryder Cup hero along with Poulter today. He was just simply the best player on our side by a mile... Lets just hope we have a good nights sleep and a good breakfast down us to get back some of the damage we have inflicted on ourselves today... Come on Olly, get the boys going...!!!
