Golf
Ryder Cup, Dublin. 2006 (Europe to win for the third time in succession)
Europe
Ian Woosnam
Darren Clarke
Paul Casey
Luke Donald
Sergio Garcia
Padraig Harrington
David Howell
Robert Karlsson
Paul McGinley
Colin Montgomerie
José Maria Olazábal
Henrik Stenson
Lee Westwood
Peter Baker
Des Smyth
Sandy Lyle
David J Russell
*********************************************
United States
Tom Lehman
Tiger Woods
Phil Mickelson
Jim Furyk
Chad Campbell
David Toms
Chris DiMarco
Vaughn Taylor
J.J. Henry
Zach Johnson
Brett Wetterich
Stewart Cink
Scott Verplank
Corey Pavin
Loren Roberts
************************************************************************
K Club closes for spectators as Hurricane Gordon hits Republic of Ireland
Windswept: The K Club was forced to close
The K Club has reopened to spectators after high winds kept all non-essential staff out of the venue on Wednesday morning.
Winds gusting to more than 40mph saw fans prevented from travelling to the course west of Dublin for several hours, and also kept the European and American teams from practising as scheduled.
A statement from Ryder Cup organisers read: "The Ryder Cup site was deemed unsafe under the cover of darkness at 6.30am and with winds gusting to more than 40mph.
"All structures have subsequently been checked and loose impediments such as screens, fencing and flags secured. With 45,000 spectators anticipated both Ryder Cup LLP and the Garda Siochána were quite clear that health and safety issues were paramount.
"The weather forecast at 9am was significantly better than earlier in the morning and Ryder Cup LLP and the Garda Siochána were in agreement that the staff could enter at 9am ahead of the public being admitted at 10am.
"Both Ryder Cup LLP and the Garda Siochána would like to thank the public for their patience, especially those who were compelled to wait in the park and ride facilities."
The European team were planning to start practice at 10:30am and play nine holes at 11am before evaluating the situation, but the forecast for the rest of the day was still unsettled.
Tickets for the practice days cost 35euros, and with an anticipated 45,000 crowd that amounted to revenue in excess of £1million.
************************************************
Europe are the favourites to win - and all signs point to another European victory.
Sep. 18, 2006
By Mel Webb
GolfWeb European Tour Correspondent
It is not exactly a no-contest but all the available data points to a repeat victory for the holders. But come this Thursday morning, all the statistics will mean less than the paper they're written on.
Figures, odds and the apparent flow of the river can be forgotten. The destination of the Ryder Cup is in the hands of men and what the bean-counters might have predicted cannot factor in the human element, that elemental response to pressure, desire and the sheer will to win.
That said, it is still mighty difficult to see any other result but a European victory. As we have already said, the numbers come down heavily on the home team's side and although it will not be in a notebook or a calculator that this match will be won and lost but on tees, fairways, greens and, no doubt, the more than occasional intervention of good, old-fashioned luck, the stats do tend to reinforce the feeling that the match is Europe's to lose.
Take the world rankings. The USA have the top three players in the list, but the eye then has to travel down to 15th before the next American is to be found. By then, it will have passed five Europeans. The home team's average place in the world order is 22.75, the visitors' 29.42.
It does not tell the complete truth, but neither does it lie totally, either. Apart from anything it reveals that, in spite of Messrs Woods, Mickelson and Furyk, the home team is stronger than the USA's. The rankings are based, let it not be forgotten, on performance, so the point is a salient one.
Tom Lehman would, no doubt, claim that the fact that the in last ten matches Europe have won six, his own nation three and there has been one tie will act as the very opposite to a disincentive for his team. They will want it that little bit more, he would claim, and he might be right. After all, it can't be much fun to be continually finishing second in a two-horse race.
Equally naturally, the Europeans will use the same set of facts to bolster their confidence. Not the least of their reasons for that wil be that 10 of the 12 have played on winning Ryder Cup teams. The two who haven't are making their debuts, in any case, so it wouldn't be fair to dismiss them as failures.
America, on the other hand, has only three winners in their ranks. Five of them have lost and the other four are rookies. Not a good ratio.
Both captains have made the right decisions about their wild cards. Once Darren Clarke made himself available, he was in the team and Lee Westwood knows intimately both how to play in these matches and, furthermore, how to pick up points -- remember, he dropped only a half-point at Oakland Hills a couple of years ago.
Lehman said only this week that Woods would be his on-course leader, while nobody would claim that his opposite number would be anyone other than Colin Montgomerie. But here's the rub -- Monty's pretty good at this Ryder Cup lark and Tiger, for all his pre-eminence in the game, is decidedly average when it comes to this little shindig.
It's impossible to second-guess what combinations Europe captain Ian Woosnam will use, but it is an inalienable fact that he has tremendous scope for flexibility. Montgomerie made exactly that point after being beaten by Paul Casey in the semi-final of the HSBC World Match Play at Wentworth on Saturday and he was spot-on.
There was a time when it was necessary for Europe to rely on a good proportion of their number to play five matches. No more. Their strength in depth means that the workload can be spread more evenly throughout the ranks. In this team, almost everybody could form a potent partnership with almost anybody else. It's another factor that might ultimately tilt the balance.
Even the 18 separate playing fields that comprise the Palmer course at the K Club form a powerful ally for the home team. Ten European Opens have been played there, so even the rawest of raw European recuits will have played on it a dozen times at least. Tick another box for Europe.
As is his right, Woosnam has determined how he wants the course to be set up, and that means letting the rough grow to punitive heights and the greens to be set at about 10.5 on the Stimpmeter. They will be a good deal slower than American players are used to but pretty typical for a European. That's another vote for the hosts.
And then there is the indefinable but still vital quality of teamwork. Over the last two decades, Europe have had it in spades and, furthermore, they have played the match with smiles on their faces. The U.S. have struggled, meanwhile, to foster that same sense of togetherness. It has mattered before and it will again.
Having said all that, it will be tighter this time. The United States are not going to be given a hiding in 2006. Brilliantly though Bernhard Langer's outfit played last time, the result was an aberration, a bit of a freak.
We still take the Europeans to win this 36th match, though. It will be close -- maybe as close as a point or two -- but the evidence is overwhelmingly in their favour.
Even -- and apologies about this -- the statistics.
pgatour.com
Ryder Cup, Dublin. 2006 (Europe to win for the third time in succession)
Europe
Ian Woosnam
Darren Clarke
Paul Casey
Luke Donald
Sergio Garcia
Padraig Harrington
David Howell
Robert Karlsson
Paul McGinley
Colin Montgomerie
José Maria Olazábal
Henrik Stenson
Lee Westwood
Peter Baker
Des Smyth
Sandy Lyle
David J Russell
*********************************************
United States
Tom Lehman
Tiger Woods
Phil Mickelson
Jim Furyk
Chad Campbell
David Toms
Chris DiMarco
Vaughn Taylor
J.J. Henry
Zach Johnson
Brett Wetterich
Stewart Cink
Scott Verplank
Corey Pavin
Loren Roberts
************************************************************************
K Club closes for spectators as Hurricane Gordon hits Republic of Ireland
Windswept: The K Club was forced to close
The K Club has reopened to spectators after high winds kept all non-essential staff out of the venue on Wednesday morning.
Winds gusting to more than 40mph saw fans prevented from travelling to the course west of Dublin for several hours, and also kept the European and American teams from practising as scheduled.
A statement from Ryder Cup organisers read: "The Ryder Cup site was deemed unsafe under the cover of darkness at 6.30am and with winds gusting to more than 40mph.
"All structures have subsequently been checked and loose impediments such as screens, fencing and flags secured. With 45,000 spectators anticipated both Ryder Cup LLP and the Garda Siochána were quite clear that health and safety issues were paramount.
"The weather forecast at 9am was significantly better than earlier in the morning and Ryder Cup LLP and the Garda Siochána were in agreement that the staff could enter at 9am ahead of the public being admitted at 10am.
"Both Ryder Cup LLP and the Garda Siochána would like to thank the public for their patience, especially those who were compelled to wait in the park and ride facilities."
The European team were planning to start practice at 10:30am and play nine holes at 11am before evaluating the situation, but the forecast for the rest of the day was still unsettled.
Tickets for the practice days cost 35euros, and with an anticipated 45,000 crowd that amounted to revenue in excess of £1million.
************************************************
Europe are the favourites to win - and all signs point to another European victory.
Sep. 18, 2006
By Mel Webb
GolfWeb European Tour Correspondent
It is not exactly a no-contest but all the available data points to a repeat victory for the holders. But come this Thursday morning, all the statistics will mean less than the paper they're written on.
Figures, odds and the apparent flow of the river can be forgotten. The destination of the Ryder Cup is in the hands of men and what the bean-counters might have predicted cannot factor in the human element, that elemental response to pressure, desire and the sheer will to win.
That said, it is still mighty difficult to see any other result but a European victory. As we have already said, the numbers come down heavily on the home team's side and although it will not be in a notebook or a calculator that this match will be won and lost but on tees, fairways, greens and, no doubt, the more than occasional intervention of good, old-fashioned luck, the stats do tend to reinforce the feeling that the match is Europe's to lose.
Take the world rankings. The USA have the top three players in the list, but the eye then has to travel down to 15th before the next American is to be found. By then, it will have passed five Europeans. The home team's average place in the world order is 22.75, the visitors' 29.42.
It does not tell the complete truth, but neither does it lie totally, either. Apart from anything it reveals that, in spite of Messrs Woods, Mickelson and Furyk, the home team is stronger than the USA's. The rankings are based, let it not be forgotten, on performance, so the point is a salient one.
Tom Lehman would, no doubt, claim that the fact that the in last ten matches Europe have won six, his own nation three and there has been one tie will act as the very opposite to a disincentive for his team. They will want it that little bit more, he would claim, and he might be right. After all, it can't be much fun to be continually finishing second in a two-horse race.
Equally naturally, the Europeans will use the same set of facts to bolster their confidence. Not the least of their reasons for that wil be that 10 of the 12 have played on winning Ryder Cup teams. The two who haven't are making their debuts, in any case, so it wouldn't be fair to dismiss them as failures.
America, on the other hand, has only three winners in their ranks. Five of them have lost and the other four are rookies. Not a good ratio.
Both captains have made the right decisions about their wild cards. Once Darren Clarke made himself available, he was in the team and Lee Westwood knows intimately both how to play in these matches and, furthermore, how to pick up points -- remember, he dropped only a half-point at Oakland Hills a couple of years ago.
Lehman said only this week that Woods would be his on-course leader, while nobody would claim that his opposite number would be anyone other than Colin Montgomerie. But here's the rub -- Monty's pretty good at this Ryder Cup lark and Tiger, for all his pre-eminence in the game, is decidedly average when it comes to this little shindig.
It's impossible to second-guess what combinations Europe captain Ian Woosnam will use, but it is an inalienable fact that he has tremendous scope for flexibility. Montgomerie made exactly that point after being beaten by Paul Casey in the semi-final of the HSBC World Match Play at Wentworth on Saturday and he was spot-on.
There was a time when it was necessary for Europe to rely on a good proportion of their number to play five matches. No more. Their strength in depth means that the workload can be spread more evenly throughout the ranks. In this team, almost everybody could form a potent partnership with almost anybody else. It's another factor that might ultimately tilt the balance.
Even the 18 separate playing fields that comprise the Palmer course at the K Club form a powerful ally for the home team. Ten European Opens have been played there, so even the rawest of raw European recuits will have played on it a dozen times at least. Tick another box for Europe.
As is his right, Woosnam has determined how he wants the course to be set up, and that means letting the rough grow to punitive heights and the greens to be set at about 10.5 on the Stimpmeter. They will be a good deal slower than American players are used to but pretty typical for a European. That's another vote for the hosts.
And then there is the indefinable but still vital quality of teamwork. Over the last two decades, Europe have had it in spades and, furthermore, they have played the match with smiles on their faces. The U.S. have struggled, meanwhile, to foster that same sense of togetherness. It has mattered before and it will again.
Having said all that, it will be tighter this time. The United States are not going to be given a hiding in 2006. Brilliantly though Bernhard Langer's outfit played last time, the result was an aberration, a bit of a freak.
We still take the Europeans to win this 36th match, though. It will be close -- maybe as close as a point or two -- but the evidence is overwhelmingly in their favour.
Even -- and apologies about this -- the statistics.
pgatour.com
