Wednesday, September 24, 2008

USA! USA! USA!


So Will MacKenzie won the Viking Classic last week in a playoff kicking off the Fall Series on the PGA Tour, oh yeah and the US won the Ryder Cup. What!?!?! I know I was shocked that the Fall Series started already too. But really if you were anyone other than a player in the event you did not have a clue it was even taking place, Will won by putting well(Top 3 in both putts per round and putts per green in reg) and hitting greens at a 73% clip. Sidenote #1- Brian Gay, another player that hangs around, think Tim Herron with less fat, year after year lost in the playoff this weekend, he is a good player but never seems to put it all together kind of like Harrison Frazier who also is very good, been on the tour for like over a decade and still cant get a win.

So a quick preview and then on to the Ryder Cup review. Tour rolls into Hotlanta this weekend and unfortunatly there will be no drama this year as to who takes home the cup but there will still be some good action in this cutless field as they all compete to pad the pocket book with 1.26M for the win. I think the resounding favorite here is Veej, he will likely be so focused on winning and showing his dominence I don’t see how anyone else will come close to matching his determination to win. Normally I would say that coming off of a victorious Ryder Cup run one of the US boys might challenge for the title but I think this victory was too much for most of them to recover from, I think their heads will not be in the game this week and rightly so. They deserve all the attention, celebration and fanfare they have received. Veej wins, Cink playing on his home course gays it up some more, Kim is the only American that comes close and if anyone else wins well just chalk it up to dumb luck.

Ryder Cup Review

Oh you’re tired of all the chatter over the Ryder Cup, well piss off, here we go. Let me just tell you that contrary to popular belief the US won the Cup, the Euros didn’t lose it. The US played better in every format, they putted better and for once in 9 years they had more fun than the Euros. Azinger should be given a lot of credit, he mastermined a gameplan that brought a bunch of individuals together to play as a team and it worked. If you had not heard his secret plan was to break down his players into three PODS or GROUPS if you will to create bonds and prepare them to be partners within the breakout group(#1-Phil/Kim/Leonard/Mahan #2-Boo, Holmes, Perry, Furyk #3-the rest). It worked well and he should be commended for a great Cup, however he should not be brought back in 2010. There are other deserving players that need to get their shot before their time passes. Basically to be a US Ryder Cup Captain you need to have a couple things on your resume. One, be a part of at least two Ryder Cup teams(cup winner or not), two you need to be a major champion and three you need to not make any stupid comments about the PGA or the Ryder Cup, like Mark O’Meara saying players should be paid for playing in the matches, he would have been a captain but not once he said that…Dumbshit. As far as Faldo getting his ass handed to him by every member of the British press, I think there should definitly be critism but not to the extent he is getting lambasted. For one thing he did not swing a club all week, his top three players (Westwood, Garcia, Harrington) totally deserted their team and played like shit and he ran into a team who just plain wanted it more this year. Where I think the critism is fair is saying Clarke and Monte should have been the captains picks, I know Poulter was the MVP of the Euro team but look, as much as he tried he could not lead the rest of them, I guarentee either Monty or Clarke could have played just as well and done more to inspire the rest of the squad showing leadership that only expierience can bring. Another thing is his lack of assistant captains, he needed more help out there to let him know whats going on with all his players so he could make adjustments or get out to players who needed a encouraging nudge or a slap to the head as to say snap out of it and play like a man. All in all he just got out captained by the Zinger, that pushes his record against Faldo to 5-0.

Everyone seems to be handing out grades to the players, I have seen some people grade the US guys no lower than a C and give the Euros no higher than a B, well I am going to grade these guys but I certainly will give you the straight scoop, not some US biased bullshit.

Lets start with the Euros

Poulter-A, this guy was the only player worth a piss for the Euros and I think this will likely be his spring board to greater things to come, like a win on the PGA Tour…in America.
Rose-A-, Rose was good, however he should have played in every session, plus he punched the 2nd ranked player in the world right in the face, Phil had no anwser to Rose.
McDowell-B, like I said in the preview he is a good player and had no problem amassing points he also beat a far more seasoned cupper in Stew Cink.
Wilson-B-, ummm yeah we were all saying what the fuck is an Oliver Wilson, well I will give him above average marks for winning a full point and not puking on himself or shitting his pants, as far as we know, plus no one was going to beat Boo.
Stenson-C, 1.5 points total for arguably one of the best match play players on the tour, that’s just average at best and he should have done more.
Hansen-D, no one expected much and he delivered even less, nice work!
Casey and Jimenez-D-, seriously, not a win between these two, both are great players and niether showed up. Jimenez may be on his last run but Casey needs to get it together and start winning not only in the Ryder Cup but on Tour as well.
Sergio, Paddy and Westwood-F, F should stand for Fucking Fuckoffs, these guys had fatigue, blisters and excuses about not being able to work on their games, all and all just loser talk. Westwood got upset with US players making the crowd go crazy, well he doesn’t seem to mind when its 1000 brits yelling about the queeen and high tea but he sure as shit got upset with the American red necks chewing his ass up and down the fairways. These guys are the reason the Euros lost, they did not play competitively and it showed.

Americans

Weekley, Kim, Mahan, Perry, Holmes-A, they all get A’s, listen Boo was a straight killer out there, Kim, as a rookie, put the hammer down with Phil and basically said hey Phil you’re here so play like you care or I am going to go Kung Foo on your ass, Phil listened and Kim played awsome too. Mahan got too excited on Sunday and pumped his final tee shot in the drink but other than that he played like the young lion that he is, undefeated in my book gets you an A. Perry could have folded under the pressure of the whole home state thing and gearing his year around this one event but he didn’t, he played well and aurguably with the most pressure (self induced) as any player on the team, plus did you see his old man on Sunday, he was the really old guy with the overalls. Holmes for the same reason, home state and a rookie and this guy just went out there and hit 350+ driver after 350+ drive, he hit his irons well and putted clutch all week.
Leonard, Furyk, Cambell-B, Didn’t do anything great but didn’t fuck up anything too much either, Leonard could have made a couple more putts Sunday but really all three played well.
Curtis-C, you are a rookie and came away with some points, good expierience and huge win over Lee Westwood on Sunday. All and all, average.
Cink, Mickelson, Stricker-F, Cink you suck and I never want to see your homo lovin ass anywhere near a Ryder Cup ever again, vets play with passion and need to win…Loser. Phil you seriously suck in anything not geared towards individual achievement, it wasn’t always that way, when Phil was younger he used to care more now he really just doesn’t show how good he truly is in these events. Stricker, I am sorry but you really choked and if the US didn’t win you would be getting killed right now from everyone who follows golf, close circuit to Zinger, you should have taken Rocco. Stricker should be embarrassed for taking that spot.

Well that’s pretty much it, I hope a lot of you tuned in at some point over the weekend as there was some great action, especially Sunday there was a good hour there where guys were stuffing iron shots, chipping in and making insane putts; that’s what its all about they play way more loose and aggressive for the more part and typically are rewarded.

Go Veej!!


NF


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"guaranteeing" that Clarke or a washed up Monty would have matched Poulter 4-0-1 record is just plain asinine

Faldo said...

Both are gamers for the cup, especially Monte, he has been washed up for years yet he continued to be the driving force for the previous two cups. Maybe one of them matching that record is a little bit of a stretch but I do think, together, they could have matched the total of Casey and Poulter.

Anonymous said...

that's a more realistic assessment. I disagree, but I see your point.