This Cup Runneth Over
In Wales this weekend Corey Pavin’s Team USA will take on Colin Montgomery’s Team Europe in the 38th edition of the international extravagonzo known as the Ryder Cup.
However, if you are talking about pro golf, the story always has to start and end with Tiger Woods, still the No.1 player in the world despite not having won anything since his flirtation with that fire hydrant.
He certainly started off the week with a bang – for the ever so thin-skinned golf world anyways. In his Tuesday news conference, Woods was asked about a comment made by Rory McIlroy last month, when the 21-year-old Englishman said would “love to face him” in the Ryder Cup if the game of the top-ranked player did not rapidly improve.
Woods leaned into the microphone and said, “Me, too.”
That’s when Rich Lerner on the Golf Channel wet his pants.
A comment like that is just the kind of thing that makes the ink-stained wretches in the golf world go gaga – something that could be perceived as “ungentlemanly.”
The headlines will write themselves:
“Ryder Cup Turns Nasty”
or
“Tiger Roars”
Yet besides that near-hysterical hyperbole to kick things off, Tiger’s game is really the only thing people are wondering about. For the past few weeks – he’s had them off having been dumped early in the PGA’s playoffs – he’s been working with Canadian golf swing guru Seam Foley. The zen-like teacher is revamping Woods’ swing to a stack and tilt and working on his balance by having him play barefoot. The golf world is buzzing because in his last blog post before heading over to England Woods wrote, “to be honest, I’m picking up Sean’s swing changes faster than I thought I would… I’m definitely hitting the ball farther than I ever have, just because the transfer of energy is more efficient.”
After he posted that, Rich Lerner had to go for a little lie-down.
However, the potential re-emergence of a dominant Tiger isn’t taking up all the ink – just most of it.
The other top storyline is Montgomerie, who made a mess of his picks. Skipping over two players in the Top-10 in the World, Justin Rose and Paul Casey, he instead went with Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and the Italian rookie Edoardo Molinari. He also included Lee Westwood, who hasn’t played in months due to a serious calf injury. Harrington, in particular, rankled the most as he is going through a brutal two-year winless stretch after remaking his swing. Former Ryder Cup champion Paul Azinger and former European Team member Darren Clarke both called his choice “shocking.”
Pavin also had a controversial pick when he chose tour rookie Rickie Fowler. Already dubbed over there as “America’s little lad” the European gallery should be particularly ruthless with the 21-year old.
Yet, even with all of that could be overshadowed, at least for the British tabloids, by Pavin’s wife, Lisa, or as she prefers to be known, “The Captainess”. She has designed the American uniforms, set out their menus, chosen the clubhouse décor and, here’s the tabloid bit, posed on the cover of this month’s AvidGolfer magazine pretty much naked except for a strategically placed flag.
For me what’s going to be most compelling, and he’d better be as the matches start broadcasting at 1:30 in the frikin’ morning my time, will be Johnny Miller.
To me, he is the Ryder Cup because he has about as much control over his mouth as Tiger Woods has with his zipper, and he knows it. “The bottom line is I’m not a careful announcer,” he said this week.
His most famous Ryder Cup whack was at Justin Leonard when he was screwing up on a Saturday in 1999. “My hunch is that Justin needs to go home and watch it on television.”
Ouch. Unfortunately for Johnny the next day Leonard sank the 45-foot birdie on the 17th at Brookline to win it all.
“It seems like when I do cross the line, that guy becomes a hero that week,” Miller said. “Maybe these guys should be looking forward to me ripping them.”
I know I do.
Regardless, whatever happens on Sunday, here’s the story we’ll be hearing about on Monday. Either Tiger is back or he isn’t.
Such is the way of things in golf in 2010.
Cheers – Gavin McDougald – AKA Couch