I don't really play golf because here in Chicago this is a game for the ultra wealthy and that is not me. For 18 holes at one of the courses here you are looking at well over $200 per person and I can't think of anything that I am willing to pay that much for, certainly not a sport that just mostly makes me really angry. I go to a driving range every now and then but that is more for the drinking beer aspect of it than the sport.
I don't really even watch most of the PGA or LIV tournaments because I just don't really care enough to bother. However, there is one event that I always watch and it has become more entertaining as technology improves over time.
If you are unfamiliar with what the Ryder Cup is it is a multi-day tournament involving doubles and singles and it is USA vs. Europe. Which i suppose is fair because those land-masses are quite similar in size. USA vs France or Netherlands or whatever wouldn't be fair because of the massive population difference and thank goodness we don't apply this notion to football of the soccer variety because if they did, the USA would lose 22-0 every time.
The good thing about the Ryder cup is that you don't really have to watch it intently and it is on all damn day, so there is plenty of time to slowly drink beer and talk to your friends at the bar or at a BBQ, which is what we did. Some of the people attending our party don't even give half a damn about golf but are just there for the social aspect. We have the TV on in the living room and others are hanging out in the kitchen and backyard. It's good fun.
After day 1, USA wasn't looking so great. There are 8 point in total that are up for grabs on the first day and for a long while there it looked like the USA was going to not get any points at all. Out of 8 teams of two, only 1 of the American teams managed to win their group, the 1/2 point comes from a draw . So after day 1 the score was 6.5 to 1.5, which is pretty embarrassing.
Day 2 was looking even worse, if you can imagine that and from the first group it looked as though the Americans weren't going to win a single hole. By the time they were on the 9th I don't believe there was really any reason for the Americans to even try their best anymore, I believe it was the 6th or 7th hole where this professional duo, who are meant to be some of the best golfers in the world, ended up in some crazy rough on a par 3 and ended up double bogeying the hole. A bad score on one hole has no bearing on the holes after it so this isn't as bad as it sounds. Your overall score is meaningless in Ryder Cup rules, it just matters who wins the most holes.
I won't get into the terminology about the rules but just know that every hole you win counts for 1 point so if someone wins the first 10 holes, they don't even play the last 8 because there is no possibility of the other team catching up. Understand?
Well it looked like it was going to be another day of European dominance after the first four teams competed about like they did the day before with the USA after the morning teams competed.
You can see on the scorecard where the holes are crossed off and that means that they didn't even play the holes because it wasn't necessary. Finishing with 7 holes unplayed is almost completely unheard of.
Thankfully, for anyone out there that wanted this thing to be competitive and fun to watch to the bitter end, the afternoon teams saw the Americans win 3 out of 4.
Match 4 of the afternoon was particularly special as it was the only grouping of the day that went the full 18 holes and it literally came down to the last putt to determine a winner.
So the afternoon looked good for the Americans, but honestly, that was basically the only time that we can say that of the entire Ryder Cup. The USA side is going to have to do something pretty damn special to pull this back today seeing as how they go into day 3 with a score of 10.5 (EUR) to 5.5 (USA).
Since the game only goes to 14.5 points before a victor is called, the Americans are going to have to play damn-near-flawlessly.
For me, I have no nationalistic pride in any of this so I don't actually really care who wins. I would however, like to see it be competitive and it would be nice to see everyone actually get to play. It all starts in a mere 5 hours so get ready!