Mickelson, McIlroy to square off in opening session
GLENEAGLES, Scotland — Two days after Phil Mickelson poked fun at Rory McIlroy, they face off in the Ryder Cup.
Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, undefeated as a team at Medinah, play the European powerhouse of McIlroy and Sergio Garcia in the opening session of fourballs on Friday at Gleneagles.
Mickelson took a playful jab at McIlroy when he said the best part of American unity is the players don’t “litigate against each other.” McIlroy has a court battle against his old management firm and the lawsuit now involves Graeme McDowell.
Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson will hit the opening shot in the better-ball format against Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.
Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker go up against Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer; and Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed play Stephen Gallacher and Ian Poulter.
Pairings for the opening session of fourballs matches Friday at the Ryder Cup (all times EDT):
2:35 a.m. – Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, United States, vs. Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, Europe.
2:50 a.m. – Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker, United States, vs. Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer, Europe.
3:05 a.m. – Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, United States, vs. Stephen Gallacher and Ian Poulter, Europe.
3:20 a.m. – Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson, United States, vs. Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy, Europe.
Inaugural World Junior Girls Championship set for Angus Glen Golf Club
Markham, Ont. (Golf Canada) – The world’s best female junior golfers are set to compete in a showcase international competition as the inaugural World Junior Girls Golf Championship will run September 26th to October 1st at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ontario Canada.
An elite field of female junior golfers will compete at the inaugural World Junior Girls Golf Championship which will be conducted by Golf Canada in partnership with the Golf Association of Ontario.
In all, 48 of the world’s top female junior golfers representing 15 different countries worldwide will compete in both a team and individual competition on the South Course at Angus Glen.
The championship features three-player teams of athletes under the age of 19. As host country, Canada will field two teams in the competition.
In addition to a 72-hole competition, the World Junior Girls Golf Championship will include an international golf coaches’ summit, golf clinics and a fundraising golf tournament conducted by the Golf Canada Foundation in partnership with TORONTO 2015. The World Junior Girls Golf Championship will also include the sixth annual CN Future Links Skills Challenge National Event.
What you need to know about the World Junior Girls Golf Championship:
The Event: The inaugural World Junior Girls Championship
Where: Angus Glen Golf Club (South Course)
10080 Kennedy Road, Markham, Ont., L6C 1N9
www.angusglen.com
When: Friday, September 26th to Wednesday, October 1st
Admission: Free for spectators all week.
Schedule of Events:
Friday, September 26th
Golf Canada & TORONTO 2015 Fundraising Golf Event (2:00pm)
Coaching Summit – Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO)
Skill Development Clinic (3:00pm-5:00pm)
Saturday, September 27th
Championship Practice Round (7:30am – 9:00am)
CN Future Links National Junior Skills Challenge Final (11:00am)
Official Opening Ceremony (5:30pm)
Sunday, September 28th
Round 1 / Team & Individual (8:00am – 9:17am off 1st & 10th tee)
Monday, September 29th
Round 2 / Team & Individual (8:00am – 9:17am off 1st & 10th tee
Tuesday, September 30th
Round 3 / Team & Individual (8:00am – 9:17am off 1st & 10th tee
Wednesday, October 1st
Final Round / Team & Individual (8:00am – 9:17am off 1st & 10th tee
Closing Ceremony (immediately following the completion of play –approximately 2:00pm)
Format:
Team Competition: 3 players per country (best 2 out of 3 scores count each day); 72 holes of stroke play; no cut
Individual Competition: 72 holes of stroke play; no cut
Countries represented: 15
(Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and USA). Click here for a full listing of team rosters.
Notables Players Set to Compete:
- Brooke Henderson (Canada) – no. 1 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; Runner-up at 2014 US & Canadian Amateur; Low Amateur at 2014 US Women’s Open; Low Individual at 2014 World Amateur
- Megan Khang (USA) – no. 40 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; two-time US Open competitor
- Mika Liu (USA) – no. 48 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
- Karis Davidson (Australia) – no. 53 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; 2014 Australian Amateur runner-up
- Angela Yin (USA)– no. 57 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; medalist at 2014 US Junior Girls
- Nuria Iturrios Servera (Spain) – no. 61 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; 2012 silver medal & 2013 bronze medal at European Girls Team Championship
- Alice Hewson (England) – no. 75 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; quarter-finalist at 2014 British Amateur
- Alejandra Pasarin Olalla (Spain) – no. 108 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
- Inci Mehmet (England) – no. 113 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
- Puk Lyng Thomsen (Denmark) – no. 129 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
- Ana Pelaez Trivino (Spain) – no. 131 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
- Hannah Green (Australia) – no. 156 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
- So Jin (Jenny) Lee (Australia) – no. 179 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking
- Olivia Mehaffey (Ireland) – no. 227 on World Amateur Golf Ranking; Irish Girls U18 Open Stroke Play champion
- Julianna Alvarez (New Zealand) – no. 260 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; T10 at the 2014 Youth Olympics
- Naomi Ko (Canada) – no. 279 on World Amateur Golf Ranking; 2014 British Columbia Junior champion
- Jaclyn Lee (Canada) – no. 423 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; 2014 Alberta Amateur & Junior champion
- Selena Costabile (Canada) – no. 426 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking; 2014 GAO Spring Classic champion
- Maria Fassi (Mexico) – no. 459 on World Amateur Golf Rankings; T13 at the 2014 Youth Olympics
- Sandra Salonen (Finland) – T20 at the 2014 Youth Olympics
- Grace St-Germain (Canada) – no. 472 on World Amateur Golf Ranking; 2014 Canadian Junior Girls champion
Canadians in the Field:
- Brooke Henderson, Smiths Falls, Ont. (17)
- Naomi Ko, Victoria, B.C. (17)
- Grace St-Germain, Ottawa, Ont. (16)
- Jaclyn Lee, Calgary (17)
- Selena Costabile, Thornhill, Ont. (16)
- Alisha Lau, Richmond, B.C. (14)
As the host country, Canada will field two team in the competition – one team will featuring Brooke Henderson, Grace St-Germain and Naomi Ko while the second team includes Jaclyn Lee, Selena Costabile and Alisha Lau. Click here for a listing of Team Canada player bios.
The Canadian teams will be coached by Team Canada Development Squad Women’s Coach Ann Carroll, alongside Reggie Millage, the provincial Head Coach for the Golf Association of Ontario.
Supporting Partners:
A special thank you to our partners who have aligned their brand with the World Junior Girls Golf Championship including the International Golf Federation; the R&A; Sport Canada; the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport; Central Counties; TORONTO 2015; the PGA of Canada and the Golf Canada Foundation.
Conducted by:
Golf Canada in partnership with the Golf Association of Ontario
Tom Watson’s last Ryder Cup hurrah
GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Phil Mickelson has played in the Ryder Cup more times than any American. His experience is such that recent captains have leaned on him for observations on everything from pairings to picks. That wasn’t the case with Tom Watson at the helm.
In the week leading up to Watson making his three wild-card picks, Mickelson was asked if the 65-year-old captain had reached out to him. The answer was no, without elaboration.
Then, as if to make a point, Mickelson reached into his pocket for his phone, glanced at it and replied, “Still no.”
Watson might not need any help to find a winning formula for the Ryder Cup. One reason the PGA of America took a chance on the oldest captain ever in the Ryder Cup was his history in the matches.
The Americans haven’t won on European soil since 1993, the last time Watson was the captain. He is adored in Scotland as much as any American golfer, having won the British Open four times on Scottish links. His three Senior British Open titles all were in Scotland.
In the four Ryder Cups that Watson played, only one was held in the United States.
One thing hasn’t changed. Watson approaches these matches with a singular focus.
“The European team is loaded,” Watson said. “But when the matches start at 7:35 on Friday morning, there’s going to be quality of play going on. We’ll just see who wins. I know our team is totally committed to bringing the cup back. I know that. And I’m going to do everything in my power to help them do that and set the stage for them.”
Even so, the generation gap creates a dynamic that brings an element of curiosity to this Ryder Cup. Only two players on his team – Mickelson and Jim Furyk – were playing on the PGA Tour when Watson won the last of his 39 titles in 1998.
Watson has not been at a Ryder Cup since he was captain, and he was slightly defensive Wednesday when asked a series of questions about whether that might hurt him.
“No,” he said flatly. “Because I’ve played in the Ryder Cup four times, and I’ve been a captain once. That’s experience.”
He also doesn’t buy into the notion that he can’t relate to a new generation of players, nine of whom were not even born when he won the first of his eight majors.
“I’ve answered that question before,” Watson said. “They know I’ve played in the Ryder Cup. They understand I’ve been a captain. And they know that I know what they’re doing. They have respect for me and I have the ultimate respect for them. We’re on the same page. We’re professional golfers. Doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are.”
He certainly has the respect of European captain Paul McGinley, who referred to Watson as his “boyhood hero.” McGinley went to college in San Diego and worked on a practice range when the PGA Tour came to town. McGinley used to ask his friends to cover for him when Watson played a practice round so he could watch.
As a captain?
“I haven’t really been paying attention,” McGinley said. “In regards to what Tom is doing with the team, I don’t even know what groups he’s going out with. I just know he’s going to make some good decisions and he’s going to have a strong American team out there and we are going to be prepared for that.”
McGinley talks of a template that Europe has had for years.
The Americans have no such thing. They have won the Ryder Cup only twice since Watson last was captain – Brookline in 1999 when Justin Leonard made the “putt heard `round the world,” and 2008 with Paul Azinger at the helm at Valhalla.
Watson already raised questions with his picks, stating that he wanted the hot hands and then passing over Chris Kirk, who had won the Deutsche Bank Championship the day before the captain’s picks were chosen.
Will it matter who plays? Does it matter who is the captain?
“Bottom line is he’s a professional golfer with a resume that is awfully deep,” Zach Johnson said. “He’s got a lot of sage advice and wisdom that I think we can certainly dig into and maybe learn from. And then you compound that with the fact that we’re playing a country that he’s had some success in – to put it mildly – I think it’s terrific.”
Mickelson was asked how his own experience could help the Ryder Cup rookies, and he quickly deferred.
“I’ll try to do or say whatever I can,” Mickelson said. “But it’s captain Watson’s team. He’s the leader. It’s been 21 years since the last time we won on foreign soil and the last time it happened, he was the leader. It was also the last year before I started making the teams. So I’m very honored that I have the opportunity to play with him, play for him, and learn from him.”
And now, the Americans will find out if they can win under him again.
Golf Fore the Cure celebrates success at 11th annual National Event
On Monday, over 100 enthusiastic ladies took part in the annual Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru National Event. The celebration, now in its 11th year, consisted of a full day’s activities on the facilities of Carrying Place Golf & Country Club, a semi-private club in King, Ont.
Participants included program sponsors, female members of Carrying Place, corporate teams and Canada’s top fundraising sites. The ladies battled cold weather conditions upon morning arrival but were thankful to be greeted by warm fall sunshine to start the 18-hole shotgun round, featuring special sponsor challenges throughout.
While raising funds for breast cancer research, Golf Fore the Cure is dedicated to promoting female participation in the sport, regardless of prior experience or skill level. Above all, the day is a fun-filled celebration to thank everyone involved for their hard work and support of a sincere cause.
Subaru Canada has been the presenting partner for seven years running, and is truly the ‘driving’ force behind Golf Fore the Cure and all of its success.
This season, Golf Fore the Cure and all its participants raised over $300,000 to date in support of breast cancer research. The top three fundraising teams in Canada were given a special thanks for their contributions during Monday’s dinner ceremonies. In addition, Pamela Fralick, President & CEO of Canadian Cancer Society, joined the ladies for dinner and shared some inspiring words.
Lastly, the welcoming staff at Carrying Place Golf & Country Club helped make the event one to remember. To view pictures from the event, click here.
To learn more about Golf Fore the Cure, visit the website.
McIlroy has target on his back at Gleneagles
GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Rory McIlroy is No. 1 in the world of golf. At the Ryder Cup, he sees himself as one of 12.
McIlroy and the rest of the Europeans have been hearing all week about how the Americans are targeting the top players at Gleneagles. The concept is nothing new. For years, Tiger Woods was the player everyone wanted to beat. Woods is recovering from back injuries and is not at the Ryder Cup for the second time in six years.
U.S. captain Tom Watson has mentioned McIlroy and Ian Poulter as two key players to beat.
“You knock off the big dog, that gives your team a boost,” Watson said last week.
McIlroy has won the last two majors to establish himself anew as the best player in golf. Poulter has the best record of any active player in the Ryder Cup, winning 12 of his 15 matches including seven in a row.
“I know Watson has been talking about targeting us two and whatever, but at the same time, it’s only one-sixth of the team,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “There’s 10 other world-class players that he has to worry about, as well, and they are just as capable of putting points on the board for Europe. They can try and target us all they want, but there’s guys alongside us that can do just as good a job.”
Colin Montgomerie once said beating Woods felt like it was worth more than one point. McIlroy was having none of that.
“Someone beats me, they win a point – no more, no less.”
This is nothing new for McIlroy. Two years ago, he won the U.S. PGA Championship by a record eight shots, and then won back-to-back in the FedEx Cup playoffs to reach No. 1 in the world going into Medinah. His presence might be even greater at Gleneagles coming off victories in the British Open, U.S. PGA Championship and a World Golf Championship, primarily because Woods isn’t around.
“It’s not hard to pick out the best player in the world right now,” Jim Furyk said. “It’s Rory McIlroy. And Ian has obviously had a great record in this.”
McIlroy was still buzzing on Wednesday morning over an evening spent with former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson.
Boy Wonder caused a stir himself during practice by using a new driver.
It’s rare for someone to make any equipment changes the week of such a big event. Perhaps the most famous was in 2004, when Phil Mickelson signed a new equipment deal with Callaway and changed out his driver and golf ball at Oakland Hills. He was paired with Woods and they lost both of their matches.
McIlroy is aware of that incident – he was a 15-year-old Junior Ryder Cup player who was in the gallery.
“Phil Mickelson nearly hit me off the tees in 2004,” McIlroy said. “I was standing down the left-hand side, so I’m very aware of what he did that week. Hey, look, Phil changed from one equipment manufacturer to another. This is a driver that I’ve actually been using and practicing with since June. I wouldn’t be putting it in the bag if I didn’t feel it was better.”
It appeared to be working fine. McIlroy drove the green on the par-4 14th.
“Everyone saw yesterday it was the only driver I had out there in the bag,” he said. “It’s looking likely that it’s going to be in the bag this week.”
McIlroy then headed out for another day of practice. He was in a group with Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer on the first full day of practice. On Wednesday, he was sent out in a group of four with Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Victor Dubuisson.
Paulina Gretzky, Dustin Johnson expecting baby
Dustin Johnson and fiancee Paulina Gretzky are having a baby.
Gretzky posted a photo on Instagram late Tuesday with her hands cradling her belly as she is looking down. She wrote that she and Johnson “are so excited to finally share with you all our amazing news .. we’re having a baby!!”
The news was confirmed by Johnson’s agent at Hambric Sports. The daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky did not say when they were expecting.
Paulina’s mother, Janet Gretzky, also took to social media, posting the picture to her Instagram account with the comment, “We couldn’t be happier.”
Johnson has taken a “voluntary leave” from golf to seek professional help for “personal challenges.” Golf.com cited an unnamed source as saying Johnson failed a drug test for the third time. The PGA Tour said only that he was not suspended.
Johnson gave up his spot on the Ryder Cup team during his leave.
Paulina Gretzky, Dustin Johnson expecting baby
Dustin Johnson and fiancee Paulina Gretzky are having a baby.
Gretzky posted a photo on Instagram late Tuesday with her hands cradling her belly as she is looking down. She wrote that she and Johnson “are so excited to finally share with you all our amazing news .. we’re having a baby!!”
The news was confirmed by Johnson’s agent at Hambric Sports. The daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky did not say when they were expecting.
Paulina’s mother, Janet Gretzky, also took to social media, posting the picture to her Instagram account with the comment, “We couldn’t be happier.”
Johnson has taken a “voluntary leave” from golf to seek professional help for “personal challenges.” Golf.com cited an unnamed source as saying Johnson failed a drug test for the third time. The PGA Tour said only that he was not suspended.
Johnson gave up his spot on the Ryder Cup team during his leave.
Shy Dubuisson is Europe’s mystery man at Ryder Cup
GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Plucking two scarcely believable shots from the cactus for par saves in the Match Play Championship final in February thrust Victor Dubuisson into golf’s global consciousness.
Gary Player said he hadn’t seen anything like it in 60 years in the sport. Nick Faldo compared him to Seve Ballesteros.
Dubuisson, despite losing the final to Jason Day, briefly was the talk of golf.
For the reserved, private and softly spoken Frenchman, he’d rather that hadn’t been the case.
Dubuisson, who keeps his past very much in the past, is the European team’s mystery man heading into his first Ryder Cup this week. Even his teammates know little about him.
“Does anybody really know Victor?” Thomas Bjorn asked Tuesday.
Graeme McDowell, a potential partner for Dubuisson when play starts Friday, described him as an “enigma” and a “tough guy of get your head around of what he’s thinking.”
The 24-year-old Dubuisson acknowledges he is quiet and humble but, after just a day at Gleneagles, is already embracing the team dynamic that makes the Ryder Cup so special.
“Everybody has two different (sides) … I think when you are at your work and when you are outside with your friends, it’s very different,” Dubuisson said. “Honestly you can ask the other players. I’m a very funny and cool guy.”
The little that Dubuisson has spilled about his back story is interesting. He is the nephew of Herve Dubuisson, one of French basketball’s greatest players, and he has indicated in interviews that he left school before he was a teenager to concentrate on golf and that he “didn’t really have family.”
He played tennis and football as a youngster but settled into golf, he said Tuesday, because “you’re on your own” and he didn’t want to play in a team sport. Dubuisson smiled when it was put to him that he was the “Greta Garbo of golf” because of the mystery surrounding him.
What is not in question is Dubuisson’s talent.
The world’s No. 1 amateur in 2009, he held off a high-class field including Tiger Woods and Justin Rose in the final round of the Turkish Open last year to win his first major professional tournament. And that extraordinary performance in the match-play format in the Arizona desert in February effectively sealed his place at the Ryder Cup, where he is the European team’s youngest player.
His ball was at the bottom of a cactus on one playoff hole and it was at the base of bush on another. He gave it a good whack on both shots, with the ball shooting over TV cables and through rough to land close enough to the pin to make par.
“When some people compared my shots with what he (Seve) used to do, with a few shots he did in the past, it was a very big thing for me,” Dubuisson said. “It was very emotional.”
Dubuisson, whose first memory of a Ryder Cup is when he attended the K Club in 2006, practiced with Henrik Stenson and McDowell on Tuesday. It is the latter who is being talked about as a partner for the Frenchman.
“His relaxed mood, personality, could be confused with maybe intimidation and nervousness,” McDowell said. “I’ve been trying to get close to him the last few months and spend a little time with him. He’s a great guy.”
Dubuisson is the third Frenchman, after Jean Van de Velde (1999) and Thomas Levet (2004), to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup. And it just might raise extra interest in his home country, which is hosting the Ryder Cup in 2018.
“I actually have a funny feeling,” Bjorn said, “that this guy might just stand up and be a great hero by the end of this week.”
Step into a ruling…
Despite cooler than seasonal temperatures last week, the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur was contested at the Barrie Country Club in Barrie, Ontario, which featured some fantastic golf from the Mid-Amateur (25+) contingent. Barrie Country Club is no stranger to hosting championship golf, having previously hosted the PGA of Ontario Championship a record ten consecutive times (2003-2012), as well as the Ontario Open (1975), Ontario Women’s Amateur (1976, 1989) and the Ontario Men’s Amateur (1985).
Having had the opportunity to conduct the championship as Tournament Director, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the tireless efforts of the Barrie Country Club, it’s host organizing committee, staff and volunteers. The championship was first-class and a very successful conclusion to the season as we crowned our final national amateur champion of the year, Garrett Rank.
As successful as the championship was, the classic layout at Barrie Country Club tested competitors each and every round, placing a premium on shot making. Further, competitors were met with a unique pair of immovable obstructions in the greenside bunkers on the difficult par-5, sixth hole. In the photo below, you’ll see a set of stairs in each of the greenside bunkers, the only ones found on the golf course.
From clarification provided in Decision 24/12, the wooden steps are obstructions, and while they are not deemed to be in the bunker, relief is available from the steps whether or not the ball lies in the bunker. However, there is an additional relief option provided in circumstances where a player has interference and wishes to take relief from an immovable obstruction for a ball that lies within the bunker.
It is important to note that a player is entitled to relief from an immovable obstruction, when interference exists. Interference by an immovable obstruction occurs when a ball lies in or on the obstruction, or when the obstruction interferes with the player’s stance or the area of his intended swing.
For a player to take relief in this situation, where the ball lies in the bunker and interference exists, they must follow the procedure as outlined in rule 24-2b(ii), which provides the following:
In a Bunker: If the ball is in a bunker, the player must lift the ball and drop it either:
(a) Without penalty (by lifting and dropping, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief), except that the nearest point of relief must be in the bunker and the ball must be dropped in the bunker; or
(b) Under penalty of one stroke, outside the bunker keeping the point where the ball lay directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the bunker the ball may be dropped.
The interference produced by the wooden steps provides the player with two options when the ball lies in the bunker, granting the player – at the cost of a one-stroke penalty – to relief outside of the bunker. It is important to note that it is the position of the ball that ultimately determines the manner in which the player may take relief from interference by an immovable obstruction.
While there is a unique relief procedure within a bunker, there is also special consideration for relief procedures through the green, on the putting green and on the teeing ground, each of which can be found under rule 24-2 of the rules of golf. Next time you step into a ruling, be sure to consider all of your relief options, depending on where the ball lies.
For more information on the rules of golf, please click here.
For more information on how to proceed in various rules of golf situations, guidance on the Golf Canada Handicap System and more, please consult our rules of golf publications – for purchase in Golf Canada’s eStore, or at your local book retailer.
Concern over McIlroy, McDowell more about results
GLENEAGLES, Scotland – European captain Paul McGinley is having second thoughts about a Rory McIlroy-Graeme McDowell partnership in the Ryder Cup.
Attribute that to an ordinary record, not an acrimonious lawsuit.
The Northern Irish duo has made it clear in recent weeks that McIlroy’s lawsuit against Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management – which involves allegations against McDowell – has not affected their friendship and would not be a problem at Gleneagles this week.
“Both of them have assured me all along that there’s no issue, and that’s the way I’ve always seen it,” McGinley said Monday in the opening news conference of Ryder Cup week. “Whether they come together or not is another story.”
McDowell and McIlroy are longtime friends and major champions. They have been Ryder Cup partners for all but one session dating to 2010 at Wales, though their record is hardly impressive. They have won only two of those matches and halved another.
“Three or four months ago, I had a very strong view that they would have been (partners),” McGinley said. “But the more I look at their statistics, and the more I look at the different value I have with them, I’m thinking there may be a value in not doing it. But if I don’t do it, it certainly won’t be because of any issues.
“As both of them have said, there are no issues between them and both will be happy to play together,” he said. “But it will be my decision ultimately.”
Both teams arrived at Gleneagles on a relatively quiet day in which a haircut attracted most of the attention.
Rickie Fowler, a teen idol in golf circles, stepped off the U.S. charter at Edinburgh with “USA” cut into the side of his hair. Even old-school Tom Watson, the 65-year-old American captain, liked it.
Rickie Fowler (Twitter)
“I thought it was terrific,” Watson said. “It brings a light spirit to the team.”
The Americans flew overnight as a team, and planned little more than chipping and putting Monday before getting started on their practice rounds. Watson has reminded them from his vast experience – only three American players were even born when Watson played his first Ryder Cup in 1977 – not to worry if it takes a few days for their golf games to come around.
Half of the European team lives in Florida and players began arriving in the U.K. over the last week.
McIlroy left Horizon more than a year ago and their lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial as early as January. An Irish judge has recommended that both sides go through mediation because of sensitive material that would be public. Among other things, McIlroy has alleged that McDowell received more favorable contract terms from Horizon, and McIlroy’s lawyers have requested confidential documents.
McDowell announced last week that he also was leaving Horizon, under amicable terms, to put his own team around him.
They said they remain close and even had dinner together in Denver earlier this month.
McIlroy has had only one other partner in his two Ryder Cups. He was with Ian Poulter in fourballs in the final session at Medinah two years ago, and it was memorable. Poulter birdied his last five holes to give Europe an improbable point, and plenty of momentum that carried the side to a stunning comeback to retain the cup.
That has become a focal point for the American side.
“I made it very clear to them that this trip is a redemption trip,” Watson said. “Those players that played on that team, it’s time to make amends and try to redeem yourselves from what happened in 2012. I think it’s a motivation rather than a negative.”
Europe is considered a favorite, and McGinley believes that to be a badge of honor instead of a burden.
“We have been favorites before,” said McGinley, who has never been part of a losing Ryder Cup team as a player or vice captain. “And I think our players deserved it. The guys have worked very hard to be in the position they are.”
Even so, he has implored his team not to read too much into it. Europe has won only three of the last 13 sessions dating to 2008, and just two sessions in the last two Ryder Cups they won. The matches have been close, and the rosters of both teams indicated Gleneagles could be another replay of that.
“This is not a weak American team,” McGinley said. “We might be slight favorites with the bookies, but the two teams are very well balanced and very close together. We know it’s going to be a very tough contest ahead of us.”