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How to get Ryder Cup back: Annex Australia
By JIM LITKE / AP Sports Writer
SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) -- Forget more practice. That won't get the Ryder Cup back.
Talk Michael Jordan into playing golf full time by 1999? Hire another dozen sports psychologists for the squad? Or the singular Seve Ballesteros as its captain? Won't work, either.
Still, if Americans are desperate enough to once again hold that pricey little cup Englishman Sam Ryder donated in 1927, the solution is simple enough:
Annex Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. That gives us Greg Norman, Steve Elkington, Nick Price and Ernie Els. And maybe for good measure, Fiji and Vijay Singh, too.
Don't laugh. It's worked for the Europeans.
Counting Sunday's 14-1/2-13-1/2 loss, America still enjoys a 23-7-2 edge in the series. But since 1979, when Great Britain-Ireland began drawing players from the continent, Europe has played America even. Over that span, each side won, or held onto the Cup by virtue of a tie, five times. But they've walked away with it five of the last seven.
This U.S. team wasn't out-gunned so much as out-gutted. And out-putted. The Americans came to Spain boasting seven of the top dozen ranked players in the world. Europe had one. The Americans were fronted by three of the four major championship winners. Europe had none.
But that's why they play. Because when they were through, Tiger Woods (Masters champion, No. 2), Justin Leonard (British Open, No. 11) and Davis Love III (PGA, No. 10), had cashed in exactly 2-1/2 of a possible 13 points.
Still, the collapse was deeper than that. From the first player through the 12th, the Europeans were just plain tougher. Their captain was savvier, their veterans steadier, and that enabled the rookies to grow up as the matches progressed.
It didn't happen by accident. Competition on their tour is sharper because the purses are smaller, which in turn makes for hungrier players. Shotmaking, too, is more refined on this side of the Atlantic because the weather is rougher and the courses not as well groomed, nor nearly as predictable as the cookie-cutter layouts used for tour events in the States. All those elements forged the squad that sawed off the Americans at the knees.
"The dollars are far, far bigger in the States," said Englishman Nick Faldo, who shifted his base to Orlando, Fla., two years ago to chase them. "But there's a lot more character in Europe."
American captain Tom Kite didn't see it that way.
"I honestly think the only reason we got beat," he said, "is because they knew the golf course and the weather conditions better than we did."
Kite can believe whatever he wants. But that answer conveniently forgets how the Europeans stormed back in the final-day singles two years ago to win by the same score over a very American course (Oak Hill) on a dazzling autumn afternoon in Rochester, N.Y.
It also misses why the Europeans owned the back nine at Valderrama when nearly every team match was on the line, or why everybody on their side stepped up and made putts when they needed them most.
"We hit a lot of shots close and missed so many putts," said Brad Faxon, generally considered one of the PGA Tour's best putters. "It seemed like every time they had a 30-footer and we had five-footers, they knocked theirs in first. It made ours a lot tougher."
Gradually, that sense of dread filled the entire American team. team. It began in the lengthening shadows Saturday, when the Europeans took five of six points available in the team matches. It took the Americans 24 hours to shake it, and what finally did it was that little bit defiance missing from their makeup all along.
Late Sunday afternoon, 1-down to Jose Maria Olazabal, Lee Janzen drilled an iron within 15 feet of the flag at No. 17. He raised a cupped hand to his ear, challenging the wild, pro-European gallery to find something in that to cheer. Then, he coolly made the putt to level the match and waved an index finger in the air to signal one hole left to play.
Janzen's drive split the fairway at 18. And when Olazabal hooked his into the rough, Woods led a charge of players rushing to see the lie, their hats turned backward like rally caps. It was the most animated the Yanks, and Woods in particular, had been all weekend. A brief rally did indeed follow.
In the next few heartbeats, Faxon stuck a wedge to 12 feet at the 17th to stay within shouting distance of Langer. Then Jeff Maggert rolled in a putt to win his match against Lee Westwood, 3 and 2. The Americans pulled to within 13-11.
But the rally died as quickly as it began. Faxon missed his birdie try, and Langer two-putted for par and a 2 and 1 victory that gave Europe the killing 14th point. A moment later, Ballesteros and Kite embraced alongside the 18th green.
Attitude should have been an American strength all along. But someone -- blame Kite, Woods, Leonard, any or all of the Americans, take your pick -- forgot to pack it for the trip.
Remembering it the next time will do more, in truth, than adding Norman & Co. to the American mix. Besides, they've all resettled in the States already -- and probably gone soft by now.
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