Sunday, September 19, 1999
Plenty of pressure on U.S. Ryder Cup team
By Joe Juliano
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
Justin Leonard deftly avoided making a prediction for the Ryder
Cup, then proceeded to use the word "fun" three times,
as in:
"We're going to have as much fun on the golf course as
we do away from it."
"We're going to have fun being in a team situation."
"It'll be a lot of fun."
Hmmm. For the American side, the 33rd Ryder Cup, which begins
Friday at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., figures to be
as much fun as root canal.
Leonard expressed his hope for the week in an interview Monday
before the Exelon Invitational at Wyncote Golf Club. But the fact
is, the U.S. team will be under pressure like never before during
the three days of competition against Europe before a sellout
crowd and a worldwide television audience.
The Americans have lost the last two rounds of the biennial
competition, in 1995 at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y., and in 1997
at Valderrama in Spain. They have never lost back-to-back Ryder
Cups on home soil.
The squad the United States will trot out this week appears
stronger than the Europeans from top to bottom. It boasts the
top two players in the world, Tiger Woods and David Duval. It
has five of the top 10 and nine of the top 14. Europe, on the
other hand, has no one in the top 14 other than No. 3 Colin Montgomerie
and No. 5 Lee Westwood.
Six Europeans rank below the lowest-rated American, No. 28
Steve Pate, including Jean Van de Velde, the tragicomic figure
of the last British Open, who comes in at No. 89, worst on the
team. Seven rookies adorn the European roster, while the United
States counters with only one - Duval.
Did someone say pressure? Mind-numbing, cottonmouth-causing
pressure?
"The pressure is on us for sure," Mark O'Meara said.
"They've always had everything to gain and not a whole lot
to lose, and we've always had a lot to lose and not a whole lot
to gain.
"Hopefully, this year it's going to be the American team
that's going to come out on top. Because if we don't, I imagine
we'll get pretty well hammered."
Indeed, they will. The partisan crowd in suburban Boston will
root passionately for the home side, and probably throw a few
nasty bon mots at Montgomerie, a lightning rod for hecklers whenever
he plays in this country. But should things get shaky in Sunday's
climactic singles round, the gallery could turn, or get so quiet
as to hear the tiny numbers of European fans.
U.S. players didn't help themselves in the popularity department
when, in the the weeks leading up to and including the PGA Championship,
their thoughts centered not on their opponent, but on where an
estimated $23 million in Ryder Cup profits were going.
Early reports suggested that team members wanted to be paid
to play for their country, but eventually a consensus of players
said they wished to receive money to distribute to the charities
of their choice.
The players were criticized for sounding greedy. Even their
captain, Ben Crenshaw, said he was disappointed in the positions
of some team members after a PGA Championship week meeting, and
publicly singled out Woods, Duval, O'Meara and Phil Mickelson.
Captain and players now say that their differences have been
patched up, and that they are united in regaining the Ryder Cup
for the third time in the last eight matches.
"I don't think it's going to be a problem," said
Jim Furyk, the West Chester-born player who will compete in his
second Ryder Cup. "We're more focused on playing well and
hopefully winning back the Ryder Cup. For us, as players, I don't
think it's a story at all."
Crenshaw took steps to unite his players during an Aug. 30
team practice at The Country Club, and thinks that day provided
a big boost in building chemistry in preparation for what lies
ahead this week.
"I told them that I want them to look around and know
what the other guy is thinking," Crenshaw said. "We've
got to have that. There's no doubt in my mind that camaraderie
and being together is something we need to improve upon."
Maybe so. But even if Crenshaw unites his players to the point
where they're singing "Kumbaya" at team meetings, they
still must cope with the unpredictabile nature of the Ryder Cup.
The 1995 Ryder Cup saw the United States go into the final
day with a two-point lead, only to lose the singles 7-4 and the
matches. A pair of unknowns, Howard Clark and Philip Walton, won
for Europe, with Walton earning the winning point.
In 1997, the U.S. entered the competition with three of that
year's four major champions - Woods, Leonard and Davis Love 3d.
But the trio went a combined 1-9-3, and all lost their singles
matches. Europe, with its five rookies accounting for eight points,
won, 14-13.
And now, who knows what to expect? The Americans have a lot
of experience and talent. The Europeans decided not to invite
veterans Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer and are top-heavy with
rookies like Van de Velde, British Open champ Paul Lawrie and
35-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Then again, one of Europe's rookies could have a major say
in what happens next weekend. Spain's Sergio Garcia, the PGA runner-up
to Woods and the youngest-ever player in a Ryder Cup, possesses
superstar ability and knows no fear in match play. He went 32-1
in matches in his last two years as an amateur.
A crowd favorite at the PGA in Chicago, Garcia realizes the
Ryder Cup is a different matter entirely, and does not expect
the same kind of reception.
"I know it's not going to be like it was in Chicago,"
he said. "Playing with Europe is totally different than playing
on the tour. I'm going to go there and try to help my team. If
the crowd helps me, it will be great. If not, I'll just try to
focus on my game."
It remains to be seen how Europe's other rookies will fare
on foreign soil. Leonard, a Ryder Cup rookie in 1997 along with
Woods and Furyk, recalled how difficult it was to break in before
a less-than-appreciative audience.
"You go out and hit a bad shot and people applaud,"
he said. "That took me back a little bit. But I don't think
their guys are going to get too rattled. I'm looking forward to
this because I know how the week goes, and the pace of everything
and what to expect from the crowds."
The Americans don't quite know what to expect from Love, who
has not played since the World Golf Championships on Aug. 29 while
recuperating from a pinched nerve in his shoulder. Love started
hitting balls last week and hopes to be ready to go for this week's
practice.
Having a healthy Love, who is playing in his fourth Ryder Cup,
will help the Americans. Only O'Meara and Payne Stewart have played
in more Ryder Cups for the U.S. side, a total of five each.
The three days of competition figure to be exciting and tense
and stressful. But fun?
"If we lose this year after the Presidents Cup and losing
the last two Ryder Cups - and after all that controversy over
money - well, it's going to be bad," Love said. "So
we can't lose. We just can't lose."
(c) 1999, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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