Ryder Cup Rant

 This was made in response to a conversation on my fantasy golf league's message board. In the middle of what is clearly a long rant, I thought I should post it. To provide context for the start of this rant, I'm pasting comments made by my brother in the conversation:

"I think you'd be foolish not to take Stanley because when he's on he's lights-out, whereas Phil, Fowler, and Z. Johnson aren't as superior in their own victories. Plus, although I think Phil is a competitor, Rickie and Zach really aren't."

Wait...what?

How is Kyle Stanley "more superior in his victories" than Phil Mickelson? Well first of all, let's change that to "more superior in his victory" as Stanley has a whopping win total of 1 compared to Phil's 40. I agree that the 2nd half of Phil's season has been nowhere close to the pace he was on in the 1st half, but that's why the points are cumulative for the year. Phil gets in the top 8 because of literally just the insane run he went on in February, March, and April. Also, he loves Bethpage and could easily get a top 10 or better this week, changing the outlook of his recent struggles. Plus, I'm pretty sure when Phil's on he dominates the field better than a Kyle Stanley.

The bottom line is the US team is really deep this year, which is why we're seeing so many capable players on the bubble. Like the CBS crew said last week, that's a good problem for Davis to have. I mean, just look at the top 8 qualifiers:

Multiple wins on TOUR this year: Woods, Dufner, Z. Johnson

2012 Major champions: Simpson, Watson

All around solid seasons with a victory in a "premier" event: Kuchar (The PLAYERS) and Bradley (WGC-Bridgestone)

That leaves Phil. The fact that Phil was able to get into the top 8 with a T-36 at the PGA ought to demonstrate just how poorly Hunter Mahan has played in the 2nd half. I mean, he's won 2 tournaments this year, including a WGC, and ISN'T in the top 8. He also duffed a chip that could have won the 2010 Ryder Cup for the US...though, he wasn't totally at fault for being put in that position. That being said, he's an excellent match player. His control off the tee and on approach is so good that he should be on the team no question, even if his short game tends to unravel rounds for him.

Not that it's a question because he played his way into the top 8, but Zach Johnson is also a great fit for the Ryder. He balances out the Watson/Mickelson/Bradley contingent on our team by playing with control and a superior short game. He's the perfect counter to people like Donald and McDowell, who also don't win by hitting the ball far. There's a reason why control guys like Mahan and Donald have won the WGC match play in recent years and it's because their ability to minimize mistakes just wears down other golfers.

Those two reasons are why my second pick along with Mahan, if I'm Davis, is Poor Jim Furyk. I know, I can hardly sit still without having to shit my pants when I think about Poor Jim in a pressure situation, given his two epic meltdowns this year. Despite that, he's been rock solid and is basically half the reason why the US won the Presidents Cup last fall. Poor Jim Furyk was in Brookline in 1999 for the greatest Ryder Cup in history and has always been pumped up for international competition as a result. He gets one of my picks.

That leaves two and this is where the difficulty begins for me. If you're going with the "ride the hot hand" strategy, the picks would be Van Pelt and Stricker. Aside from missing the cut at the Open, Bo's worst finish in his last 6 starts is a T-24 (collected 3 top-10s in there). Similar for Strick in his last 6 starts: 3 top-10s, 2 top-5s, worst finish was a T-23.

Dustin Johnson is creeping into the hot hand category lately. That could be official with a strong finish this week. He's had a strong year overall, including a win, and should be an intimidating match player from tee to green. Emphasis is on the "to green" portion of the last sentence. DJ becomes very not intimidating around and on the green, but that still doesn't change the fact that his length on 5s and shorter 4s should be a huge match format advantage.

Rickie Fowler is an slightly different position. Like Johnson, he's had an overall good year. Upon closer examination, that is mostly due to flat out insane month he had from 4/29 thru 5/27, finishing in order T-10, 1st, T-2, T-5. Since then, he's cooled off in a major way. His best finish has been a T-31, he's finished over par in each event, and missed the cut at the PGA. He started off this week well too, though, so we'll see if that changes things.

Snedeker just doesn't quite make the cut for me and I have hard time making a case for him, though again I think this is mostly due to how deep the US is this season. He picked up a win way back in January at Torrey Pines, but otherwise he's claim is mostly staked on the strong T-3 he put up at the Open. In another year, he might be in, but he's just overall not been good enough to get a spot.

Given all of this, I make my other captain's picks Bo Van Pelt and Steve Stricker. In addition to the things I've mentioned above, Van Pelt brings another big stick to the table, while Stricker brings his superior battle tested putter. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a US victory sealed by a stroke from Strick's flat blade.

I don't care who Jose Maria Olazalabalaba picks because I hope Europe loses.

Yes, this is going on the blog.

I’m baaaaaaaaacccccccckkkkkkkk / The Prodigal Rambler Returns

Greetings friends of the Facebook, Twitter, and all other varieties. Greetings family. Greetings person who found my blog by Googling “Eisenhower hat”. It’s been a long 6 months since I last contributed to this here blog and even longer since I’ve maintained a posting schedule that resembles anything close to regular. There was a big change in my life last December, one that did not exist during my first 7 months writing. I got a job…like one that pays me…money. Like real money. It isn’t one that consisted of binge reading sports news, pouring over statistics for an hour or two, and then writing for a few more.

So, that was my excuse but I continued to use it well past its expiration date. And so much has happened I don’t even know where to begin. For the Boston in me: I’m not ready to talk about the Patriots or the Celtics. The Bruins convinced me just enough that they could repeat and yet still did the honorary bow out in the first round act that is seemingly required of the defending champions. Once the Red Sox finish 81-81 on the dot, I’ll be ready to bust out a manifesto on that.

For the everything else in me: the stupid Miami Heat and how many times I’ve said “God damn Lebron James” between the NBA playoffs and the Olympics. The LA Kings winning the Stanley Cup and the ascendancy of my Avon Old Farms classmate Jonathan Quick as the best goaltender in the world. BUBBA winning the Masters. Tiger winning 3 tournaments, despite going major-less again (more on that).  Roger winning another Wimbledon. The odd feeling that teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles might be in the post-season. The gut wrenching feeling that the Yankees are really good again and the surprising feeling that the Phillies aren’t favored to sweep their way to a World Series.

And of course, the Olympics and all of its freakishly athletic glory: my unabashed affinity for gymnastics. Michael Phelps solidifying himself as the greatest Olympian and arguably athlete of all-time. Usain Bolt doing his thing and maintaining his status with Jon Quick as “athletes with last name’s that best represent their skill set.” Seeing Kirani James win Grenada’s first ever medal, a Gold no less. Getting to cheer for a team that has Lebron James on it (the worst of guilty sins). Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor. Andy Murray getting his redemption and winning an (almost) major tournament in front of the home crowd. And every other random awesome thing that I saw. How do the Olympics get any better? Golf in 2016!!!!!!

And that represents my awesome segue into this post’s topic of conversation.

When Rory McIlroy drained his birdie putt on the 72^nd hole of the 2012 PGA Championship to seal a record 8 stroke victory, Jim Nantz of CBS proudly declared him as the king of golf. McIlory simply obliterated the field at the Pete Dye designed Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, finishing the weekend with an eleven under 67-66 virtuoso performance. He was bogey free on Sunday and needed just 24 putts for the round.

Glory's last shot goes to Rory in 2012.

Those of you who visited the site last summer may have come across this article. You’ll remember at the time that I took particular exception to the notion that Rory had de-throned Tiger Woods as the king of golf. And the rest of 2011 played out more or less how I expected. Rory didn’t have much at the Open a month later and wasn’t seen at all around the US for the rest of the year, save the Bridgestone and the PGA, where he hurt his wrist on Thursday, effectively knocking him out of the tournament. Tiger struggled to regain his form after battling through injury before finding a way into the winner’s circle (unofficially, a point to which I took offense and still do) late in the fall.

Both golfers started 2012 with some fire. Tiger fired off a closing 62 and finished second to Rory at PGA National. Shortly after that though, Tiger took an official victory at Bay Hill. But both were noticeably poor at Augusta and McIlroy fell into a slump and publicly admitted he hadn’t been practicing enough. He had another poor showing for his US Open title defense, not even making the cut. Meanwhile, Tiger bagged his second win of the season at Muirfield Village and then headed into the weekend at Olympic with a share of the lead. But it was all for not, as he shot 75-73 to finish out of the top 10 at +7.

Yet still, McIlroy continued to struggle while Tiger continued to show signs of improvement. In his preparations for the Open, he passed Jack Nicklaus with the 74^th win of his career coming at Congressional. He started the Open very strong and headed into Sunday just 5 back of the (to that point) flawless Adam Scott. A pot bunker induced triple bogey highlighted what was another poor finish, but still Woods finished in a tie for 3^rd place. The real meltdown belonged to Scott who ceded the Claret Jug to Ernie Els in the most epic of fashions.

Rory meanwhile finished in a tie for 60^th place despite starting the tournament with a strong 67. Heading into the Bridgestone two weeks ago, it was pretty obvious that Tiger was better bet between the two. Woods struggled with something each round until Sunday when he put it all together to vault himself into the top 10. McIlroy, on the other hand, found something in his game on Thursday and translated that into a 67-67-68 stretch that placed him in a tie for 5^th place.

And I guess that’s really the story for me because McIlroy is at the age where the memory is shorter, the swagger is higher, and the ability to turn everything around in a few holes is seemingly much easier. If you paid close attention the leaderboard last week, you got the impression that Kiawah was going to hold the field at bay. Upon closer examination, the wet and windy conditions on Friday were the only thing holding McIlroy back from pure domination. There was an interesting debate on Sunday regarding his past comments about not playing in the wind that seemed just, well, unbelievable.

I mean, no one likes playing in the wind. If they say they do, they’re lying. I played golf in Colorado for 6 years where it is almost always windy. I got used to it, sure, but did I ever grow to like it? Debatable. And let’s put “wind” into context. We’re not talking about the steady 10 mph left to right cross-breeze. As the CBS crew pointed out, when he meant wind, he probably meant the 22 mph whipping type of wind that likes to throw rain in your face and gust up to 30 mph right as you start your backswing.

So sure, McIlroy doesn’t like playing in the wind and until he grows to accept that and move on (read: not play the ball 767 miles up in the air), he’ll probably play himself out of a few majors. But we can safely bet that he will also do what he did at Kiawah, which was play the 54 holes he had good weather for at a staggering 16 under par, at only the hardest golf course in the United States. It’s now the 3^rd time in last 11 majors that an Ulsterman has won, which is kind of crazy for a country of less than 2 million. Also crazy when you consider that one other person from the island of Ireland has won a major.

Despite all of this, I’m still not ready to fully anoint Rory as the king of golf. I know I’m probably splitting hairs, but hear me out. We’ve known he has the skill set since 2008. He’s also proven that when his game is on, he will dominate the field in a way that is reminiscent only of the man whom he’s in the process of taking the crown from. What we haven’t seen is the consistency week in and week out, to me a defining characteristic of Tiger’s reign of dominance from 1999 through 2008. I know the majors are over, but if Rory can push this momentum forward into a FedEx Cup victory he will have also won the most accurate marker of the “year’s best golfer” that’s out there.

If he can do this, then I would say there’s absolutely no question, especially when you consider how few events he’s played in on TOUR this year. When you think about it, even though he left Chubby Chandler and stated he would enter more TOUR events that really hasn’t happened yet. If anything, he just played less overall in 2012 and yet his record is quite impressive for a golfer who went through a 2-month slump during which he missed 3 cuts in 5 events. All I’m saying is that an argument can be made that the scary consistency isn’t there yet for Rory and when Tiger was king, there was no argument.

There’s no better test for Rory right now than the FedEx Cup, too. He will have to play four consecutive weeks (assuming he sits out Wyndham this week), which he hasn’t done all year. He’s gone 3 weeks in a row on two separate occasions. In the fist stretch, his finishes were 2^nd, 1^st, and 3^rd. In the second, they were Cut, Cut, T-7. He’ll also be vying against the best talent in the world this season. The top 15 in the FedEx standings is just riddled with talent, both young and old. And of course, the one person sitting in front of him at the moment is Tiger Woods.

So what do we make of 2012 for Woods? At the end of the day, the most important factor is to put the entire time frame starting from 2010 into context. It was well documented so I don’t need to go into much detail beyond that we know 2010 was mostly Tiger struggling with his mental game as life kind of whirl winded for a while. Fast forward to Augusta in 2011 and the 31 on the front nine on Sunday. It looks like he’s made the turnaround until putts fail to drop on the back, which leads to the questions. We find out in his answers to those questions that he strained his left Achilles playing out of the pine straw earlier in the week. A short while later, he withdraws after 9 holes at The Players and we don’t see him for nearly 3 months.

Given the context, he was ready to win mentally speaking, but he was employing a golf swing that was not sustainable, given that one swing with unsure footing led to a major injury. Cue Sean Foley, the new swing, and a fresh start. In my opinion, the progression was really fast, stupidly fast. I think it would probably the average pro 2-3 years to complete the progression Tiger did. He went from barely being able to break par or make cuts to winning an unsanctioned (but perfectly legit) event in 4 months and a TOUR event in 7 months. He contended in the final three majors of the year, won two more TOUR stops, and will more than likely be in the pole position for the start of the FedEx Cup, which he has an excellent chance to win.

Jack doesn't think Tiger is "just another guy"

Tiger always defined his career in terms of majors, so he can’t blame everyone for obliging. In this sense, 2012 fell short of expectations especially from a fan’s perspective. I reject the notion that Tiger “is just another guy” now solely because of his weekend performances at the last three majors, though. The “just another guy” guy does not win 3 tournaments in the first 13 months after a major injury and surgery. The “just another guy” guy probably hasn’t even won 3 tournaments in his career. I think Tiger is simply learning to trust himself with his new swing and new approach. That manifested into 3 wins because he is so comfortable at certain golf courses. It’s no surprise that he won at his favorite venues when seen in this light.

So it’s short of our expectations and even of his own because that’s where he’s set the bar. But Tiger and Sean Foley can’t pretend like major strides weren’t gained this season; they know it, even if they can’t publicly admit it. Unless Jason Dufner wins a playoff event and the FedEx, Woods will likely be the Player of the Year. He’s also a dead lock for Comeback Player of the Year. No one has ever won both awards, though the Comeback has only been around since 1990. Not quite major #15, but yet another record nonetheless.