In this piece we take a look at 5 reasons why the USA will win the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National.
5 Reasons Why The USA Will Win The Ryder Cup
This years Ryder Cup is one of the most hotly anticipated editions of the event ever, and for good reason. Both sides look very strong indeed, however the United States will win the coveted trophy for 5 different reasons. Sam Tremlett delves into each of them below.
1) Dominance Of Major Championships
Admittedly, the Majors have no real influence over the Ryder Cup other than helping with qualification. But what they do show is players producing their best games when it matters most which is part and parcel of what the Ryder Cup is all about. Producing your best, or holing a putt, when the pressure is at its highest.
In the last few years in Majors, the Americans have clearly been better at this than the Europeans.
Since 2013, out of 24 Major Championships, there have only been 7 European winners, collecting 8 Major Championships out of the 24. On the other hand, their have been 10 Americans winning Majors in that span, collecting 14 out of the 24.
In fact 6 of the last 8 Majors have been won by Americans with Francesco Molinari and Sergio Garcia being the other two winners.
Koepka has won three of the past 7 Majors (Getty Images)
2) European Inexperience
There are some who say being a rookie does not matter, but all the evidence suggests it most definitely does. Most former and current players say that the pressure of the Ryder Cup is unlike anything else in the game and it certainly ratchets up throughout the week. Therefore having already experienced that pressure is huge and right now, the Americans are sitting pretty in that regard. At the time of writing, both sides have named their teams and the rookie count for each side is 5 to 3.
On the American team Justin Thomas is a rookie but has had some experience of team matchplay in the Presidents Cup in 2017. Obviously the Ryder Cup is a different level to that, but every little helps. The other two rookies on the team are Tony Finau and Bryson DeChambeau who have both had brilliant 2018s.
Whereas the Europeans have five rookies in Jon Rahm, Alex Noren, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Thorbjorn Olesen.
No, having a lot of rookies is not a good sign for any team. Need I remind you that the last time Europe took a lot of rookies to a Ryder Cup was 2016, and Europe got beaten 17-11.
3) More Top-30 Players In World Rankings
Put simply, half of the current top-30 players are American which not only shows just how good the top players in America are, but also shows how much strength and depth they have.
To add to that the Americans have three of the top four players in the world in Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Justin Thomas who have all shown good form this year winning eight tournaments between them. (DJ, Thomas – 3, Koepka – 2).
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4) Intimidating Team
This is more of an observational point, but the Americans have quite an intimidating team this year headed by several players who seem to raise their game for the Cup and the biggest moments. Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth clearly love the competition and Brooks Koepka has shown he raises his game for the big occasions several times. Then, you have Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson who are two of the greatest players the game has ever seen. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas are young and scared of nobody, oh and the US have Dustin Johnson.
Whereas I would argue that the Europeans only really have one truly intimidating player and that is Rory McIlroy. (Maybe you could throw Jon Rahm and Ian Poulter too). Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Francesco Molinari, Fleetwood, Hatton and Noren are all class players, but I would argue they are not intimidating.
Another aspect to this is that several of the Americans seem as if they get on well which means they are more of a team than the Europeans.
5) Won in 2016 Emphatically
Finally, the Americans have 6 players from their victorious 2016 team returning.
They have had the experience of winning and know what it takes whereas many of the Europeans don’t.
What do you make of these factors? And more importantly who do you think is going to win in Paris?
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