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Yes, the calendar shows 2021, but tomorrow morning the USA & Europe will finally tee it up for the 2020 Ryder Cup.

With that in mind I am exceptionally grumpy for several reasons…

  • One, we missed out on the Ryder Cup last year and had to wait an extra year for the 2020 edition.
  • Second, the Europeans got to keep the Ryder Cup for an extra year, just like the Irishman Shane Lowry got to keep the Claret Jug for an extra year. Both instances are criminal.
  • Three, I know there’s a third thing, but I can’t think of it right now.

Anyway, don’t get me wrong, while I may be grumpy about this year, I absolutely love The Ryder Cup. Some of my fondest memories of watching golf are of Paul Azinger going at it with Seve Ballesteros in the 1989 Ryder Cup. Bernhard Langer missing a putt to give the US the win in The War by the Shore at Kiawah. And Justin Leonard’s amazing putt at the 1999 Ryder Cup, though the celebration on the green when Jose Maria Olazabal still had to putt was an absolute disgrace.

So, like I said I absolutely love the Ryder Cup. At least I used to before the US became the doormat of this international competition.

I mean the US has lost to Europe in 7 of the last 9 Ryder Cups. Seven of Nine! Wait where have I heard that before? Isn’t that some Star Trek character played by Jeri Ryan? Well Star Trek or not, losing 7 of the last 9 Ryder Cups is an absolute disgrace.

But looking at this year’s Ryder Cup on home soil and a course set up for the US bombers you’re probably saying ‘’Hey Grumpy, why so down?” Team USA has an average World Golf Ranking of 9 while Europe comes in at 31. And the US are more than a 2-1 favorite to win back the Cup. Everything’s coming up roses.

Well as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend.” While there’s a drastic difference between the US Team and the European Team and on paper this seems like a runaway, unfortunately, The Ryder Cup isn’t played on paper.

Let’s break it down a little…

The US comes into this year’s event with 6 rookies – Harris English, Daniel Berger, Scottie Scheffler, Colin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, while Europe brings in 3 – Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have your veterans and Europe boasts the vast majority of golfers with multiple Ryder Cup appearances. Westwood (11th), Garcia (10th), Poulter (7th), McIlroy (6th) and Casey (5th), while the lone US golfer with more than 4 appearances is Dustin Johnson who comes into this year with his fifth Ryder Cup start.

But worse than rookies vs veterans is the fact that for the most part the US plays as individuals, they don’t play as partners. They tend to want the glory all to themselves. Look no further than meathead bro Brooks Koepka. The true example of someone who only cares about himself.

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Brooks can’t consider this a team game no matter what the circumstances. His recent interview with Golf Digest spells it out where Brooks said, “Now, somebody else hit a bad shot and left me in a bad spot, and I know this hole is a loss. You go from an individual sport all the time to a team sport one week a year. It’s so far from my normal routine. I can barely see my (personal) team. It’s hard to even go to the gym.”

Whaaaa, I can’t even go to the gym. What a baby. Brooks so reminds me of Rod Tidwell from the first part of the movie Jerry Maguire and this quote from Jerry himself really sums up the Brooks Kopeka mentality.

“You play with your head, not your heart. It’s all about what you didn’t get, who’s to blame, who under threw the pass, who’s got the contract you don’t, who’s not giving you your love. That is not what inspires people.”

I mean how does this guy look to the others in the team room? Is he a beacon for the SIX US rookies? One-hundred percent, NO! He’s supposed to be someone they can look up to and take advice from and instead he rips the entire Ryder Cup with his infantile and selfish behavior.

Then you have Bryson who instead of preparing for this year’s Ryder Cup busted up his hands prepping for some long drive competition. That’s either dumb or selfish or both. But maybe he doesn’t need to prep, after all he went 0-3 at his first Ryder Cup in 2018 and he’s 0-1-1 at The President’s Cup. Dunce.

Now what you like to hear is this quote from Patrick Cantlay at Wednesday’s Press Conference. “I could go 0-4 this week, and if the U.S. Team wins it’s a raving success and I’ll be elated. I could go 4-0 this week, and if the team loses it will be a bad week. That’s just so different than a regular golf week, and that’s what makes it so special, is that you’re playing for something bigger than just yourself.”

Or this one from Shane Lowry. “I think we all believe so much in ourselves and we all believe so much in each other that we’re here playing for each other and we’re here fighting for every last point and every last putt we can get. We’re fighting not only for ourselves this week but for each other.”

Now those are attitudes that do inspire people and attitudes that over the next three days these two teams – that’s right I said teams, not individuals – will need to hoist the Cup on Sunday afternoon.

Europe just needs a tie to win the Cup for the 8th time in the last 10 events and grumpily I think it’s going to happen, so I’ll take Europe +220 on the Draw No Bet line.

I’ll also take a shot with Justin Thomas to prove the Top American at +550. Justin was 4-1 in his first Ryder Cup appearance, teaming with Jordan Spieth for 3 points and winning 1-up over Rory in the singles. He was also 10-3-2 in his two President’s Cup appearances, so he has what it takes to win in these types of competitions.

For Top Rookie I’ll go with Viktor Hovland at +470. The 23-year-old is ranked 14th in the World and has amassed $7.8 million in earnings in his short career. He won’t back down from the challenge of this stage and I think he’ll get plenty of opportunities to play.

If you want to make a wager on The Ryder Cup there are tons to choose from over at Fanduel, so check it out.

https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/golf/the-ryder-cup-2021

Enjoy the golf and enjoy the atmosphere, it should be a great 3 days. And if the US happens to win I certainly won’t be grumpy about that, but of course I will be grumpy about losing my bet. It’s a foregone conclusion. No matter what happens, the Grump is here to stay. Check out the latest lines at The Props Network PGA page