4th June is the 81st anniversary of the first Ryder Cup, which was played in Worcester, MA in 1927. The competition was the brainchild of the English merchant Samuel Ryder, and the trophy retains his name to this day. The USA and Great Britain traded victories in the early years, but the the Americans began their domination that would last until 1979, when the opposing teams opened itself to the cream of European golf. What difference does this make today? If the team was still only comprised of GB & Ireland (as a Paddy I don't want to look back before then) players, it would currently be as follows:
Lee Westwood Justin Rose Luke Donald Padraig Harrington Ian Poulter Nick Dougherty Graeme McDowell Steve Webster Richard Finch Phillip Archer
+ 2 wild cards
Some new names there, certainly, but still a strong team. However, Europe give us Sergio, Karlsson, Stenson, Jiminez, etc, to make it into a world-class team. With a team like this, and Europe's well-known formidable esprit-de-corps, it's easy to imagine a fourth successive thrashing. However, many a slip... Seve Ballesteros is hoping the Yanks will take this one to keep up the interest, or so he says.
However, we shall return to the Ryder Cup at a later date.
Hugh O'Connor is an Irish student, stand-up comedian, and avid golfer/cricketer/snookerer living in Dublin. He has been commentating on golf and cricket in his living room to the annoyance of his family for over a decade, and is hoping he'll be able to find a more appreciative audience for his musings. He is a member in Woodbrook Golf Club, which hosted the Irish Open throughout the '60s and '70s, and in Mount Juliet, host of the '93, '94, & '95 Irish Opens, as well as the 2002 and 2004 WGC American Express Championships.
His cricket is mainly played on the beach in Derrynane and any cricket ground he can sneak into.
He currently plays off a handicap of 7, but hopefully won't for much longer. His initial ambition is to get to 0.4, in order to enter the qualifying for the Open Championship.
After that he'll be ready to open the batting and bowling for Ireland, once he's asked.
2 comments:
4th June is the 81st anniversary of the first Ryder Cup, which was played in Worcester, MA in 1927. The competition was the brainchild of the English merchant Samuel Ryder, and the trophy retains his name to this day. The USA and Great Britain traded victories in the early years, but the the Americans began their domination that would last until 1979, when the opposing teams opened itself to the cream of European golf.
What difference does this make today? If the team was still only comprised of GB & Ireland (as a Paddy I don't want to look back before then) players, it would currently be as follows:
Lee Westwood
Justin Rose
Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington
Ian Poulter
Nick Dougherty
Graeme McDowell
Steve Webster
Richard Finch
Phillip Archer
+ 2 wild cards
Some new names there, certainly, but still a strong team. However, Europe give us Sergio, Karlsson, Stenson, Jiminez, etc, to make it into a world-class team.
With a team like this, and Europe's well-known formidable esprit-de-corps, it's easy to imagine a fourth successive thrashing. However, many a slip...
Seve Ballesteros is hoping the Yanks will take this one to keep up the interest, or so he says.
However, we shall return to the Ryder Cup at a later date.
All the best.
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