simosfrostyone
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Well, I hate to say it but Koepka may be the only guy close to as dumb as DJ.
cville, why do you love the DJ/Koepka pairing so much? They were the only American team to lose Saturday afternoon and their score didn't beat any other American team during that session. Koepka was amazing with Snedeker. DJ was the only US player to go into Sunday with a losing record.
DJ's a great example of how well the US put together their teams/pairings this year. He's #2 in the world - previous captains would have just stuck their #1 and #2 guys together (Jordan and DJ) at least once, and certainly would have put him up in prime spots.
Instead he gets a virtual cakewalk first round matchup and a mid-round singles spot. Also sat out on Saturday morning for Snedeker, who won. I guarantee there was a lot of thought put into that - how he's not really a spotlight/energy guy and probably not ideal Ryder Cup material. Instead Reed gets vaulted to his "spot" and takes out Rory while taking 2 of 3 from the Stenson/Rose dynamo with a shaky Spieth.
Contrast that with Europe saddling Rory with Sullivan out of the gate, sitting Ballo and Wood for Kaymer on Saturday... European's got beaten on the course and in the planning rooms. Finally.
Yeah, but it was a fantastic match. Birdies were flying back and forth both ways and they just came up short against an even more fantastic team of Rory and Pieters - exciting stuff compared to halving holes with pars and the occasional bogey. You don't just look at wins and losses but how these guys were playing. I mean, technically Moore did win a point yesterday, but that was because he was playing Westwood and otherwise would have lost to just about anyone else and played like crap all week. OTOH, Stenson/Rose played extremely well but lost to the Reed/Spieth juggernaut. I'd rather watch an epic match with great players counter punching other great players with birdies even if it means a loss than crappy play where someone has to win or tie at the end. Take Phil as an example. He and Fowler should have lost Friday because they were hitting the ball all over the place but they came out with a lucky win - but it was a crap match whatever the result. Also didn't play well early Saturday, but started coming on on the 2nd 9 Sat afternoon and was on fire Sunday in a great match with Sergio. He only got a halve out of that but he and Sergio lit the place up.
Only rule change I'd like to see at this point is one requiring every player on each squad to play at least once each day. That would force each captain to use all of their depth and would require some re-pairings that would be interesting.
Classic cville doing all he can to deride Phil. He and Rickie made 6 birdies in 17 holes in alt shot, but it was a "lucky win" and a "crap match whatever the result" and they "should have lost."
This isn't Little League. Is this Little League?
Was out of town for the weekend. Watched most of Sat and caught the replay of yesterday's singles on replay last night before falling asleep in the middle. That front 9 with Rory and Reed was some of the most amazing golf I've ever seen - and loved their smiles and fist bumps after they hit their bombs on 8. I also wouldn't mind seeing a RC where the matches were just Rory/Pieters v. DJ/Koepke and Spieth/Reed v. Stenson/Rose.
The major takeaway is that you can't hide 6 golfers. My only criticism of Clarke is that he should have played RCB more. The guy has had a great year and was 1 of the better Euros going into this thing, so with the weaker team, I would have gone in planning on playing him 4-5 times. But 4 of his RC rookies were no-shows, and Westwood and Kaymer were atrocious. Westwood is done. Kaymer is a funny player. I don't remember a multiple major winner who goes through the dry spells like Kaymer does. He had that collapse in the UAE last year and wasn't heard from the rest of the year. I wasn't expecting much from Wood, Sullivan or Fitzpatrick, and they didn't disappoint. Was surprised Willett sucked, but he went in with some bad karma from his brother, and he seemed affected by that. They need a talent infusion if they want to win on American soil in 4 years. Their top 6 guys played great and were in some epic matches, but their bottom 6 sucked horribly. I'm thinking guys like Beef, Lowry, Levy, Dubuisson, Noren and Wiesberger need to step it up and take some of these guys' places. Speaking of Dubuisson, WTF has happened to him? He looked like he was turning into a star but has dropped into oblivion. Maybe he's friends with Anthony Kim.
Our only player who sucked was Moore. Was hot and was supposed to be a good match play guy, but he gave JB no assistance and only got a freebie point by drawing Westwood on Sunday. Loved the Spieth/Reed team even more than 2 years ago, and loved the DJ/Koepka pairing for 4ball. And as I said going into this thing, Reed may be 1 of the most disliked players on tour, may have been a cheater in college and may have strange family issues, but you gotta love him in this event. He'll be a stalwart on the team for the next decade plus. And if this is any sign as to how these guys will handle the majors, you gotta think Reed, Pieters and Koepka will win at least a major or 2.
DC, yup, we beat them on the course badly. But what could you have done differently if you're Clarke? My 1 point would have been to have played RCB once or twice more. But how can you possibly hide 6 guys? I guess the only other way would have been, after you find out on Friday that Kaymer, Westwood, Willett, Wood, Sullivan and Fitzpatrick all suck, then pair Rory/Pieters, Rose/Stenson. RCB/Sergio and 2 suck boys for both Saturday rounds and hope the suck boys get paired against Spieth/Reed so you have a good shot at the other matches. But you then still have 6 guys sucking ass on Sunday to deal with. I just don't think there is much you can do as a captain when you have that many guys sucking that much ass.
Yeah, but it was a fantastic match. Birdies were flying back and forth both ways and they just came up short against an even more fantastic team of Rory and Pieters - exciting stuff compared to halving holes with pars and the occasional bogey. You don't just look at wins and losses but how these guys were playing.
That's why I made sure to point out that DJ/Koepka's score was not better than any of the 3 other American teams in that session.
Koepka had a great Ryder Cup. I just don't see why you think he and DJ make a great pair.
Speaking of Fowler, he was the fiery guy in his first RC. Not so much now. And as for beating Rose, I think Rose was just one under. (Which makes his complaining about the easy hole positions pretty comical) Anybody on our team would have beaten Rose sunday. I find Foster's game underwhelming.