At this point I should say that on a personal note, the physical act is worth the applause.  I cannot begin to predict what would happen to my spine, quads, and knee if I attempted this maneuver.  The resultant cracking of joints would flush the very birds from their trees and the subsequent agonized groan would surely earn me myriad stroke penalties for noise violation.  The shortness of breath would onset almost immediately and I would surely lose consciousness.  It wouldn’t be so much about saving par at that point.  It would be about saving my life.  So maybe some applause is warranted.  But I guess what rankles me is the fact that I get the feeling people follow Villegas in galleries just hoping that he’ll “do that thing,” like he’s some carnival freak that we get to point and laugh at, and FINALLY get to clap for when he assumes his (extremely) modified catcher’s stance to read a green.

Again, I should say that if I were a tour golfer — and had the joint health and overall flexibility — I wouldn’t just be getting into contorted positions to read my greens before a putt.  No, sir.  If I had thousands of dollars or maybe my continued opportunity to play golf for a living constantly riding on every putt, I’d be down there with a pair of opera glasses and a protractor, and probably a notebook to perhaps do some calculus, assuming any bodily arrangement I could achieve, if I thought it would help me figure out where and how fast to hit the upcoming putt.  I’m surprised more golfers aren’t doing things like this to improve their impressions on how a certain putt might/might not break.

But are we not over it yet?  Maybe I’m being a little critical of galleries that clap like Pavlovian dogs whenever Villegas gets into the green-reading crouch…but I just don’t want people to miss out on the fact that this guy is not only one of the more exciting, young, up-and-coming (insert upside cliche here), players on the tour, NOW he’s starting to actually WIN.  He won two Fed-Ex Cup events in a row and that potential we’ve been talking about is starting to materialize into victories.  Ask any coach or athlete and they’ll tell you that “knowing how to win” is a very real thing, a skill unto itself.  Villegas knows how to win, now, and with his skills that’s a dangerous combination.  So…if you’ve paid your admission and you see the guy on your local golf course in a tournament and he assumes the gopher’s-eye-view position, sure, go ahead and clap.  Get it out of your system.  I’ll admit, I’ve seen the (Spider-)man up close in three tournaments and when I saw him do his characteristic green-read, I clapped along with the crowd.  See, I’m no holier than anyone else.  But that was the first two times.  By the third time I was like, “OK.  Seen it.  Let’s see if he actually hits the putt.”  And now we’ve all seen this thing on TV a blazillion times.  I guess I’m hoping for a time where the novelty of it will end.  The crouch just isn’t a big deal anymore.  But Villegas’ recent achievements on the course sure are.

Other notes:  Gotta give props to Vijay Singh on not just winning the Fed Ex Cup thing but also doing it with what sounds like some pretty bad tendonitis in his forearm, according to numerous reports from around the web. 

True, the meaty part of the golf season is over, but there’ll always be golf on TV to watch and there are a lot of guys out there in these late-year tournaments who are not only making a living but also grinding it out in terms of trying to stay on the tour.  It’s a different kind of excitement but it’s definitely compelling.  Plus, I’m sure we’ve all heard the rumors (I saw it on the Golf Channel on Monday night, specifically) that a certain fellow on, um, injured reserve right now might come back for a tournament in December.  With some of the new personalities making their presences felt on the tour, the continued excellence of guys like Furyk, Garcia, Harrington, Singh, etc., and of course the return of Tiger — well, to say the least, things are looking up for our beloved sport.

Comments welcome in the comments section, or by e-mail at ForeRight08@gmail.com.

So by now we’ve read all about the amazing American victory at good ol’ Valhalla — we’ve seen the highlights and the celebration video and we’ve read all the post-match comments.  By way of catch up, I’m gonna list a few comments here and I’d love to hear your thoughts on them.

1)  The victory belongs to the American golfers of course but I cannot stress enough how much of a victory this was for the state of Kentucky.  As expected — and like any home Ryder Cup crowd would have been — the bluegrass fans undoubtedly fulfilled the role of the Azingerian “13th Man” but at the same time were considerate of their visitors, meaning the European side and their entourage.  The fact that we heard of ONE incident, as yet unproved, and that nobody was 86′d the whole weekend by the local police, well…I don’t know that any crowd could have done it better.  And even more importantly, consider this:  as aforementioned in a prior post, Valhalla was not liked — in fact it was downright pilloried — by players, press, or galleries in its previous two attempts at hosting golf majors.  It was revamped and now, much to the pride of Kentuckians, has a place in American golf legend.  This means more than I can convey here.

2)  Ian Poulter — you can play on my team anytime.  I don’t know that I’d have traded him for any one of the Americans on THIS particular weekend, but even though I’m always impressed with the guy’s game, he did three things on the weekend that impressed me to no end.  He played incredibly well in an atmosphere and a situation as tough as I’ve seen in sports which shows his mental toughness; as if his play hadn’t validated his selection to the team by Captain Faldo, he supported his coach with his words as well, backing Faldo at every turn; and he acknowledged his followers in the gallery after his round was over, and they deserved it.  I was a Poulter fan before this affair and I’m more of one now.  True, Poulter attracts attention through his occasional wardrobe selections but hopefully people now look even more past that and watch this guy’s game and heed his mental toughness.

3)  Lee Westwood.  Dude.  Come on.  You were a FOUR-SPORT player at school, so you’ve known a lot about competition for a long time.  You’ve been a professional golfer for 15 years and you’re only 35.  You perform in front of thousands of people beetween 2-4 times a WEEK.  You’re known as an unflappable player on the tour.  You’ve made US$1.5 MILLION this year on the tour alone, and, like, 20 mil in your career just in tour earnings.  You’ve got a great family and (it merits repeating) you get to play golf for a living.  I find it hard to believe you’d be affected by anything anyone says on the golf course.  Now, if you did hear some tough language and if that bit about someone calling your parents at a rather rude hour WAS TRUE, then I apologize.  I apologize on behalf of all Kentuckians and all American golf fans (if we assume the call was from a local fan, as opposed to a ticked-off European supporter).  As a sportsman, a golfer, and a supporter of the Americans, I wish that had not happened.  That’s not us.  But look at your life, and look at the life of someone who feels like they need to behave like that.  I think you’ve got them beat.  You should be laughing that stuff off.  And by now you surely know that you never, ever complain when you’re not on your home ground.  By shaking your head at Boo Weekley’s antics (like no European players were doing the exact same thing — yes, between shots — at the K Club in 2006.  Check the tape.  But you should EXPECT this.  It’s the RYDER CUP), you’re just making the crowd want to cheer louder.  You know that.  You don’t irritate opposing fans when you’re losing.  They’ll cheer louder.  Once you let it show that it bothered you, you guaranteed yourself a steady diet of it for the rest of the weekend.  I have to echo Weekley’s statements from an interview on The Golf Channel on Monday night when he, after praising Westwood’s previous performances and reputation on the tour, asked whether or not if Westwood had actually won some matches…would we be hearing about all these things that bothered him?  Doubt it.

4)  Stay off of Faldo.  Both Westwood (to his credit) and Poulter said that the fault doesn’t lie with Faldo, it lies with the European players.  I’d go one better and say it doesn’t even lie with them.  Europe didn’t lose this Ryder Cup.  The Americans won it.  Most of the European players have stated this publicly and I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.  Poulter made him look like a genius and that move of resting Westwood and Garcia (the latter of whom ASKED TO BE RESTED, people) ACTUALLY WORKED but he’s still getting crap from the European press.  I think this has to do more with the fact that Mr. Faldo is a quiet guy who — except for the huge pile of Ryder Cup points he’s earned for Europe over the years and the six majors he’s won for his country — doesn’t give the press much to write about in terms of soundbites…so they have to write SOMETHING. 

5)  Padraig Harrington didn’t look right to me all weekend.  He looked a little tight and I mean that literally.  There was a slight slump to his walk which makes me wonder how his back is doing; we’ve heard anecdotes about how he was totally out of gas but I’m wondering about some physical ailment.  Keep in mind, I’m basing this on nothing, just my intuition which itself is based on observing how he physically carried himself for the three competition days.  Of course you’d never hear a thing about it from Harrington because he’s a class act and would never employ an excuse.  That last line sounds sarcastic but I’m quite serious about it.

6)  I hope Boo Weekley’s got a good agent, ha haaaa….Nike or Callaway or somebody ought to be producing camouflage-tinted golf wear on a massive scale as we speak.  Maybe a driver that stores chewing tobacco in the shaft.  How about a driver headcover in the form of a ghost (his name is “Boo,” you see).  In fact, his new shirt logo should be a little ghost on the left chest.  OK, maybe that one’sgoing a little far.  Man, you gotta love a guy who wears white socks with his dark pants and black shoes.  The guy’s one of the most popular athletes in the world, right now (yes, I did just call Boo Weekley an ‘athlete.’  I stand by it).  I hope he capitalizes on it.  I can’t wait to hear the roars he gets from the crowd when he plays his next event.  And I hope his great play continues.  He’s too cool a guy not to have on the American sports landscape.

7)  Finally, to all you coaches out there.  I can’t think of any better example — and there have been numerous ones — of a sporting event that proves two facts:  1. Team chemistry is more important than the actual talent you put out there, and 2. There is no motivational tool greater than ‘It’s us against the world, nobody believes in us.’  More on that second one — for a year, the Americans had been hearing about how the European side was going to be unbeatable, even before we knew WHO would actually be ON THOSE TEAMS.  Then the rosters came out and the media REALLY got behind the Euros, and who could blame them?  On paper the Europeans were so much more formidable.  We know Azinger cultivated an amazing team chemistry among the American side, but behind closed doors I bet he played up the ‘Nobody thinks we belong, nobody believes in us, it’s us against everyone out there’ angle.  It’s potent stuff.

As I say, I’d love to hear some thoughts, so post a comment and/or shoot us off an e-mail to ForeRight08@gmail.com.  There’s some great stuff going on in Atlanta this weekend, including another Sergio vs AK duel, which we’ll get to tomorrow.  As for now, I’m actually going to close this gigantic computer up — all this golf talk’s got me fired up for the driving range.

Fantastic shot making.  Guys redeeming themselves after bad shots.  A putting exhibition that will be shown as a how-to video for high school and college squads for years.  That run by Robert Karlsson on the back nine (seven birdies?!?!?) was preposterous.  Forget tomorrow’s singles, if I were his team captain I’d send him off to the Horseshoe riverboat on the Ohio River just outside Louisville.  He’s on fire.  I’m kidding of course.

Everyone came up big today for Europe.  We know about Karlsson.  Poulter was out of his mind with his short game and his flat stick and by the time the match was over, and even in his post-match interview he looked like he could probably run about a two-minute mile.  That up-and-down (or sideways-and-down) by Steve Stricker on 18.  Jim Furyk hits something like sixty straight birdies…AND LOSES his match.  Graeme McDowell stepping up multiple times juuuuust as you began to forget he was out there.  Hunter Mahan and Phil Mickelson bailing each other out like a perfect twosome.  Henrik Stenson quietly (that is, Swedishly) going about his business, making birdies, nibbling you to pieces as you bleed to death without even knowing it.

I bet if you asked BOTH squads in private, they’d both feel lucky to get out of this with the points they got.  With the way the players from both sides were rising to the occasion all day, if you took any points at all from the opposing side, you were fortunate.

A quick note about Nick Faldo.  I wonder how many apologies Faldo is receiving from the Euro media?  You think maybe they’ll stop second-guessing him?  They got on his Captain’s Picks, who’ve been unbelievable for him.  Then of course last night they go ape-crap over the fact that he’s resting Garcia and Westwood for the Saturday morning foursomes — and yet on the day, Europe manages to SHAVE a point from the American lead.  Of course, they’ll probably just say that if he’d played those fellows in the morning, then Europe would be tied or leading.  The same logic would dictate that if Faldo had played Garcia and Westwood in the morning, they wouldn’t have played as well on Saturday afternoon with 18 holes already under their belts.  So I hope Faldo will get at least ONE mea culpa from the European press.

(Addendum to this paragraph:  without being prompted, Faldo, who is under NO obligation to explain himself to anyone, started his post-matches press conference (which I just watched on The Golf Channel) by addressing the issue.  Turns out that Garcia ASKED to be rested due to the understandable fatigue of playing 36 holes of highly intense golf.  And Faldo rested Westwood because of completely sensible reasons of team unity and personality-pairing for the rest of his Saturday matches.  And yet the European captain was called every name in the book on Friday night.)

Keep in mind — the US needs that extra half-point to wrest the cup away from the Europeans.  We have to win by a full point, at least.  It has to be 14.5 to 13.5 or better.  That said, let’s make some predictions on Sunday’s singles pairings.  As you know, America currently leads 9-7:

1. GARCIA vs KIM.  The captains aren’t holding anything back to start, are they?  Sergio has extensive Ryder Cup experience while Anthony has none except for now.  But Sergio has always fared better in the twosomes format (only one singles victory in his RC experience) and Kim is cocky enough to let the crowd buoy him rather than put pressure on him.  We know from Faldo’s comments that Sergio is tired.  But Garcia has been one of the more vocal cheerleaders for his teammates, which shows me that he’s enjoying a little bit of the fact that he’s NOT a “good young up-and-coming golfer with a lot of potential,” which is how golf fans tend to think of him since he came up at the same time as Tiger Woods.  The guy’s just a great, world-class golfer now.  We all know his major is coming at some point.  True, Kim has singles match-play experience from his time at the Walker Cup and he’ll be totally fresh.  But I don’t think Sergio will be lacking for energy.  To use a tennis analogy, this is the fifth and deciding set we’re in.  And as Boris Becker said about the fifth set of a tennis match:  “In the fifth set, it’s not about the tennis anymore.”  Too may variables here.  It’s gonna be a war from the outset.  Prediction — halved.  US 9.5, Europe 7.5.

2. MAHAN vs CASEY.  Hunter Mahan has acquitted himself better than anyone could have expected, and his California cool will serve him well as he comes out as America’s second straight rookie on Sunday afternoon behind Anthony Kim.  Faldo is obviously trying to tie this thing early by sending out two fairly experienced guys against two American rookies.  Mahan saved Mickelson at times on Saturday (and vice versa) but faltered late in the going, so you wonder if he’s not a little fatigued himself, though you’ll never be able to tell from watching him.  Going up against a steady, experienced player like Casey may be too tall an order.  Prediction — victory Europe.  US 9.5, Europe 8.5.

3. LEONARD vs KARLSSON.  Now the battle is truly joined.  Leonard’s putter is on fire and we know he can sink clutch putts in tough spots.  He’s chosen the right time to get back to playing the best golf of his life and he’s a great locker-room guy.  Karlssonhas been out of his skull with his putter as well, and he’s also got winning Ryder Cup experience.  No way to call this one.  Prediction — halved.  US 10, Europe 9.

4. MICKELSON vs ROSE.  Phil is hands-down the best player on the American side and is considered the “playing captain.”  On Saturday evening he showed us what he’s really made of.  Justin Rose is a steady, consistent player and will most definitely contend for this, especially if the early singles matches build some momentum for Europe.  Still, between the crowd and the fact that Rose is a rookie going up against the American kingpin, my gut feeling is that Phil will come out on top of this one.  Prediction — victory America.  US 11, Europe 9.

5. PERRY vs STENSON.  We all know about Stenson’s steeliness and quiet consistency.  Don’t be fooled — he’s a heck of shotmaker when the situation arises.  But Kenny Perry himself said that this Ryder Cup competition will define his golf career, being in Kentucky.  Well, this is what he’s been waiting for.  He’s played about even over the first two days and this is his chance to put up a number in the middle of the day, and have an effect on momentum.  We know Perry can hit fairways and make shots.  We know he’ll enjoy the crowd support, which will be unrivaled on Sunday.  It all comes down to the putter between these two.  Perry has had some trouble finishing his rounds effectively this week, and that half point that he and Furyk gave back to Europe on Friday sure looks tasty right now.  I don’t know if it’s pressure, fatigue, lack of focus, whatever — Perry has to have a big lead against Stenson if he’s going to fade in the stretch.  If it really comes down to the putter, well…so far, Stenson has been better.  It hurts my hands to type this, but…prediction — victory Europe.  US 11, Europe 10.

6. WEEKLEY vs WILSON.  Ollie Wilson showed he wasn’t a pushover by making some putts on Saturday and taking a point in the morning session.  But Boo Weekley has become a GOD over the last two days and even though he toned down his exhortations of the crowd on Saturday, I guarantee if it’s needed he’ll be back at it on Sunday.  Weekley will be confident entering this match, and on Sunday morning he won’t even really have to get up before 10am.  Too much to handle.  Prediction — victory America.  US 12, Europe 10.

7. HOLMES vs HANSEN.  I contend that Faldo knows the Wilson/Hansen/Jimenez middle section of his Sunday singles lineup is the weak (relatively speaking) section.  Holmes is placed in the middle of the lineup because if America runs into trouble early, this Kentucky native will be riding a tidal wave of crowd support to a time of day where momentum can shift.  The fact is, Holmes has faced Hansen twice already this weekend, halving one match and winning the other.  Hansen is a phenomenal player but he’ll have to really dig deep to take anything away from Holmes on what’s basically his home course.  Prediction — victory America.  US 13, Europe 10.

8. FURYK vs JIMENEZ.  True, he lost his match on Saturday evening, but I think it’s truer to say that Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell won it.  That was some of the finest golf I’ve seen in some time among three players, and Furykhas raised his game so much in the past 48 hours.  I know it’s part of his demeanor, but Jimenez has seemed uninterested and aloof to me this weekend, and I wonder how much he really fits in with the rest of his team.  I don’t see The Mechanic coming off the bench and taking anything from Furyk, who is perfectly placed in terms of position in this lineup.  Prediction — victory America.  US 14, Europe 10.

9. CINK vs McDOWELL.  America has quite a dropoff after Furyk’s 8th position, and Graeme McDowell has been a bit of a secret weapon so far.  He’s shown to be more clutch than anyone could have figured, and his game is surprisingly well-suited for Valhalla.  Cink (with Chad Campbell) unexpectedly took a point from the Poulter/Rose team on Friday but then got whooped by that same duo on Saturday morning, and went unused on Saturday evening.  McDowell has appeared more focused and his only loss (1.5 points on the European tally belong to him) is from Friday afternoon when he was paired with a struggling Paddy Harrington.  Prediction — victory Europe.  US 14, Europe 11.

10. STRICKER vs POULTER.  Strickerwas magnificent on Saturday evening and you know he knows his role on this squad from his post-match interview on Saturday when he said of his partnership with Ben Curtis (against Garcia/Casey), “We weren’t supposed to win this match.”  To be honest, they weren’t expected to even halve that match.  But they did, because of some fine trickerification by Stricker.  But Poulter was incredible on Saturday evening.  He’s playing as well as he ever has and you can tell he’s VERY aware that he’s found gears he never knew he had.  Did you see those eyes when he sank his final putt (and his American opponents) on 18?  Would you bet against a guy who looked like that?  Not me.  Prediction — victory Europe.  US 14, Europe 12.

11. CURTIS vs WESTWOOD.  We can only assume that Faldo thinks this thing is going to come down to the late matches, which is why he puts Poulter/Westwood/Harrington at the end of his lineup.  Azinger thinks his early and middle-lineup guys will end this matter early, and the later-match players will be irrelevant (see Tiger Woods as the anchor in 2002).  Curtis regained some confidence on Saturday evening but can still be classified as “struggling.”  Westwood is a Ryder Cup stalwart and has gotten a little rest, as we all know.  Starting late on Sunday will benefit him.  Prediction — victory Europe.  US 14, Europe 13.

12. CAMPBELL vs HARRINGTON.  So it all comes down to the final match.  Yeah, Harrington hasn’t been as effective as people thought and indeed has had to be carried by his partners at times.  There are numerous reports on the TV coverage of his fatigue.  But this is Padraig Harrington’s wheelhouse.  He won the PGA earlier this year in come-from-behind fashion and there’s no questioning his mental toughness.  Chad Campbell’s no slouch, but what’s he shown us this week?  If it really comes down to the final pair, it’ll be a street fight.  I don’t want to face Paddy Harrington in a street fight. 

PREDICTION:  COMPETITION HALVED, 14-14.  EUROPE RETAINS.

It’s been just that close all weekend.  I might miss each of my predictions above, but I really wouldn’t be surprised to see, as Mike and Mike on ESPN radio say, “a flat-footed tie.”  Obviously I’m rooting for America, not just for the drama of such an upset and the happiness of Kenny Perry and J.B Holmes, specifically…but for the post-game celebration.  Honestly, if I thought I could find him, if America wins I’m half tempted to drive to Louisville and bar hop with Boo Weekley.  However this turns out I bet that guy — with J.B Holmes not too far away — will wind up blottoed and passed out in a pool of his own urine somewhere on the fairway on 15.  I hope he does, anyway.  If it’s in celebration, he and the others will certainly deserve it.  If it’s in defeat…well, he’ll deserve it anyway. 

Can’t wait until it starts in a few hours.

Probably not much, if you’re supporting the Euros.  On the American side — whew, my goodness, the storylines. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim built a fort out of the couch cushions in Phil’s hotel room, threw a couple of sleeping bags back there and had a slumber party.  They were a formidable duo in earning their 1.5 points, considering that they took them from two gentlemen who have been simply on fire over the past few months in Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson, as well as Graeme McDowell.  Certainly no surprise that they’ll be back as a team on Saturday for the morning session.

Kenny Perry has stepped up his game all year long — and certainly took an unconventional route to make it onto the team roster — in order to get here and he played fantastic…for 16 holes.  He did earn a half-point for the team with Jim Furyk and should be congratulated for that.  Seriously.  There aren’t many fellows who could step up onto that particular stage (the Ryder Cup, the home state, the crowd watching you closer than anyone, etc) after putting so much into getting here and play a completely steady round of golf.  What worries me is the timing of the two holes where he seemed to lose focus.  Unfortunately J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekely, as much as they both lit up the crowd (on which more in a moment) all evening, fared no better and went for a swim on 18 as well, effectively giving back a half point to the Europeans.  With the points they COULD have had, this thing could easily be 6.5 to 1.5 for the Americans, which would be an even more surprising result than we already have.  Captain Azinger knows that he pretty much has to have at least one Kentuckian out there (he’d never sit both Holmes and Perry at Valhalla), especially since Ben Curtis looked, well, flummoxed.  Hopefully they can put together a round of fully-focused golf if they played together — something I wouldn’t be surprised to see in the evening session on Saturday, the last day of the twosomes format.

Quick note:  how fun is it to watch J.B. Holmes drive a golf ball?  I’m trying to find some (legal) video of this to post here, but if you can, watch his drive on 16.  I thought he was going to come out of his socks.  When he takes out the big bat tomorrow, look at the thing.  It looks like canned ham on a stick.  It’s awesome.

Welcome to Louisville, Hunter Mahan.  Considering his personality, we shouldn’t be surprised to see this guy just coolly saunter onto the biggest stage he’s ever seen in his career and take two points from some pretty tough customers, including Sergio Garcia’s Ryder Cup-playing twin brother (he’s a different man when it comes to team play) who had never lost before today.  This is where I think it’s interesting to look at how the two captains arranged their pairings for the second half of Friday.  Faldo went with nationality:  Harrington-McDowell (Ireland/N. Ireland), Poulter-Rose (England), Garcia-Jimenez (Spain), and even though he could have gone with Karlsson-Stenson for an all-Swedish final pairing, he sat those two and left Lee Westwood in to play with the Dane Soren Hansen, and you couldn’t blame him for that.  Westwood is a Ryder Cup staple for Europe and Hansen has the smoothest swing to hit the Tour in years.  Their games are similar as well as their personalities. 

But look what Captain Azinger did.  He obviously can’t give players that extra boost by having them team up with a countryman (every American in the Ryder Cup is playing with a countryman) in the twosomes, so for the second half of Saturday, Azinger seemed to say to hell with pairing players whose games compliment each other and all that jazz; in my opinion he paired up players who would be most likely to hang out together at a bar.  Think about it.  Mickelson undoubtedly sees Anthony Kim as a younger version of himself and though I got tired of hearing about how much “youthfulness” Kim injected into that pairing, it was nonetheless true…and don’t fool yourself, people.  Just like Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, in a GREAT way, is one cocky guy.  Those two were made for each other.  Ben Curtis and Steve Stricker are both apparently unassuming midwesterners (Curtis from Ohio, Stricker from Wisconsin).  Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan looked like they’d known each other for 20 years.  Leonard is ten years older than Mahan (can that be true??) but the camaraderie they had on the course made it look like they grew up together — and of course they BOTH have that Don’t Mess With Texas demeanor, since Leonard is from there and Mahan now lives there.  Finally, the best example of my theory, Boo Weekley and J.B. Homles.  Are there two more similar-seeming personalities (even beyond the accents) on this team than those two?  Heck, they even LOOK a little alike.  I could easily see these two guys hanging out in a bar and OWNING that room, and there’s no way I’d let MY girlfriend near them.  A perfect pairing.  With some tweaking of the second pair, It will be interesting to see if Azinger goes back to this method.  It was profitable enough on Friday evening.

Another quick note — this one on Hunter Mahan:  it’s not a profound statement, but this guy is on the brink of greatness.  I saw him play in person at the 2007 Travelers up in Cromwell, Connecticut and win it in a playoff, but not an ordinary playoff.  He beat Jay Williamson that day, and Williamson is a Trinity College grad.  Trinity College is in Hartford, Connecticut – a short drive from Cromwell.  I think every Trinity College alum ever produced was out to support Williamson that day, so while Mahan didn’t have anyone actively rooting against him, pretty much nobody was there to root FOR him.  His swing looked pretty good THAT day, and I don’t know if he’s done anything different in the meantime, but I can tell he’s hitting the ball with even more confidence now.  He’s from California and he’s well-known for his California cool; he played at Oklahoma State and lives in Texas, so he’s got that Southwestern swagger.  That’s a tough combination to beat.  I’d trust him on Sunday singles against the likes of a Harrington or Garcia even though Mickelson, Leonard, or even Kenny Perry are likely to draw that assignment.

To Lee Westwood:  suck it up.  I have the feeling we’ve yet to see his best golf this weekend but come on, man.  Don’t even try to stare down Boo Weekley — the guy, um, used to wrestle alligators, Lee — and don’t cast sour, head-shaking looks down the fairway when he’s getting the crowd riled up.  He didn’t do it while you were trying to play.  He’d be the FIRST to tell you that THAT would be improper in the extreme.  But Weekley is a guy who has, like the rest of us, heard for about 12 months about how badly the US team (a team he’s deeply honored to play for) is going to get trounced by the Europeans.  Who knows, it might still happen.  But on Friday he did his part on the course and he made it more exciting for the people behind the ropes, so you can’t slight him.  And for goodness’ sake, Lee, don’t go to the press with a fake smile and talk about how YOU or YOUR supporters would never act like Weekley.  YOU WERE THERE at the K Club for the 2006 Ryder Cup.  And I have it digitally recorded.  The K Club crowd was no better or worse than the throngs at Valhalla were today when cheering for their fans, and European players did their fair share or exhorting the crowd, as well.  If you don’t like it, then just play Ryder Cups that happen in Europe.

So of course right now everyone is talking about Captain Faldo putting Westwood and Garcia on ice for the Saturday morning pairings.  All we’ve heard since that announcement is how strange and irresponsible this move is.  I disagree.  I think there’s a strong chance Faldo could be proven a genius on this one.  I think the Euros were taken aback on Friday by the loose, free-swinging American attitude; indeed this belies previous Ryder Cups where the US squads have come out looking and playing uptight, no matter the venue.  I think they were taken aback by the loud Kentucky crowd.  And to be honest, I think the Europeans looked fatigued, as if they weren’t over their jet lag.    But like a baseball team who has just faced a tough new pitcher one time through the order, now they know what he’s bringing, they have a book on him.  The Euros know what to expect.  Faldo knows his charges will come out better on Saturday than they did on Friday — they’ll know what they’re up against, they’ll be better rested, and he knows they simply have more Ryder Cup experience than the Americans.  And THIS is one of the few situations when experience actually means something, in that you can call upon what you’ve been through in the past and therefore NOT be rattled by the present.  If the Europeans can battle back during the morning session and keep it within 1-2 points, that will be considered a major victory for Europe and two things will happen.  First, the European confidence will swell because they were able to do it with Garcia and Westwood on the pine.  Second, Faldo will then insert those two weapons into his Saturday evening lineup TOTALLY fresh, and he’ll look like a master tactician.  Yes, it’s a gamble.  But nothing of value was ever won by playing it safe. 

This is why, in my opinion, the Saturday morning battles will tell the tale.  If America can hold the lead or even extend it, their confidence will stay high, the crowd will stay loud, and the Euros will know the Faldo experiment did not pan out.  This could even reduce the pressure on the American rookies when it’s time for singles on Sunday.  If Europe closes the gap in time to start play on Saturday evening, they’ll have Garcia and Westwood with fresh legs, and the entire team — and perhaps their continent — will rally ’round their captain.

If that’s not the reason for sitting Garcia and Westwood, then you have to wonder what’s going on in that locker room.  There didn’t appear to be any signs of turmoil as the Euros sat together and watched the conclusion of play on Friday.  In fact, I remember thinking that they all looked rather relaxed and seemed to be taking the surprising American lead pretty well in stride.  Did Faldo predict this?  Is this why the Europeans (save for Westwood) seem unfazed?  We won’t ever know that. 

All I know is, with what’s at stake on Saturday morning, with these captains and that inestimable crowd, it’s going to be interesting.  And it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

On the eve of any other golf event, that might not mean much to most people; you’d probably assume — correctly – that I root for people like Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes and Steve Flesch to do well on the tour.  And you’d leave it at that.  I couldn’t blame you.

Today, though — I am writing this the night before the 2008 Ryder Cup begins — it is different.  Tomorrow morning, almost every eye of the sporting world will be on Kentucky; specifically Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club, as it hosts this gigantic event.  As an American, there’s certainly no doubt as to who I’m rooting for.  But you’ll forgive me if there’s one thing that I’m hoping for even more than an American victory come Sunday:  I’m rooting for my home state of Kentucky.

Kentuckians don’t ask for much in terms of the sports spotlight.  On the first Saturday of every May we give you the Derby, and after a couple of minutes it’s over.  We understand.  Sometimes we get some attention if our beloved college basketball Wildcats happen to do well in the NCAA Tournament.  That’s pretty much it for us.  And we’re OK with it. 

One thing you’ll notice about any Kentuckian you meet and any that you may already know is the pride they have as natives of the Bluegrass.  There are countless reasons for this, far too many for me to start listing here.  In my experience there are three groups of people in this country (presented in no particular order) who possess a palpable pride regarding the place from which they hail.  New Yorkers (meaning the city, not necessarily the state) are immensely proud of being New Yorkers, as well they should be.  Philadelphians also are always quick to puff their chests when their heritage is mentioned, which I’ve always found interesting, since they’ll often vilify the place as quickly as they proclaim their love for it.  And finally Kentuckians.  The Kentuckians I’ve met on my travels who did not know that I too was a native display their pride even more than Bostonians, Pacific Northwesterners, Californians, New Englanders.  I’ve traveled the world enough, I think, to be objective about it, and my non-Bluegrass friends have remarked to me about it as well.

As you’d guess, since we love our state so much, we are quick to defend it.  Kentuckians — and to be fair, all Appalachians — are seemingly the last social group that it’s evidently OK to make fun of.  Indeed, in popular media of all kinds, when we are brought up it’s hard to escape an oh-so-original remark about whether or not we wear shoes or date our cousins or live in a trailer.  Most of the time, people that make those comments are joking.  MOST of the time.  But the overall feeling is that the days for making such remarks are over, and we can all now move on.  I can say with total assurance that if you make a crack like this around any native of Kentucky or Appalachia – well, let’s just say that you likely won’t see much of that world-famous Southern hospitality. 

Valhalla itself was not the recipient of very good reviews during its two shots at hosting PGA championships in 1996 (Mark Brooks) and 2000 (Tiger Woods, major #5).  Many of the pros involved in both those tournaments had very little positive to say about Kentucky’s unrivaled #1 golf course.  It wasn’t just golf-lovers in Louisville that felt bad about that.  Kentucky sports lovers all over the Commonwealth felt like we had let down our guests from all over the world.

And then in 2000 it was eventually revealed that, after the PGA finished its buyout of the club, Valhalla would get the 2008 Ryder Cup.  But it’s not just Valhalla that is hosting the event.  It’s not just Louisville.  Enter the Commonwealth of Kentucky by any road and one of the first things you’ll see is a gigantic sign that says, “KENTUCKY — HOST OF THE 2008 RYDER CUP.”  Not Valhalla.  Not Louisville. 

Kentucky.

I was struck by something I read earlier today on ESPN.com and courier-journal.com (the website for Louisville’s newspaper, with which I am in no way affiliated), said by Nick Faldo.  He said that the Valhalla course “looks very Scottish.”  Good eye, Sir.  This is not happenstance.  All of Appalachia (it is indeed true, Louisville isn’t Appalachia) and especially most of Kentucky is rich in Scottish and Irish heritage.  Most of this area of the country was settled by Scotch-Irish, Welsh, and German settlers.  The source of the traditional Southern American accent has been traced back to Scotch-Irish and Welsh immigrants.  I realize that Faldo was speaking about the golf course, specifically, but I think he could very well amplify his statement to mean the entirety of what he sees in the region, if he had the time to see it.  If anything in Kentucky looks Scottish, it’s because as Kentuckians we ARE mostly Scottish and Irish and Welsh.  My own family tree is lousy with Scottish and Irish immigrants who came straight from there through Virginia and settled in Kentucky BECAUSE it reminded them of home.  Padraig Harrington ought to feel virtually at home this week.  One of my very own grandmothers (God love her) had an accent that was a mix of Southern American and an Irish brogue that would rival Harrington’s higher-pitched voice and bone-marrow-kneading accent.  When I first heard him speak many years ago it almost brought me to my knees because it was so familiar.

That’s really all we want from this week, as Bluegrass natives.  We want our visitors to feel at home and be glad they came.  Whether you’re from Los Angeles or Liverpool, we want you to return to your hometown and tell everyone how friendly and accommodating we were, how beautiful the place was, and how we have the capability to respect our rural roots but still do things with style.

Let’s get this straight — we will cheer for our team.  It’s going to be just ridiculously loud and deep.  Most of all, it will be heartfelt.  I have no doubt in my mind that this will be the most raucous crowd any golf tournament has ever produced.  But when it’s over, we’ll be sad when any and all of our guests leave.  And we’ll hope you’ll come back and see us again.  It’s an open invitation.  We’ll always remember you.  It’s not in our nature to forget.

So enough of this for now.  Let’s get to the golf.  Here’s hoping for some great golf, some great sportsmanship, and that whether you’re competing, walking the Valhalla grounds, or watching on TV, you’ll feel some of that aforementioned hospitality.  Because we are putting into this ALL of the pride and elegance we can muster.  I know My Old Kentucky Home will do herself proud.

What, then, will you find here?  Basically, my stream-of-consciousness thoughts about what is going on in the world of this amazing sport, and most often about what’s happening in the latest tournament(s).  Like anything you read, some of it you’ll agree with, some of it you won’t, but either way I hope you’ll let me know what you’re thinking.  I am starting this blog not to just put my thoughts online but to start a dialogue.  I’m not here to teach anyone.  If that happens, great…but I’m hoping you’ll be teaching me, more than anything.  So don’t hold back.  Blogs should be about dialogue — whether I’m talking to friends at work, talking to strangers at a bar, sitting with family in my living room, or whatever, if we’re talking about golf then we’re having a good time.  This is just another means of having a conversation.  I hope you’ll be a part of it!

I have a baseball swing.  And God, if only it stopped there.  Consider Jim Furyk.  Make him shorter by about seven inches and then tack on, say, 35 extra pounds.  Give him poorly-fit (read: not fit at all) clubs and put him on a local scrub course.  And what the heck — give him osteoarthritis in both shoulders and perhaps his lumbar spine.  But keep that swing of his the same.  MY ACTUAL GOLF SWING would make THAT swing look like Bobby Jones.  A full 50% of the shots I hit look like a baseball player ‘going with’ a pitch and hitting to the opposite field.  My golf swing could clear your sinuses.  Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are forced to watch it as punishment.  You get the picture.

But I’m always the first guy my friends call when they want to head out to the course.  Part of this might be because they know they’re gonna look GREAT by comparison (!!), but a few of my friends once gave me the compliment of telling me what they say is the real reason.  We always have a blast when we’re out there, we laugh and carry on (without breaking etiquette, of course) like freshmen at a fraternity party, we trash-talk like Larry Bird, and I’m always buying the first round when the beer cart rolls up.  And — oh, LORD — sometimes you get that one shot…I’m talking about that one sweet club-to-ball contact that keeps you coming back.  The one that makes you get up and go to the driving range just to feel it again.  The one where, in that one nanosecond in your downswing before you actually strike the ball, that electrical dsicharge happens in your brain that says, “This is gonna be sweet.  I’m going to kill this ball.  It’s going to the moon.  And it’s coming down exactly where I want it.”  You know it’s gonna be pure.  I get maybe 2-3 shots like that every nine holes.  That’s not very much.  It’s totally worth it. 

Golf is the best example of a sport you don’t have to be good at to love.  Heck, you don’t even have to have ever PLAYED it to love it.  It gets you outdoors.  It can be more exercise than you think.  You could very easily find yourself out there with your friends or family at the age of 90, playing this game.  I know I don’t have to reel off the merits of the game of golf to someone reading a golf blog…but those are the reasons a guy like me starts one.

Right now, we have the morning session of the 2008 Ryder Cup about to start, so I figure what an event with which to begin.  I’ll have a lot to say about it in upcoming posts over the next couple of days, and I hope you will too.  Let’s get it goin’.