Georgie Bingham: Form or team?
Justin Thomas of the United States is congratulated by Jordan Spieth of the United States after chipping in for eagle on the tenth hole during the first round of the Sony Open In Hawaii at Waialae Country Club on January 12, 2017 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images).
The USA Ryder cup team line-up is complete and if I were Keegan Bradley, Lucas Glover or Cam Young I’d probably be feeling a little sore.
Young is in a slightly different ballpark to the others; Freddie Couples was so excited to announce (unofficially, a few months back) that come September Young would be going to Italy that I feel for him that he now isn’t. He wasn’t in the conversation like the Glover and Bradley tho, both on form that should have seen them picked.
But, captains pick’s aren’t about form are they? For Europe for years the captain’s picks were the Poulter and Westwood picks and Europe rarely regretted that, and sometimes captains are forced to look at team dynamic as much as if not more than form. And this is where Justin Thomas has sneaked in to the line up. I’d also actually argue that Jordan Spieth isn’t actually an “on form” captain’s pick either, although no one’s form in the 12 has been as wretched as Thomas’s this season and I think we know what genius Spieth is occasionally (and frustratingly) capable of.
“I try not to get over excited about the Ryder Cup but honestly I cannot help it, it always falls on my birthday weekend which means I get to choose what I do, and this year, funnily enough, I choose my spot on the sofa to drink it all in. ”
And this, this is where the gamble comes. If Thomas (and Spieth) are the dressing room presence to be believed, if he IS the US version of the Postman, then Zach Johnson has done a good thing, but if he isn’t then all he’s done is take a clique of friends to Europe in the hope their relationships will percolate to the others in the team. Cliques are called cliques for a reason though. It’s such a gamble and it’s part of the Ryder Cup that causes the most conversation which is part of the jamboree. I say I am not fussed who gets picked and then, hey presto, I am ALWAYS interested in who gets picked and why.
I look at the US team and I am not scared. Glover and Bradley would make me more worried; often the form that gets someone into the Ryder Cup team has abated by the time it comes around, and it’s the Sunday Singles that make and break the result, however solid the foundation created by foursomes and fourball results.
“For Europe for years the captain’s picks were the Poulter and Westwood picks and Europe rarely regretted that.”
When you look at the end of the PGA Tour season, who is there and there about? Ever present? Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm and Hovland. The HOST of American names up there in the top tens can’t match the consistency of those four in the latter stages of the season and that makes me feel less worried for Europe in a month’s time.
Bring. It. On! I try not to get over excited about the Ryder Cup but honestly I cannot help it, it always falls on my birthday weekend which means I get to choose what I do, and this year, funnily enough, I choose my spot on the sofa to drink it all in.
Georgie Bingham, broadcaster and journalist, writes a bi-weekly column for The Cut Stuff. She’s golf obsessed. She’s ready to go behind the tour.
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