Why Does Europe Dominate the Ryder Cup?

If Itzak Perlman, the classical violinist, walked into a jazz club, how well do you think he could sit down to jam and improvise with a jazz band? Team play in the Ryder Cup is all about emotional improvisation and collaboration with a partner in the context of the match with competitors.

U.S. players have been bred to remove emotion from the game, prepare in a certain manner, go through prescribed pre-shot routines, and get into their solitary zone. This is great for winning stroke play and major events, but not for the team matches.

European players more easily adapt to this team context of emotional improvisation and collaboration, and feed off the emotions of each other, their opponents, the shots and the galleries. Part of the reason is that their tour is less rich with fewer entourages, so they play, eat and travel together more and get to know each other better.

The Europeans feed off each other in the team formats, and that is why they have dominate there. Great team games on Friday turn into inspired golf on Saturday, and now on Sunday in the singles, which used to be a weak spot. But since the Europeans have dominated for so many years, they are now no longer afraid of Sunday singles and dominate there as well. That means their dominance will continue for a long time.

Today's great European play owes much to Seve Ballesteros. In the 80's and 90's he showed the Europeans how to play emotionally connected team golf, and how it could inspire brilliant performances. So much of the demeanor and dynamics of today's European team come from Seve, and you can really see it with Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal.

I am afraid the next U.S. Ryder Cup victory is a long way off. They are bred for a different kind of golf, and cannot adjust every two years to the emotionally inspired team play displayed by Europe.

Source

• PGA
• European Tour

Date

Fri 09/29/06, 11:31 am EST