(Guidonia Montecelio, Italy) In a thousand-year-old city, home to an edition of the Ryder Cup with nearly a century of history, European team captain Luke Donald has determined he has a better chance of lead your troop to victory by relying on advanced statistics.
As captain of the host team, Donald will have the privilege of choosing the configuration of the “Marco Simone” course as well as the order of play. Since 1997, Europe has always kicked off the prestigious competition golf with matches presented according to the four-ball, best-ball format.
This year, Donald instead chose the four-player game, the most difficult formula for scoring points since the golfers must play alternately. Coincidence or not, the last time that the European team chose this formula to set the tone for the Ryder Cup at home was in 1993. It was also the last time that Europe lost on home soil.
“It’s pretty simple, honestly,” Donald said Monday. We felt that as a team, from a statistical point of view, we were superior in the four-ball game, rather than four-ball, best ball. Why not start with a bang? That’s the idea. »
That’s about all that came out of the captains’ first press conference, after a day of light training and rest for the American team following a long trip.
Eleven golfers from Team USA gathered in Atlanta on Sunday evening in preparation for the overnight flight to Europe. Twelfth is Brooks Koepka, the only player on the LIV tour who was playing in a tournament in the Chicago suburbs (he finished in 24th place, eight shots behind Bryson DeChambeau).
“He beat us to it,” admitted American team captain Zach Johnson. If he had taken a flight from Chicago to Atlanta, and we had had to wait for him on the tarmac, then we would have arrived much later. I don’t think it was possible. So he joined us here. »
Johnson quickly added that Koepka had been among the U.S. team scouts who traveled to the “Marco Simone” course earlier this month.
Among those who will be conspicuous by their absence at the Ryder Cup, which begins Friday in Italy, is Tiger Woods, who is still recovering from ankle surgery.
He wasn’t at Whistling Straits in 2021, but stayed in touch with the team through text messages and words of encouragement as Team USA defeated Team Europe 19-9. Johnson admitted he had spoken with Woods several times in recent months while he was putting together the U.S. team.
But the communication channel has recently closed.
“He realizes that now that we’re here (in Europe), it’s probably best that we manage the competition on our own,” Johnson said.