reason#1 - Europe is the fresher squad
i have to believe that Europe will be fresh as compared to the US, both physically and most importantly mentally - all 12 of the Americans played in last weeks Tour Championship and many played prominent roles down the stretch of all 4 playoff events - these guys have played a ton of golf as of late and the stakes have been a lot higher on this side of the pond - of course some of the Euros were involved in the latter stages of the playoffs but many were on the outside looking in and did not have the stress of being involved on Saturday and Sunday - there are also the guys (McDowell, Lawrie, Colsaerts, Kaymer, Poulter, Molinari, Hanson) that haven't had to grind for the past couple of weeks (esp with the Euro event in Spain cancelled last week)- so really when you look at it the only players who have really been through the meat grinder over the past 2-3 weeks are Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, whereas on the US side many were involved up until the end last week
there is the ever-present argument of rest vs rust but the American side has played a ton of golf as of late (even with the week off before last week) and I believe that this will be a huge advantage for the Euros
reason #2 - experience
the experience level of the Euros greatly exceeds that of the Americans - many of these guys have been here before as I believe that Colsaerts is the only Ryder Cup rookie on the European side - meanwhile the US is trotting out multiple rookies in Simpson, Dufner, Sneds and Bradley - Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar have only played in one Ryder Cup - the Euros have come up in this environment and this is another reason that I really like them to retain the Cup
reason #3 - team chemistry
it seems to me that DL III is doing a really good job with this team as far as chemistry is concerned, and also find that Tiger is ready and willing to be a better teammate than he has been in the past - so think the US has come together as a team in a far better manner than they have in the past - that all being said, true chemstry is not something that is created in an artificial manner, but rather something that exists naturally and the Euro side has this quality in spades - these guys are truly like a family, whereas the American side will do well to come together as friends - that galvenizing quality is likely the #1 reason that the Euros have been so dominant in this format in recent history
reason #4 - individual team members' past performance levels
not going to list the Ryder Cup records of each player on both sides, but I will say this - there is not 1 member of the American team that has a winning record in the Ryder Cup - that is pretty damn telling
Not trying to talk anyone into anything, as I have made arguments this year for certain plays that probably sounded great going into the week but for one reason or another did not cash (DL III over David Toms in the US Open comes to mind) - just wanted to present my reasons for playing the Euros this week in the hopes of providing some insight and ending the golf season at MJ's on a positive note
GL to all no matter which side you choose, and let's hope that these matches are exciting and that the fan behavior does not trump the actual golf at the end of the week as the top story
LA Burns
