Players to watch the Ryder Cup
It is a full quarter of a century since the United States won the Ryder Cup on European soil for the last time, when the team of Tom Watson rolled a singles on Sunday in the Belfry in England to leave a 15-13 triumph in 1993.
Perhaps half of the American team in Paris had not swum a golf club this week; Bryson DeChambeau was only 10 days old. They are now charged with lifting a 25-year cloud of dissatisfaction when they spin at Le Golf National. Thomas Bjorn, the European captain, has chosen to lean on veterans from previous Ryder Cup triumphs, although some have struggled in 2018.
Team USA
Tiger Woods
Regarded as a long shot when he returned from back surgery that he was a non-playing vice-captain invitation from Jim Furyk, the team captain, Woods now accepted his clubs and momentum from a Tour Championship triumph to France. take.
Image Credit Tannen Maury / EPA, via Shutterstock
Woods did not play any profit in the United States in 2008 States and 2016. Knee reconstruction put him offside in 2008 and he was a vice-captain when he was put off the job in 2016 due to the misery. The winner of 14 majors shows new enjoyment in the fight, with a weight that seems to have been lifted when winning at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta on Sunday. He is only 13-17-3 in Ryder Cups and will not be asked to wear this squadron.
Patrick Reed
Although "Captain America" now has a Masters green jacket to wear over his superhero costume, Reed could make a shot Ryder Cup use magic to lift him out of the summer doldrums that came in after winning at Augusta National in April.
Image Credit Tim Bradbury / Getty Images
Since Reed finished fourth in the Open of the United States, he has only one top 10 finish, not less on European soil, at the European Open in Germany.
But he has shown a flair for the Ryder Cup stage, bursting on the scene with a 3-0-1 streak in 2014, famous attempt to appease the Gleneagles crowd in the process and lead it of the cargo of 2016 with a 3-1-1 record.
Brooks Koepka
As the first man to win bac k-to-back VS Opens in almost three decades, Koepka has already had a talent this year shown for defying historical opportunities. He also won the P.G.A. Championship in August and will be counted to continue its strong form.
Image Credit Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images
The power game of Koepka fits perfectly with playing with four balls, as a result of which he takes the risk occasionally to make a quirky ride and to have a chance to win birdies with short irons and wedges.
He holds a 3-1 mark in the format about stints in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, and beat Danny Willett in the Sunday singles two years ago at Hazeltine.
Jordan Spieth
A central Ryder Cup artist in two previous gigs arrives a Winless Spieth in Paris amidst the most unsatisfied year of his young career. He is the only member of the team that missed the closing Tournament Championship, his first absence since joining the PGA Tour.
Image Credit Stuart Franklin / Getty Images
Despite third place on the Masters and a ninth place on the British Open, Spieth earned only three other top 10 finishes in 2018, all of which came before April. The misery was the culprit, and he is in the 136th place in the crucial strokes of the tour he has won / put on, the first time he has been out of the top 40 since his rookie season.
Team Europe
Justin Rose
A sparkling eleven-month program has put the English pro on the world rankings this month and has FedExCup season title added on Sunday in Atlanta. Four victories worldwide include a victory at the world championships golf in China, supplemented with the second prize at the British Open and two playovers from FedExCup.
Image Credit Gregory Shamus / Getty Images
Rose was one of the heroes of European & # 39; Miracle in Medinah 2012 & # 39 ;, with which he won the last two holes of his singles game and took away the victory of Phil Mickelson. He also proved particularly heavy in the alternative shot format and placed a 4-1-1 record over the last three Ryder Cups while working with four different partners.
Rory McIlroy
Less than a month ago, McIlroy was so unhappy with his form that he skipped the open-ended playoffs of FedExCup to work on his game with the eye on the Ryder Cup. It seems to have borne fruit, with top-12 finishes in his next two outings, although Paris will give the ultimate verdict.
Image Credit Patrick Smith / Getty Images
An up-and-down year was a victory over the Arnold Palmer Invitational and three second finals, including the British Open. Two years ago, McIlroy was one of only three Europeans with a winning record at Hazeltine, with a 3-2 rating that included a down-to-the-wire single loss for Patrick Reed.
Ian Poulter
Back in shape after the injury left him out of consideration for 2016, the legend of Poulter's Ryder Cup is well established.
A 72.2 winning percentage, on a 12-4 -2 record (with the two draws equal to a 13th victory), is the best of all Europeans in history with more than five matches , prompting English pro Lee Westwood to doubt that Europe's selection should be "11 qualifying matches and Poults"
Picture Credit ] Rob Carr / Getty Images
Poulter's highest point came to Medinah in 2012, to conclude five straight birds. Saturday four balls shot away an unlikely victory that set Europe up for his Sunday miracle. He was without point during his last gig in 2014 in Gleneagles. A renaissance season in 2018 includes a victory in Houston, and he will be needed in Paris.
Sergio Garcia
Image Credit Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images
Perhaps the most controversial selection on both rosters, the former Masters champion, was a thorn in the face of many previous expectations of the Ryder Cup in the United States, but a horrible summer in which he has only had one top 10 finish since March produced and missed the cut in all four majors.
Garcia's best Ryder Cup-work came more than a decade ago, when he left 14-6-4 in his first five appearances, marked by winning 4½ points in a 2004 road win in Oakland Hills. In this decade he is only 5-5-3, with a break-even figure in all three editions.
