Ryder Cup 2012

Obviously Captain Davis Love III does not share the NHL superstition of not touching the Cup prior to the win. Hopefully his grasping the Cup goes the same way it did for Sidney Crosby when he grabbed the Prince of Wales Trophy prior to the Stanley Cup.

Recent history is not the best place to look if one is to have high hopes for American victory. The American team has won only 4 times since 1985 and two of those wins are rather controversial. And indeed the record of American players is just as bad as the team record. Hopefully, though, having 4 rookies on the team will give the team a needed infusion of new, "dumb" talent. Dumb meaning not having those demons in the bag from multiple losses. Hopefully these rookies step up and take some control because if we are to go with history, waiting on Tiger or Phil to lead the charge to victory will only lead to 2 more years without the Ryder Cup.

Hopefully the American team can start off well in the Friday morning Foursomes session. However, the first match, on paper, does not look very appealing. The inconsistent Jim Furyk teams with the currently hot Brandt Snedeker to face World #1 Rory McIlroy and his countryman and good friend Graeme McDowell. The Americans will likely be lucky to make it past the 14th hole in this match. The two middle matches seem relatively even on paper. The anchor match of the morning has Tiger Woods, who, despite his records elsewhere, has been a perennial underachiever in the Ryder Cup, and Steve Stricker facing off against Justin Rose and good friend Ian Poulter. That should be a solid match.

A perfect situation for the Americans would be to come out of the session leading 4-0, but considering recent American mediocrity in Foursomes, a 2-2 tie would be a good result. The Americans need a good start to the event to make sure the Chicago crown is energized and even a bit rowdy heading to the afternoon matches.

And, if there is any question of this writers objectivity during the upcoming matches, let us settle that quickly:

Clear enough??

Golf Book Reviews: A Nasty Bit of Rough (David Feherty: 2003)

This book starts off with the unbelievable and goes forward to being absolutely hilarious. During any number of times through the book, you will likely find yourself laughing out loud, possibly to the point of tears. In the course of the book, we go from a competition where the good guys win, to the bad guys getting over on them, and finally back to the good guys coming out on top.

The main characters are all old friends of Feherty's "Uncle Dicky." Most of these men are old war veterans. And it's such a various cast as to be completely unbelievable. Among the (formerly) all male membership, the craziest character is a person who underwent a sex change operation so that the club wouldn't have to accept a new, female member. The imagination Feherty must have to come up with that is incredible.

And that is really just the tip of the iceberg in this book. From cover to cover, this may be the funniest book on golf you will ever read.

Navistar LPGA Classic-Final Round

Stacy Lewis held off the low scoring defending champ Lexi Thompson today to win her third LPGA Tour event of the year and sweep the two events in Alabama on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. She shot a total of 35 (THIRTY-FIVE, just to make it clear) shots under par in 8 rounds on the Trail this year. Who knows how many more birdies she had in practice rounds. That number either flies in the face of how supposedly difficult the Trail courses are or shows how vastly better Tour players are than the rest of the golf world. Probably equal parts both, really.

This win also comes close to solidifying her as the Player of the Year for the LPGA Tour. That is quite an accomplishment and she would be the first American to win that award in nearly two decades (Beth Daniel, 1994)  Hopefully she can continue her outstanding play as the LPGA Tour goes on an international swing for the next two months before returning to Orlando and the Grand Cypress Golf Club for the season ending Titleholders event.

All in all, a very good day for Miss Lewis. It would seem that the Roll Tiders and War Eagles didn't get out of hand given the prospect of a Hog winning in their state during football season. Best of luck to Stacy the rest of the year.