The 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain, Zach Johnson, is worrying fans with his picks.

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Team style match-play is a whole new-ballgame compared-to individual stroke match play. If the PGA of America unwisely changed its Ryder Cup’s format from what it is now to individual stroke-play with team implications, a lopsided affair between two uneven-squads would transpire on a bi-annual basis.

In a fashion that’s unusual and wouldn’t be unlike the Presidents Cup’s failures in securing quality-competition, the stroke-play version of the Ryder Cup would inevitably lead to American dominance while very-few fans/viewers would go to the trouble to-watch the hacks from across the pond take a beating from Team USA. 

Regardless of the Ryder Cup’s format, however, and although some formats are superior to others; golf inherently possesses a level of uncertainty that readily applies to the unpredictable nature of its outcomes. To that end, the amount of uncertainty in team match-play is exceedingly high compared to that of any-other formatted-event in professional-golf. Depending on your perspective, the differences between team match-play and individual stroke-play are (each-) beautiful or not-so attractive.

Within every fourth-year since 1981 (including a couple of calendar-exceptions; which were 9/11 & Covid), Team USA hops aboard its international-flight to-Europe across the Atlantic ahead of its away Ryder Cup while (also-) carrying itself with the kind of enthusiasm/optimism that’s gone unrewarded (in-) six (consecutive-) trips in a row.

For almost three-decades now, the away Americans have struggled overseas; and Team USA’s positive-vibes have only lasted a short-time or until it boards its return-flight, home, after receiving its whooping from continental Europe.

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Knowing the extent of Team USA’s overseas-struggles better than most, Zach Johnson is equipped with the necessary means to-assemble the right squad for this year’s edition of the Ryder Cup. However, Johnson’s tenure as U.S. head-captain, thus far, hasn’t done much in the way of protecting his version of Team-USA from falling into old-patterns; and/or trends/duos/players that lead-to overseas-losses. Of Team USA’s six captain’s-picks (who were selected by ZJ), Thomas’ name stands-out from the five-others.

JT’s game has not been sharp in over a year. The former Alabama-golfer and (the-) 2012 Haskins Award winner hasn’t shown a shred of consistency throughout 2023 and (Thomas-) has missed five of his last eight-cuts on-Tour. More than that, Thomas’ strengths don’t seemingly match-up on-paper (-well) with Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Although Marco-Simone (‘s course) isn’t a traditional links (style of-) course, it’s worth noting that Thomas’ high-ball flight isn’t setup to fair well on the European’s layout of choice thanks to its exposed terrain.

Over the course of Thomas’ future HOF-worthy career, the 2017-&-2022 PGA Champion hasn’t been (as-) effective playing-on exposed-terrains within his seven-appearances at the British Open; given the native Kentuckian’s three missed-cuts. With that being said, Thomas is no stranger to winning on short-ish (7100 to 7200 yard-)/wind-exposed layouts with lots of trouble; like he did at PGA National-&-TPC Sawgrass within the 2018 Honda Classic and the 2021 Players; respectively.

Located outside-of Rome, Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy has served as the Italian Open’s home-venue for three-years running from 2021 to 2023 and presents golfers with lots of water, thick-rough, few-trees, and a number of (nearly-) required landing-zones to-play to (from-) off-the-tee and elsewhere. Furthermore, the Rome-venue tips-out (at-) around 7200 yards and (it-) surely won’t be the bear of a golf-course, length-wise, that the Americans traditionally play-well on. It isn’t shocking that Marco Simone is designed/setup to favor the Europeans over us.

Honestly, I don’t think ZJ’s decisions to-select Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, and maybe even Jordan Spieth is (/are) going to work out for him. In Fowler’s four Ryder Cups, he’s earned Team USA just 5.5 points over the course of 15 total-matches while boasting a dismal-record of 1-6-5 overseas.

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Despite the three-time major-winner’s seven top-10 finishes within his 2022-23 campaign which includes a runner-up finish to Englishman Ryder-Cupper, Matthew Fitzpatrick, at the 2023 RBC Heritage Classic, Jordan Spieth is in middling form ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup and can’t be expected to show up in Italy and win the majority of his matches; like he did thru his 3-2 record in 2018’s matches and his 2-1-1 record at Gleneagles, as he’s not the same-player today.

Unfortunately for Team USA, Captain Johnson wasn’t able to accept the fact that Jordan captured eleven of his thirteen professional-wins (combined on-Tour & in-majors) by the time he lifted the Claret Jug in July of 2017. Still, Johnson’s decision to pick Spieth reflects the native Iowan’s confidence in the future HOF’er; and both-men can feel somewhat comfortable knowing that the Dallas native boasts a promising-record in away-Cups of 5 wins, 3 losses, and 1 halved-match (/5-3-1).

With the additions of Sam Burns, Brooks Koepka, and Collin Morikawa rounding-out ZJ’s 6 captains-selections, it’s obvious that Zach wasn’t willing to go to Europe with any players who were unfamiliar. Over the years, Team USA’s various-captains have rarely strayed from (selecting-) its top-players; or its players who’ve had the most success in a different realm of competition (/other than team match-play); and they’ve done so regardless of venue.

Starting at (/including) the 2023 Players Championship in March, Russell Henley has teed-it up in fourteen-events over the past six-months while (also-) recording eleven top-19 finishes. Most recently, the former Georgia-Bulldog came agonizingly close to-winning the Wyndham Championship while (also-) finishing the last-event of the regular-season in a tie for second-place and, then, the four-time Tour-winner (in Henley-) immediately followed-up that solid-showing with three-more top-14 finishes over the course of the three playoff-events.

At the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, Henley is leading the entire Tour in driving-accuracy/fairways-hit (and-) with an impressive mark of 71.74 percent; which is north-of 2 percentage-points higher than the Tour’s second-most accurate-driver of the golf ball (Morikawa at 69.55 %). To give you an idea of how straight Henley’s been with his tee-ball (or w/ his driver), Brendan Todd is sixth in driving-accuracy thanks to a percentage-mark of 67.85; which is good-for less-than 2 notches below the percentage of fairways that Morikawa finds. Clearly, nobody is nearly as straight as Russell is (off-the-tee) with the big stick.

Then there’s the winner of the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in (the now-) 43 year-old Lucas Glover. The six-time Tour-winner has made claims that he can’t break 80 whilst wearing a glove and (who also-) managed to-reinvent his putting-stroke in a 60-day period (of-) which occurred during this summer and gave-way to a pair of Tour-victories (arriving -) at the Wyndham Championship and the Fed Ex St. Jude Championship.

To date, Glover is the ninth most-accurate driver of the golf ball worldwide and is playing great golf from tee-to-green. Amazingly, Glover didn’t receive a nod from ZJ. For those of you who didn’t know (-this fun-fact already), legend has it that the former Clemson Tiger golfer went his entire collegiate-career without making a single double-bogey in tournament-play. Yes, match-play inherently favors making red-numbers over staving-off the big-ones, but Glover’s remarkable-control off-the-tee coupled with his improved-putting is a mix of skills that Team USA probably needs when they take on the Europeans in Italy later this month.

As far as Koepka’s inclusion is concerned, ZJ virtually had no choice but to give the reigning (2023-) PGA Championship winner and Masters runner-up (-finisher) his place on Team USA. However, if winning the Ryder Cup is ZJ’s main-goal, then leaving Koepka behind might’ve been the (best-) play.

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Over the years, the five-time major-winner and (current-) LIV-golfer has been vocal about his desire to win major championships; and his passion to-compete within anything outside of the four-majors just isn’t there. Still, ZJ deserves a pass (from us) for his decision to-take the one guy that I’d rather have playing with the most-marbles on-the-line than anyone else who’s relevant in today’s game; including studs like Scottie Scheffler.

After a poor showing in his first Presidents Cup appearance, Sam Burns followed-up his 0-3-2 debut for Team USA (vs. the INT) by bouncing-back, albeit within individual match-play, thru capturing the final-edition of the WGC-Dell Match-Play Championship at Austin Country Club. As he proved during his run at Austin CC, the former LSU Tiger (-golfer) possesses a lot of firepower and packs a card with loads of birdies.

Making his first Ryder-Cup appearance at the age of 27, the five-time Tour-winner is likely someone who strikes ZJ as the epitome of a young-gun type-of player/talent whose game passes the eye-test on all levels. But, Burns’ ability to-find fairways over the course of the 2022-23 season could be problematic for Team USA as his accuracy (from-) off-the-tee falls below the Tour-average.

Then again, Burns makes-up for his missed-fairways by sinking momentum-savers on-the-greens given the two-time Valspar winner’s 15th-best mark on-Tour in “Putts Per Round” at 28.15 (on-average); a ranking that puts him ahead of (other-) high-quality rollers of the rock including Cup-teammates (in-) Spieth (21), Harman (23), Fowler-&-Clark (both-34).

Unlike ZJ and his squad of less-prepared Americans, Luke Donald and Team Europe are (collectively-) living up to its reputation of being committed to winning at all costs. In other words, Team Europe has a rich-history of adding players to its squad who fulfill a specific-need and (who-) aren’t merely a well-known name in the context of week-to-week pro-golf; and captains-selections such-as Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard, and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg have only re-affirmed such notions.

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In Marco Simone’s original-edition of the (2021-) Italian Open, Nicolai Hojgaard took home the trophy with a 72-hole score of 13 under-par and edged out the 2023 Italian Open champion in Poland’s Adrian Meronk alongside Englishman Ryder-Cupper Tommy Fleetwood (both-) by a single-shot.

The 6-foot 2-inch, 190-pound Dane is 22 years old and arrives to Team Europe boasting a pair of made-cuts within (2023-) major-championships at Oak Hill-&-Royal Liverpool. After the 20 year-old Danish talent was victorious at Marco Simone circa 2021, Hojgaard defended his first European Tour title by tying for fifth-place in the 2022 edition before finishing in a tie for 27th position earlier this year at the 2023 Italian Open; which also took place at the site of the 44th Ryder Cup matches.

At the Italian Open in September of 2022, Robert MacIntyre of Scotland outlasted 2022’s U.S. Open champion, Matt Fitzpatrick, in a playoff and was lights-out throughout Sunday’s final-round which included a front-nine score of 6 under-par, 29, before coming home in 35 to-shoot 7 under-par; 64.

Almost a year ago, European-Cuppers including Fitzpatrick, McIlroy, Hatton, Hovland, and Team Europe’s Head-Captain, Donald, got a taste of Marco Simone in a tournament-atmosphere by playing-in the 2022 Italian Open while the continental Europeans went on to-finish the event in second, fourth, eighth, and (both in-) 34th position (-s); respectively.

Before the (now-) 90th-ranked Swede in Ludvig Aberg captured the Omega European Masters title in Switzerland last-weekend, the (then-) 200th ranked player in the world finished in a tie for fourth-place with fellow-Cupper Rob MacIntyre while another one in Nicolai Hojgaard finished in solo-third place at the D+D Real Czech Masters last-month in the Czech Republic.

In classic European-form, Luke Donald’s captains-picks reflect this notion that European leaders like picking players who are hot leading into their respective Ryder Cups and, also, that adding-players who are equipped with the experience/knowledge to-plot their way around the (respective-) host-venue under tournament-conditions is the way to-go.

As the late-great head-coach (Pat Summitt) of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers’ basketball-program used to-say amongst her players/peers, “the ability to prepare to win is just as important as the will to win-“. Given that Summitt’s 38-year coaching-tenure produced eight national-championship victories for her teams rocking burnt-orange and white (-jersey colors), it’s easy to reach the conclusion that the longtime-champion knew how to win. When it comes to America’s troubling-history in away Ryder Cups, Team USA loses because of its reluctance to-prepare properly/adequately.

To that end, the unprepared Americans haven’t carried themselves like a team who possesses the burning desire to win. If they wanted to win, they’d do things like travel to Italy to-play in the Italian Open and (they’d also-) select players who play with a chip on their shoulder; or bring Americans who are merely humbled by the opportunity to represent their country.

When you’re as successful/well-known as top-players like JT, Koepka, and Spieth (all are), it’s difficult to-muster the same-amount of desperation/motivation within Ryder Cups that pulsates through the bodies of true-grinders like Harman/Glover who feel like they have something to-prove in team (/non individual stroke-play) environments.

Although Captain Johnson has every reason to believe that he’s worthy of induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame without ever having to accomplish anything more than he already has; the hard-to-stomach fact remains that leading Team USA to-victory in Europe would be enough to vault his HOF-candidacy into sure-fire/first-ballot territory.

As such, one could argue that Johnson’s decision to-round out his team with the biggest names versus the most-fitting (of-) players is evidence that the Drake University graduate isn’t even the slightest bit concerned about his chances of (one-day) being enshrined into golf’s most prestigious club.

It’s already clear that it’s too late for the Americans to assemble a squad that gives them the best chance to-win later this month in Italy. Like past years, Team USA isn’t preparing to win; and is hoping that mere-talent/some element of luck comes to the forefront in Italy. On-the-road, it seems like an impossibility to-me that any legitimate sports-book elects to-favor the away-Americans over the Europeans at the 44th Ryder Cup.

Curiously, blinded supporters of Team USA such-as Tiger Woods’ former swing-coach, Hank Haney, have visions of their compatriots being “heavy-favorites” against Team Europe. Although I admire his determination to-be utterly confused, and enthusiastic, about the red, white, and blue’s prospects of winning in Italy; and while Hank may know a thing or two about the golf swing; Haney’s pro-American rhetoric is impervious to the truth.

That’s okay; because I can get behind these irrationally optimistic sentiments. As baseball-pitcher, Kenny Powers, famously noted during HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” series in (/whilst) attempting to dismiss those who were calling into-question his innate exuberance for the United States of America:

“Sure, I’ve been called a xenophobe. But the truth is, I’m not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and the other countries aren’t as good. That used to be called patriotism.”

Hear, Hear (to that-) Mr. Powers, hear, hear!

Let’s show the Europeans what true-talent looks like. Go Team USA.

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