{"id":166763,"date":"2025-09-28T21:33:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T21:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/166763\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T21:33:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T21:33:14","slug":"sickos-robots-and-rahm-my-12-hours-of-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/166763\/","title":{"rendered":"Sickos, robots and Rahm \u2014 my 12 hours of watching"},"content":{"rendered":"

The only thing I\u2019ve got in common with Scottie Scheffler is that we\u2019re both sickos. <\/p>\n

He spends much of his life playing a game without seeing much point to it. I spend too much of mine watching games. In explaining his devotion, the best Scheffler could do was hold up his hand. \u201cI\u2019m a kind of sicko<\/a>; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practise . But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don\u2019t understand the point.\u201d <\/p>\n

What then to say to someone who in one day (Friday just gone by) spent 12 unbroken hours watching televised golf? What advice do you give this sicko? \u201cIf you don\u2019t shift position while on that sofa, you\u2019re going to end up with pressure sores,\u201d the woman in our house advised. Any nurse will tell you what they are. <\/p>\n

The morning after the day before began not with breakfast but a YouTube recording of Keegan Bradley trying to explain a dispiriting first day for Team USA at Bethpage Black. As fans there\u2019s nothing more pleasurable than the captain, manager or head coach of the other team squirming in the spotlight. It touches our capacity for inhumanity. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Ryder Cup day three live: tee times, scores and results<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ryder<\/p>\n

Scheffler gets fired up on day two but he seemed to lack chemistry with his foursomes partner, Henley<\/p>\n

JARED C. TILTON\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The first question came from a journalist that the moderator identified as Adam. \u201cKeegan, Data Golf, a very respected, reputable source out there, found that Harris English and Collin Morikawa were the 132nd best combination of all the possibilities, the last one. What do you have in your information that had them in your top four?\u201d <\/p>\n

English and Morikawa had, of course, gelled as smoothly as oil and milk earlier in the day before losing 5&4 to Rory McIlroy<\/a> and Tommy Fleetwood. <\/p>\n

Feeling threatened, Bradley faced a choice. He could have answered the question intelligently, reminded the questioner that Data Golf doesn\u2019t factor in the players\u2019 personalities, doesn\u2019t know who hangs out with whom and that no matter what the data experts say, not everything in golf can be reduced to numbers. <\/p>\n

\"Trump\"<\/p>\n

Bradley, pictured with President Donald Trump on day one, was unconvincing in his defence of his partnerships<\/p>\n

MANDEL NGAN\/POOL PHOTO VIA AP<\/p>\n

Instead the US captain played the robot: \u201cWe have a plan, we\u2019re comfortable with our plan and we\u2019re really comfortable with those two players.\u201d So, sticking to the plan, how did that work out? The same two players went out in the Saturday foursomes. Again they encountered McIlroy and Fleetwood. Again they lost. Sometimes it\u2019s better to change the plan. <\/p>\n

What is the power that the Ryder Cup<\/a> holds over us?<\/p>\n

I think it comes from the weirdness of a predominantly individual sport having a biennial team event that engages us more than even the greatest major championship. How could a disparate group of Europeans drawn from countries as different as Norway is from England, as Spain is from Sweden, come up with a team more united that one made up of 12 Americans who play under one flag? For 30 years it has been happening almost routinely.<\/p>\n

With his talent and his fiercely competitive nature, how come Tiger Woods couldn\u2019t be the inspirational leader of the USA team during his Ryder Cup years? Why is it that Scheffler, now the world\u2019s best player, cannot be the talisman for this team? Is it something to do with being an American golfer?<\/p>\n

\"Ryder<\/p>\n

The team spirit of the European players has so far been difficult to replicate for Team USA<\/p>\n

ANDREW REDINGTON\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

It may seem a stretch to generalise about a country\u2019s golfers, but then how does one explain the Spaniards Seve Ballesteros, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Olaz\u00e1bal, Sergio Garc\u00eda and Jon Rahm?<\/p>\n

Even if Rahm is still in the foothills of his Ryder Cup career we can still include him in the sentence that speaks of four Spanish giants. They have come with their talent and a passion that allowed them to find something more when playing for their team-mates. Ballesteros (fifth), Olaz\u00e1bal (seventh) and Garc\u00eda (first) are in the top seven highest points earners for Europe. All three inspired those they played with. Long after his death, Ballesteros remains the team\u2019s spiritual leader. <\/p>\n

The golf journey Luke Donald took from taciturnity to the bright communicator now leading the team had a defining moment when he was paired with Garc\u00eda in Ryder Cup matches. The Spaniard was pretty much his polar opposite. Six matches later, five wins and one loss, Donald had begun to become the man we see today. <\/p>\n

\"Jon<\/p>\n

Rahm and Olaz\u00e1bal embrace on day one, with the former continuing the fine Spanish tradition in the tournament<\/p>\n

DAVID CANNON\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Seve begat Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda, who begat Sergio, who begat Rahm, whose fledgling Ryder Cup record is like a cow\u2019s tail: all it lacks is length to reach the moon. And if ever you wonder about his soul, check his foursomes performance, because this is the ultimate team test in golf. The way Rahm put his arm around the out-of-form Sepp Straka in their Friday four-balls match was miles beyond admirable. Just like saying: \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Sepp, I will keep us in this match. You come in whenever you can.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the time he defected to LIV in December 2023 it was thought Rahm might not be allowed to play in the Ryder Cup. McIlroy needed ten minutes to kill that off: \u201cJon is going to be in Bethpage in 2025. The European Tour is going to have to rewrite the rules for Ryder Cup eligibility. There\u2019s absolutely no question about that \u2014 I want Jon Rahm on the next Ryder Cup team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Europe is lucky to have two other exceptional players and leaders in Fleetwood and McIlroy. Fleetwood may be the easiest-to-like elite athlete in the world. As much as one warms to McIlroy\u2019s burning desire in the moment that a big putt drops or some unruly USA fan gets under his skin, there is something even more admirable in Fleetwood\u2019s understated demeanour. <\/p>\n

Like he understands the transience of the moment and prefers to have no truck with it. Just a sweet smile, that\u2019s Tommy. He would rather walk naked through the streets of Manchester than to have to blow his own trumpet fully dressed. Like Rahm and McIlroy, Fleetwood turns up at the Ryder Cup ready to play. This team is a reflection of their character. <\/p>\n

\"Ryder<\/p>\n

McIlroy and Fleetwood won their foursomes on both mornings and have been vital leaders for Europe<\/p>\n

MICHAEL REAVES\/PGA OF AMERICA VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Bob MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick, younger men with much less experience, are learning at a school of genuine excellence. Good teams are built on the backs of strong characters.<\/p>\n

Why hasn\u2019t Scheffler become the leader of this US team? While Woods just wasn\u2019t bothered, my impression is that the responsibility weighs too heavily on Scheffler. Recall the tears he shed in Rome after the 9&7 loss he and Brooks Koepka suffered in their foursomes match against Aberg and Hovland. His way of coping was to detach himself, to stay in his own world, do his own thing. He played twice with Russell Henley in foursomes matches. They seemed like co-workers rather than team-mates. <\/p>\n

If not Scheffler, then who? Justin Thomas, perhaps, but his game ebbs and flows. After that, you are left with a group of richly talented individuals all adept at doing their own thing. They just cannot generate the spirit that is key to how Europe play. Who knows how this whole thing will play out? The individuals may still beat the team, but right now you wouldn\u2019t bet on it. <\/p>\n

Perhaps it hasn\u2019t influenced the matches played so far, but Bradley was wrong to have the rough cut back so much that it could no longer be called rough. The USA captain turned a great and formidable golf course into a dull and easy one. Bethpage Black, he decided, should be Bethpage Grey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The only thing I\u2019ve got in common with Scottie Scheffler is that we\u2019re both sickos. He spends much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-166763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}