By Joel Beall
Chalk this up as, “Don’t mess with success.” On Monday, the PGA of America announced through its social feeds that the Ryder Cup will be returning to Hazeltine in 2028. The Minnesota property was the site of the 2016 event, where Team USA bested the Europeans 17-11 for its first victory in eight years.

We’ve got some news… pic.twitter.com/y6gaYajPCZ

— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) March 26, 2018

Hazeltine has also hosted the U.S. Open (1970, 1991) and PGA Championship (2002, 2009) twice.

The U.S. has now locked up its Ryder Cup venues until 2036, with Whistling Straits (2020), Bethpage (2024), Hazeltine (2028) and the Olympic Club (2032) scheduled to serve the biennial event. This year’s match will be held at Le Golf National outside Paris. The Americans have not won on European soil in 25 years.

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By Christopher Powers
With the growing popularity of TPC Scottsdale’s 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, it seems every tour stop is now dealing with a vocal minority of unruly fans. As we saw at the Honda Classic, Justin Thomas had one of the worst offenders ejected from PGA National for actively rooting for his ball to get in the bunker during the final round.

Rory McIlroy knows about unruly fans better than anyone, having dealt with plenty at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, something he discussed after the event. On Saturday, after McIlroy carded a five-under 67 to get in contention at Bay Hill, he was asked about rowdy fans and whether he’s run into any this season, and he offered up a potential solution to regain some order outside the ropes.

“I think that they need to limit the alcohol sales on the course, or they need to do something because every week it seems like guys are complaining about it more and more,” said McIlroy. “I know that people want to come and enjoy themselves and whatever, and I’m all for that, but it’s, sometimes when the comments get personal and people get a little bit rowdy it can get a little much.

“I don’t know, it used to be like you bring beers on to the course or buy beers, but not liquor. And now it seems like everyone’s walking around with a cocktail or whatever. So I don’t know whether it just goes back to letting people walk around with beers in their hand, that’s fine, but, I don’t know.”

He also alluded to the Waste Management, which has certainly encouraged certain behaviour at other tournaments on the schedule.

“It’s obviously a lot of tournaments see how successful Phoenix is and they want to try to replicate that, which is great, it’s great for the tournament, it’s great for us, but golf is different than a football game and there’s etiquette involved and you don’t want again like you don’t want people to be put off by bringing their kids when people are shouting stuff out. You want people to enjoy themselves, have a good day, so, yeah.”

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And who can blame them? For Team USA and its notorious ‘Task Force’, this Ryder Cup is no laughing matter. A record of eight defeats in the last 10 outings (when they have often gone in with a significantly better side on paper) has to rank as one of the most unenviable in all of modern sport. Colin Montgomerie gleefully told me two years ago that if the USA were to lose this one on their home turf, they ‘won’t want to come to France [in 2018]’. 

Paradoxically, the more seriously the American team takes the Ryder Cup, the more likely they are to lose again

The U.S. are doing everything they possibly can to ensure victory at Hazeltine. They’re plotting, they’re planning, they’re conference calling, and no doubt they are tailoring the course to the exact specifications that will most suit their players. Even a choreographed drinks party at Jack Nicklaus’s house has formed part of this new, winning attitude to the Ryder Cup. 

Members of the ‘Task Force’ designed to build a formula for Ryder Cup success included Mickelson and Fowler

Course set-up at Hazeltine will be geared towards favouring players on the home side

What they cannot buy for love nor money is the unshakeable confidence held by the Europeans that they know exactly what it takes to win this event and whatever off-course intangibles dictate the outcome, well, the Europeans just get it, and the Americans don’t.

Paradoxically, the more seriously the American team takes the Ryder Cup, the more likely they are to lose again. What they need is faith in an environment that will allow them to play their best golf. It’s like a football match between two sides where one manager is still trying to work out his best formation and style of play, while the other has been drilling the same philosophy for decades – the golfing equivalent of Roy Hodgson versus Pep Guardiola.

I was at Gleneagles two years ago, and that final U.S. press conference was painful to watch. How could there have been such a disconnect between Tom Watson and his most senior player, Phil Mickelson, to the point where it sparked such open rebellion? Juxtaposed with Paul McGinley’s relationship with his tight-knit team, it was impossible to go along with the idea still propagated by many experts that Europe just ‘hole more putts’. Anyone who thinks the Ryder Cup is a mere putting contest really doesn’t understand much about the psychology of team sport.

Amusing as it was for us Team Europe fans, the U.S. needed that Task Force. It was a jolt in the arm, a recognition that they couldn’t carry on lurching from one set of captaincy styles to another. Davis Love’s role as skipper this time round may be familiar, but not much else about the U.S. approach will be. And crucially, they’ve been presented with a gilt-edged chance to win this 2016 contest against a weak-looking European side whose big guns – Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson aside – are not playing as well as they were two years ago.

The likes of Danny Willett, Andy Sullivan, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Wood are fully deserving of their place in the side, but that’s a lot of rookies for Darren Clarke to manage (with at least one more rookie likely to take one of the three wild card spots). Meanwhile, when you consider that at the time of writing, world top 10 players Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson weren’t even in the U.S. team, the superior strength in depth clearly belongs to the Americans. They have two of the world’s top three, and their highest ranked player (even based on the likely wild card selections) is Zach Johnson at World No.24. No fewer than half of Europe’s likely team is ranked outside that mark, and in terms of world ranking average the USA is a cut above, 13.41 versus 25.25.

In Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth, Team USA will have the top two ranked players at this September’s showdown

With his win at the Barclays last night, Patrick Reed qualified automatically in fourth spot, while Rickie Fowler is likely to earn one of the four wild card picks

Supporters of Europe will point out that having a stronger team of individuals has seldom helped America in the past. But this time, with a vociferous home crowd behind them and a Task Force-sized point to prove, I think it has to. Europe – sport’s most unlikely underdog having won six of the past seven contests – will relish that tag and this will be a typically nailbiting contest with all the volatility that we’ve come to associate with the Ryder Cup. But ultimately, I think the superior fire power of the American team will get them across the winning line.

The automatic qualifiers on both sides are now set, and we’ve added our wild card predictions. The USA will have a healthy advantage in terms of average world ranking

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