Ryder Cup 2012: Europe beat USA after record comeback

BBC Sport ^ | 1st October 2012 | Tom Fordyce

[Zuben Elgenubi]

There are only 34 Rules Of Golf.

Email me if you want on the Golf Ping List:

Visit PGA.com, an excellent site.

[bcsco]

Actually we went into Sunday with 10 points, so we needed 4 1/2 more to win.

[bramps]

I’ll type slowly so you understand. The ‘yips’ and no nerves are bad things in golf, making winning virtually impossible. By definition a golfer with 16 PGA tour wins (including last years FedEx cup) does not suffer from these maladies. You don’t have to be good at golf to understand that, it only requires being good at logic.

[stylin19a]

zactly..thanks for the correction. I knew there had to be a half in there somewhere. Wondered about it specially coming from the BBC

[Rummyfan]

Tiger, Jim Furyk, and Steve Stricker totalled one point I believe. Ugh... Hate to lose to the Euros, but the USA holds two of the four major titles for 2012 (Bubba Watson: Master’s; Webb Simpson: US Open).

[Sans-Culotte]

I’ll type slowly so you understand. The ‘yips’ and no nerves are bad things in golf, making winning virtually impossible. By definition a golfer with 16 PGA tour wins (including last years FedEx cup) does not suffer from these maladies. You don’t have to be good at golf to understand that, it only requires being good at logic.

Furyk looks to me to definitely have the "yips" and he has problems closing out tournaments. He had the U.S. Open in hand before shanking one into the woods that barely went 100 yards. Yes, he did win a lot in the past, and he won the Fedex 2 years ago (last year's winner was Bill Haas, not Furyk). All golfers eventually succumb to pressure and the yips, otherwise they'd excel into later age. Vijay Singh was winning a lot into his 40's before the yips got him. A belly putter has not quite cured him of it yet. And remember that Furyk was a captain's pick. He did not do well to qualify on his own. Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and other veterans have commented about how the yips become much more prevalent with age.

[bramps]

I don't get to discuss such things often but I just wanted to mention that (and I am a big fan of him and know nothing more than anyone else) Vijay stopped winning the same year that they instituted drug testing. They always talked about how he was the hardest worker on tour with seemingly unlimited energy before and after rounds. Just made me wonder.

[Sans-Culotte]

I'm a bit of a fan of Vijay's as well, probably because he won so much after age 40. And I think he has a really elegant swing. However, I think his decline is age-related. The drug-testing started in 2007. Vijay went on to win the Fedex cup in 2008. His decline started right around then as he was hitting age 45 or so. Kenny Perry comes to mind as well, as a guy who was going gangbusters, and then he hit a brick wall. Somewhere in the 45-50 range it seems that PGA golfers start to lose it (the yips?). On the plus side, they usually start winning everything when they hit the Champions tour.

I hope Jim Furyk rebounds next year. I've pulled for him many times, but I really was hoping Love would not pick him for the Ryder team. I don't know if Jim's issues this year are physical or mental. Maybe it's both. I think that choke in the U.S. Open this year was like Phil's at Winged Foot. It seems to have affected his play from then on out.

[bramps]

I'm going to have to send future golf posts thru you first for editing. Appreciate the info. I'm a giant fan both watching and playing but haven't been able to play much due to this wonderful economy.