With all the players now well settled in Valhalla, it appears that every golf journalist in the world has followed them to Kentucky. In the absence of any significant news – no real clarity on pairings or no unexpected events – much of the focus is on good old-fashioned previews. Here’s a sample of some of the more interesting media outputs in the build-up to Friday’s competition:

ESPN’s Jason Sobel asks 18 pertinent questions, the first being ‘Can the US actually win this thing?’. The answer is yes.

The Telegraph have a fascinating interview with Paul McGinley which poses some questions about whether the European locker-room will have the winning dynamic of recent competitions. It seems they will have a drum kit though. And DJ Spoony.

In recent years, traveling sports teams have tended to prevent players from having ‘exclusive diaries’ in the papers. However, it seems that Justin Rose has a diary in the Times. No major revelations as yet. The most exciting news is that Ryder Cup is embroidered on their pillows and blankets.

The Ryder Cup is a global event. This piece in The Australian suggests that Tiger’s absence is, in fact, a good thing for the US team.

The local Louisville Courier Journal has the inside scoop on young Kentuckian JB Holmes. Will the passion of the local supporters be stirred by the presence of Holmes and Perry?

And if you that was a local spin, then how about this. The University of Kentucky has the exciting news that their Wildcat Marching Band will play at the opening ceremony!

• All of the controversy generated by Nick Faldo’s wild card selections (as we more or less predicted) will be forgotten about if Poulter and Casey play their part in a European victory. Of course, the opposite is equally true. If Europe loses and Ian Poulter struggles then the press will be on Faldo’s back all the way to Christmas.
• Talk of an English bias on Faldo’s part appears to be unfair. It is possible to make an argument that both Faldo and Poulter have very ‘English’ personalities and that Faldo would find some of Poulter’s strengths more appealing than, say, Olazabal or Monty might. But to suggest that Faldo showed national bias in picking Poulter over Clarke stretches the point too far. Remember that if Luke Donald’s wrist was in good shape, he would almost certainly have taken Poulter’s place. And he’s English too!
• Many have argued that the absence of Clarke and Monty will mean that the team will lack leadership. This remains to be seen but it’s difficult to imagine that a team with players like Garcia and Harrington will be a rudderless ship. Garcia has been sensational as a Ryder Cup player and there’s no reason to expect that he won’t play a leading role once more.
• Paul Azinger has played the local card with his selection of JB Holmes. At the press conference where his final team line-up was announced, Azinger pointedly highlighted the fact Holmes was a local boy and that he was a bomber (hits it long off the tee!) before mentioning his name. Anyone who experienced the visceral roar that greeted Darren Clarke’s arrival at the first tee in the K Club in 2006 will understand how local passion can create a magical dynamic.
• With all the talk about the loss of leadership on the European side, the US team has no fewer than six rookies on board. Monty has advanced the argument this week that Europe’s victory in 2004 came down to the rookies delivering. It’s obvious that a US triumph in 08 will require a significant contribution from these new players.
• As for which pairing combinations would work the best, well, let’s just say that those scientists at CERN with the 17-mile long accelerator have an easier job than trying to work out the Ryder Cup pairings…

As feared, Luke Donald won’t be participating in this year’s Ryder Cup having undergone surgery on his left wrist. This is a significant, if fully expected, blow to the chances of the European team. Donald’s Ryder Cup record is excellent, having been a key contributor to the last two victories.

A comparison of Luke’s record with Tiger’s is interesting: Luke has won 5.5 points from a possible 7; Tiger has won 11 points from a possible 25.  Tiger’s poor record in fourballs/foursomes is well documented. Luke is unbeaten in pairs.

For all of Tiger’s greatness (and yes, he is the greatest player to ever play the game), maybe his absence has been balanced by that of Luke Donald?

The game’s greatest player will not be playing in this year’s Ryder Cup in Valhalla. News that Tiger will have reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of his left knee emerged today from his personal website.

Tiger’s golfing accomplishments in the last twelve months seem even greater with the news that he ruptured his ACL shortly after last year’s Open Championship yet since then has battled on to win ten of the thirteen tournaments in which he has played (btw, the other three were two second-place finishes and one fifth-place!). Even more extraordinary is the news that he also has a double stress fracture of his left tibia. One can only speculate how well Tiger could be playing if he was fully fit!

There will be a lot of debate now about the impact of Tiger’s absence on this year’s Ryder Cup matches. Sport has many famous tales of how teams pull together against the odds in the absence of their star player but it is difficult to make an argument that Tiger’s absence will have a net positive effect on the US team. Unfortunately, this will also have a negative impact on the profile of the competition. As great as the Ryder Cup is, any event will be lessened by the absence of one as great as Tiger.

However, the good news is that there is one more place available for aspiring US golfers. The valiant runner-up at this week’s US Open, Rocco Mediate, is now just six places away from automatic qualification!

With just 16 weeks of golf remaining before European captain Nick Faldo finalises his team for Ryder Cup 2008, it does appear likely that the European team will feature quite a few new faces in Valhalla.

Some of the veterans of the 2006 victory, and indeed of many previous victories, will have to play a lot of successful golf to climb back into serious contention for this year’s team. Previous European stalwarts such as Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Jose-Maria Olazabal are all facing an uphill climb to get themselves into contention on the points lists.

One unknown variable will be Nick Faldo’s policy when selecting his two personal picks; he may choose to go with the experience of proven winners and in that scenario the above quartet come very much into consideration. Alternatively, Faldo may elect to go with players who just miss out on automatic qualification but have been playing winning golf in the weeks leading up to the selection.

Three players who look almost certain to be on the team, based on their present standings in both points lists, are Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose. Rose will be a Ryder Cup ‘rookie’ but has proven his capability to compete at the highest level in recent years, almost a decade after his dramatic emergence onto the world stage when he came so close to winning the British Open as a teenager.

Following his play-off victory this week at Sawgrass, Sergio Garcia has jumped into the Top 5 on the World Points list and will be expected to maintain an automatic qualification position. Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson and Ian Poulter will all be expected to collect sufficient points for qualification, especially given their multiple scheduled appearances on the European Tour.

These names aside, it looks like it will be a very open contest for the remaining places. Last year’s rookie of the year, Martin Kaymer has had a great start to 2008 and will be keen to continue a proud tradition of German contribution to Ryder Cup success. Daniel Chopra has featured high on the World Points list but may be under pressure to stay in contention given his lack of appearances in Europe. This is also a challenge for Luke Donald and to a lesser extent, Garcia.

Other names likely to contend include Graeme McDowell, Soren Hansen, Nick Dougherty and Oliver Wilson.

Predicting is a dangerous business but with the summer of golf upon us, the Ryder Diary team are confident that Harrington, Rose, Garcia, Westwood, Stenson and Jimenez will all qualify for selection. That leaves just four automatic positions between over twenty legitimate contenders. The only certainty is that that race will run all the way to August 31st.

Jose Maria Olazabal, vice-captain of the European team in this year’s Ryder Cup is almost certainly going to contribute in a non-playing role only. Olazabal has played in seven Ryder Cups, most recently in Ireland in 2006. He has battled bravely against different forms of rheumatism and arthritis for over a decade, famously coming back from crippling arthritis in his foot to win the Augusta Masters in 1999.

Olazabal’s Ryder Cup legacy will always be highlighted by his association with his fellow Spaniard, Seve Ballesteros. When the young Olazabal emerged onto the scene in 1987, he was mentored and partnered by the seasoned Ballesteros and they struck up one of the most successful combinations in Ryder Cup history.

Olazabal’s rheumatism appears quite acute, affecting his back, shoulder and knees. Despite that, he is playing for the first time in seven months this week at the Anadalucia Open, where has successfully made the cut. He claims that he’s comfortable with swinging the club but finds trouble with walking and bending. His assessment of his Ryder Cup playing chances was quite fatalistic:

“Unless I completely recover right away and my game hits standards I haven’t yet reached in my life before, as far as playing is concerned, I am out of the picture”

Match-play format, where players compete directly against each other to win each hole, is rarely employed on the major golf tours. This is primarily due to the impracticality of arranging a tournament in head-to-head fashion, in contrast to the standard practice of allowing 100+ professionals to measure themselves against the par of the course. The Accenture Match Play Championship (part of the World Golf Championships series) is one such rare event and has brought the (nominally) Top 64 players in the world together in Tucson, Arizona for five glorious days of mano-a-mano competition.

The next time we see match-play dividing some of these talented players will be in Valhalla in September.This week’s event has been won handsomely by Tiger Woods, whose early-season form continues to be impressive. Woods is undoubtedly at his best when in direct competition with another player. His success rate in head-to-head contests on the final day of tournaments is legendary and he has once again demonstrated that capability here this week.

His only real scare came on the first day’s play when he trailed J.B. Holmes by three holes with five to play. Holmes sat proudly in sixth place in the Ryder Cup US Team Standings prior to this event and may well have thought that he had mastered this match-play idea as he stood on the 14th tee. He would have been forgiven for thinking that keeping a level par score on the way home should see off his opponent. That’s exactly how he played out the last five but Tiger had other ideas with three birdies and an eagle to leave the shell-shocked J.B. dreaming of what might have been (and what still may be for him in September).

Tiger Woods, of course, has an enigmatic record at the Ryder Cup. In five singles matches, he’s returned a highly respectable 3 and 1/2 points. However, in the twenty pairs matches he has competed in, the US has only won 7 and 1/2 points from a possible 20.

One of the most popular aspects of the Ryder Cup with spectators is the drama created by the use of the match-play format. Interestingly, a poll on the CBS Sports website indicates that two-thirds of respondents would like to see more match-play events in pro golf. See you all again in September!

Darren Clarke has indicated that he feels that Joe Calzaghe deserves to win the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. Darren who is one of the favourites to win the BBC award has emphasised that he feels that the boxer Calzaghe is more deserving of the award and that he doesn’t want to win it on a “sympathy vote”.

Darren’s heroic effort in this years Ryder Cup team, despite his personal circumstances is the primary reason for his popularity. Unfortunately this is inextricably bound to the untimely death of his wife and it will be difficult for voters to separate the two. I think we should get behind Darren and vote for him. He’s a tremendous sportsman and has shown true mettle this year.

A shortlist of 10 sportspeople will be announced on 4 December – six days before the event, which takes place at Birmingham’s NEC. The public will decide the winner on the night with voting by phone and text during the show.

Nick Faldo was the last golfer to win the award back in his hey day as a golfer in 1989.

The Ryder Cup Players involved in the 36th Ryder Cup were as follows:

Team Europe
Paul Casey
Darren Clarke
Luke Donald
Sergio Garcia
Padraig Harrington
David Howell
Robert Karlsson
Paul McGinley
Colin Montgomerie
Jose Maria Olazabal
Henrik Stenson
Lee Westwood

Team USA
Chad Campbell
Stewart Cink
Chris DiMarco
Jim Furyk
J.J. Henry
Zach Johnson
Phil Mickelson
Vaughn Taylor
David Toms
Scott Verplank
Brett Wetterich
Tiger Woods

The first Ryder Cup pairings have been announced and it looks like it is going to start with a bang. They are as follows:

Match 1
(Time 8:00) Padraig Harrington/Colin Montgomerie (EUROPE – Ireland & Scotland) v Tiger Woods/Jim Furyk (USA)
Match 2
(Time 8:15) Paul Casey/Robert Karlsson (EUROPE – England & Sweden) v Stewart Cink/JJ Henry (USA)
Match 3
(Time 8:30) Sergio Garcia/Jose Maria Olazabal (EUROPE – Spain & Spain) v David Toms/Brett Wetterich (USA)
Match 4
(Time 8:45) Darren Clarke/Lee Westwood (EUROPE – Ireland & England) v Phil Mickelson/Chris DiMarco (USA)

Further comment and analysis to follow.

Technorati tags ryder cup, golf