Another busy week this week for Ryder Cup news and a day or too late on my part too so lets jump straight in starting this week with Team USA. A result which just didn’t make it into the previous weeks roundup was Tim Herron’s excellent win after a play-off with Sweden’s Richard Johnson in the in the Bank of America Colonial Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. This catapults Herron right into contention at position nine in the US Ryder Cup Points list. The Mercury News charts the rise of Oberholser’s recent good form putting him into 12th spot and Jeff Maggert’s victory at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee see’s him still a way off at 18th position but may signifies a return to form.
US Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman was also talking this week about, amongst other things, the frustrations of changing his reputation on the European side of the water. We’ve also added an in-depth article of our own on the problems facing Lehman and his approach to answering his critics.
All our thoughts are with Tiger Woods after the death his father on May 3rd who looks like he will re-enter competition probably at the US Open.
For the European Ryder Cup team the early part of last week’s news was dominated by the buzz of Bjorn’s win at the Irish Open which moves him up to 11th on the European Ryder Cup Points list but it soon moved on with the start of the BMW Championship at Wentworth. In the end it was no competition with David Howell showing why he is one of the few sureties of a Ryder Cup spot with such a comprehensive victory over Khan and Jimenez.
The pressure is beginning mount on European Ryder Cup Captain Ian Woosnam who is still waiting for some of his key players such as Montgomerie, Garcia, Harrington and Westwood (who didn’t make the cut at Wentworth last weekend) to come good. Woosnam took Douglas Adam’s famous maxim “Don’t Panic!” to heart when he responded, “I don’t think there is any need to panic. This is golf. There are ups and downs. I’ve got an idea of the team I’d like to have but I’ve got to wait and see what happens. There are a lot of tournaments left to play and a lot of money left to win. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out; interesting for you and me.” Still he was not too happy with his pairings at recent events either. There’s a palpable sense that frustration could be beginning to grow.
Finally it was a quiet week for Ryder Cup news in Ireland this week with the Irish players putting the head down to try and have some home soil representation on the team and the Irish fans looking on nervously. The only good news is a few new competitions for Ryder Cup tickets announced.
