We are back breaking down golf courses over at Inside Sports Network for more than a field of 24 golfers at the Ryder Cup. The Country Club of Jackson is a very straight forward handicap as its an easy course off-the-tee, on your approach shots, and on the greens. With little to no missed fairway penalty, history shows being long off-the-tee pays dividends and gives you an advantage over the field.

Over the last three years, here are the top 10 players in strokes gained off-the-tee on driver heavy golf golfs, with low missed fairway penalty:

It’s the Fall swing, the perfect time for young studs to break out. We see it every year, and this is giving me Ludvig Aberg at the RSM Classic, minus the fact that this is actually a perfect golf course fit for Thorbjornsen. I fully believe that he can overwhelm this extremely weak field with his talent. He has the power off the tee, the long iron play, the course history, and the putting upside. Anything over 25/1 will be my first bet on Monday morning.

Closing Stretch

Brian Kirschner

Europe’s Culture & History

Much has been said about the differences between Team Europe and USA this week but at the end of the day it just comes down to culture and history.

Team Europe has so much history in the modern Ryder Cup and I truly think it just propels them into the future and why they have such a better culture. They have more away wins, better captains and a better buy-in. Seve, Faldo, Langer, Jose Maria are all legends of the game and did miraculous things in the event.

A lot of jokes were made about the Europeans uniforms paying homage to past away Ryder Cup wins. Team USA simply cannot do anything like that. The biggest golf hero USA has is Tiger Woods, a man that had no successful history in the Ryder Cup. He never won in the 21st century, had a terrible record and never seemed to buy into the event. Just compare that to all of the European legends that all won on the road as recently as 2012!

The culture is also completely different, as cliche as it sounds, Europe is truly a team while the USA is a collection of individuals coming together for one week trying to win on sheer talent. I have no doubts that they are all friends and get along well but none of them are going putting there heads together after a match like Rose and Tommy.

As the talent gap gets closer, I think it’s going to be harder and harder for USA to win these things and I don’t think Tiger getting involved is going to be the savior.

Andy Lack

Making sense of Scottie Scheffler’s disappoitinng perfomance at Bethpage

Coming out of this Ryder Cup, the major storylines have been consistent. Fan behavior and Rory McIlroy. Keegan’s incompetency. Course set-up. European culture and dominance. Somehow, I actually think Scottie Scheffler’s no-show has flown under the radar. I plan on podding about this in greater detail with Kyle Porter later this week, so I will keep my thoughts on Scheffler’s Ryder Cup, his position in the game, and his psychology cursory. 

I still think the general golfing public is wrapping their head around how truly great Scottie Scheffler is, but for context, if he was to never hit another competitive golf shot again, he would retire as one of the twenty to twenty-five most accomplished golfers of all time. Four majors and 18 wins is a Hall of Fame career, and he essentially accomplished this in three years. Scheffler has been performing over the past two years at a level only reached by very few in the strokes gained era, and while I tend to shy away from Tiger Woods’ comparisons, I am very comfortable suggesting he is the best golfer we’ve seen since Cat. 

The Tiger comparisons have been a mainstay with Scheffler since his dominance began, but those who were more skeptical of Scheffler performing in a Ryder Cup were quick to point to the fact that Tiger was never a great Ryder Cup player himself, with a 13-21-3 record. I was quick to dismiss this comparison. Tiger once told us his favorite aspect of golf was that he didn’t need to rely on teammates. His accomplishments and failures solely rested on his shoulders. This is not a unique perspective to have for hyper-competitive golfers, or tennis players, or other athletes that choose individual sports for that matter.

I believe there is a little bit of this in Brooks Koepka as well. Yet I never really considered if this was a part of Scottie’s psychology, even though the clues were there. On the surface, Scottie’s desires and impulses could not be more different than Tiger. When Tiger was Scottie’s age, he was already deep in sex addiction, while still maintaining transcendantally great play.

Who knows what goes on behind closed doors in the Scheffler household, but if we care to take his presentation as genuine, he appears to be a man of faith, who is incredibly content spending every night at home watching the Office with his wife and raising a family. Scottie’s presentation may be a red herring for a similar psychology to the Cat when it comes to the way he views his day job. I think we’re still learning how adaptive Scheffler is to a team environment. 

What we can say is that Scheffler’s Ryder Cup record is now 3-6-3. He was excellent in Whistling Straits, but tremendously disappointing in Rome and at Bethpage. And then there was the eye test. Anyone who has grown accustomed to watching Scheffler dominate knows exactly what it’s like when he’s locked in. Scheffler is amongst the most deeply in control, present, fundamentally sound, consistent golfers I have ever encountered.

He gets frustrated at times, but those who view his occasional outbursts as mental weakness are completely missing the forest for the trees. And yet this is what made Scheffler’s Bethpage so perplexing. He played well below his baseline, but he rarely seemed frustrated. He actually seemed dejected. Uncomfortable. Nervous even. I don’t think the set-up did him any favors, but if you can win by ten at TPC Craig Ranch, you can still dominate on a watered down Bethpage. 

Some were quick to point out, that like Tiger, he just might not care about the Ryder Cup the way that many Europeans do. Perhaps he is far more invested in individual accomplishments. I’m not sure that’s it. If he doesn’t care, then why did he seem nervous and uncomfortable? Why couldn’t he find the center of the club-face with a wedge in the biggest moments? Why can he get up for the Procore, a tournament that does absolutely nothing for his legacy, but not care about the Ryder Cup? An event that would not only make a substantive impact on his legacy, but also provide him with the opportunity to lead. To embrace his role as the team’s best player. 

So what lead to the uncomfortability? Scheffler hit shots at this Ryder Cup that he would never hit, tied with three holes to play on the weekend of a major championship. I don’t have the answer for why that is, but I certainly would have asked him. If I was in the media center, I probably would have lead with something like, “Scottie, do you feel more pressure at a Ryder Cup or a Major Championship?” I’d start there and see what we get out of him. I’m not sure we’d understand all of it, but he’d likely provide enough thoughtful Breadcrumbs into his inner workings.

I remain fascinated by this performance out of a player that I truly believe has the upside to retire as one of the five to ten greatest ever. The sample size likely remains too small for me to speculate, but if this just isn’t his thing, I don’t believe we will win one of these in the next ten years. I’m glad Keegan fell on the sword this time. He deserved to. I’m not sold however that he was a bigger disappointment to the U.S. team than Scheffler, and I’m surprised so many have been quick to let him off the hook.

Josh Segal

Time to put the “Americans don’t care about the Ryder Cup” narrative to bed

One of the numerous narratives that has been repurposed throughout the week is that the Europeans care much more about the Ryder Cup than the Americans. It is easy to see how much the Ryder Cup means to the Europeans due to the culture that has been built for years and the chemistry that the entire team showcases. 

It was put on display the entire week. There were moments where Justin Rose & Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry were putting their forehands together, showcasing their brotherhoods. It wasn’t just those two specific moments, but you can see the bond that everyone has as they are playing together while having a common goal in mind of winning the Ryder Cup. 

Because the Europeans have it all figured out and their continuity is so natural, it’s very easy to say that the Americans don’t care about the Ryder Cup. They don’t show as much passion for the event, and at times, it might seem forced. However, I believe that it’s a mix of the Americans not having a defined culture that everyone buys into and the media that asks questions during press conferences. 

For example, it doesn’t help the narrative when the media asks a question to Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Keegan Bradley on how Bryson will gel in the team room with everyone. The media is trying to fish for a juicy story, and it’s hard to give an answer that doesn't sound forced. 

The Americans put the narrative to bed after their performance on Sunday. They were down seven points going into the singles matches and somehow only lost by two points in the end. The Ryder Cup winning point came when Tyrell Hatton tied his match with Collin Morikawa. They could have easily just accepted defeat but that’s not what Americans do. We fight until the end. 

Cameron Young and Justin Thomas both drained two birdie putts on the 18th hole to clinch must needed points for the Americans behind them to keep the potential miracle alive. The reactions from both of these gentlemen were priceless, especially JT, who pointed at Cam Young when he made his putt and gave him a huge chest pump. 

When Scottie Scheffler beat Rory McIlroy to finally contribute a point for the team, he was pretty emotional in his post round interview. Scheffler stated, “these guys on this team, they picked me up when I needed it last night, we got a great team.” These moments are when the Americans sound genuine. They are expressing how much they care about winning this event and playing for their country and teammates. 

Scheffler also gave much praise to Bryson for being a vocal leader for this team. He also provided a ton of energy and positivity to Bryson to keep battling in his match. Bryson came back from five down to Matt Fitzpatrick, and in the end, the match was tied. When you have guys like that fighting for the team, it gets everyone motivated. 

Ultimately, have the Americans cracked the code of the Ryder Cup? No. Do the Americans have a strong culture and leadership that the Europeans do? No. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Americans and their staff don’t care about this event. They do, and it showed on Sunday with the way they fought. It’s time to put the narrative to rest and look forward to how Team USA can get better for 2027 at Adare Manor in Ireland.