My Sunday Line-up for the Cup... Weather Permitting!

     Tonight... Corey Pavin's American Ryder Cup team sleeps on the lead. But they can't feel all that great about it. While the points say 6-4 United States... the matches left on the course when darkness fell are ALL in favor of the Europeans. In other words... the U.S. has the lead... but the Euros have the momentum.
Before you think the U.S. dominates the singles competition.... which they did at Valhalla... consider that they've actually lost the singles 3 of the last 4 matches. And in decisive fashion.
    A couple things bother me if I'm all about the United States winning this thing. First of all... Phil Mickelson hasn't played worth a darn. And that hurts the yanks big time. Second... Tiger's been helped a lot by Steve Stricker. That doesn't help either. The two biggest stars for the U.S. to this point are Stewart Cink and Jeff Overton. Bubba Watson's played well... Furyk and Fowler did their job.. Mahan is strong as well. And when you factor in that Dustin Johnson has laid an egg to this point... it makes things a little dicey for Sunday's singles line-up.
    I figure we're looking at a 4-2 European win in the session they'll complete on Sunday morning... which would make it 8-8 going to the singles. It could be worse for Pavin's team.. but I'm going to guess that a night's rest and the effective "time-out" caused by darkness will slow some of the European momentum.

Strategy Time!!!

So here's how my singles line-up for the United States would look...... figuring it might go down to the last match. And I'm going with guys with "fire".. who can grind at the top. And my guys who I think are the toughest down near the bottom. Hate to say it.. but I'm hiding Phil.





1. Zach Johnson
2. Bubba Watson
3. Stewart Cink
4. Phil Mickelson
5. Jeff Overton
6. Matt Kuchar
7. Dustin Johnson
8. Rickie Fowler
9. Tiger Woods
10.Hunter Mahan
11.Steve Stricker
12.Jim Furyk

Poulter the Lead-off Man?

     My guess is that Monty will put out Lee Westwood very early... perhaps with the Molinari's soon after. He might actually hide Harrington like I'm hiding Mickelson. Look for McIlroy, McDowell, Kaymer and Poulter to be the guys he leans on to decide the cup. Won't be shocked if he leads with Poulter to rile up the crowd.

More Rain.... Same Gear???

    It should be fun... weather permitting. The forecast is horrible. Rain is a near certainty and it's supposed to be as bad as it was on Friday. A Ryder Cup going to Monday would be a shame... let's hope Pavin has the right touch... and the right rain gear!