The Cup They Couldn't Lose: America, the Ryder Cup, and the Long Road to Whistling Straits
(By Shane Ryan)
Read Ebook | Size | 29 MB (29,088 KB) |
|---|---|
| Format | |
| Downloaded | 696 times |
| Last checked | 16 Hour ago! |
| Author | Shane Ryan |
From the moment the first ball is struck at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, Team USA will stand with its back to the abyss, fighting a rearguard action against what could be the worst and most expensive defeat in Ryder Cup history. It's the epitome of a must -- win situation, but it's also something more -- in the entire 93-year history of the event, no American side has ever confronted the kind of pressure that US Captain Steve Stricker's team will face. Starting on the morning of Sept. 25, 2021, those 12 players will compete not just for a Cup, and not just for pride, but to save the reputation of the US team itself. In the Ryder Cup, an exhibition tournament that pits a team of America's best golf talent against Europe's, America has long featured the better individual talent and yet repeatedly has come up short in competition. It's been a desperate fight, and it does not bode well for the Americans that over the last decade they have looked less like a cohesive unit and more like a dysfunctional family.
Remarkably, 1993 was Team USA's last victory on foreign soil. Twenty-six years later and counting, the U.S. has gone winless in Europe, and of those six losses, all but two have been blowouts. Meanwhile, the Europeans have felt no such intimidation away from home: They've gone 3-3 in America, and their 9-3 overall record in the past 25 years has inspired waves of anxiety in their rivals, so much so that the Americans established a Task Force in 2014 to solve the problem. Now, with Tiger having his swing back and America's rising stars -- from Patrick Reed to Brooks Koepka -- proving their mettle on some of golf's biggest stages, 2021 may be Team USA's best chance to win in decades. Following each turn in the action on the green, The Cup They Couldn't Lose will tell the story of how the sport reached this moment, how the US fares under the pressure, and what it means for the drama and spectacle of golf.”
