NAPA, Calif. – Welcome to U.S. Ryder Cup team training camp.
U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley has 10 of the 12 members of his team at the Procore Championship, the kickoff to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall season. None of those 10 players have to worry about retaining their card for next season, which is primarily the main goal for the rest of the field this week at Silverado Resort’s North Course.
These 10 Ryder Cuppers are here for a boot camp of sorts — to dust off any rust that may have accumulated over the past few weeks since the Tour Championship concluded on August 24 — and to bond as a team.
Two years ago, in Rome, only two members of the U.S. team had played at this event, which was then known as the Fortinet Championship. Max Homa went 3-1-1 and Justin Thomas 1-2-1 while Brooks Koepka, who played in a LIV event the week before had a record of 1-1-1.
The U.S. was swept in the first four matches to start the biennial competition against Europe and never recovered, getting whipped 16 ½ – 11 ½.
Meanwhile, all 12 members of Europe competed in the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship that same week. This year, 11 of the 12 will be there minus Sepp Straka who is home tending to a newborn child.
Was the U.S. team rusty after more than a month-long layoff between the Tour Championship and Ryder Cup?
Wyndham Clark, who was a member of the losing 2023 U.S. team, showed up for last year’s Procore Championship ahead of the Presidents Cup and gave this explanation for doing so.
“I mean, I would never prepare for a big event where I had five weeks off between one tournament to the next. I really do — I played actually in that round with Max in the best ball the first day. We — like through four holes I said, ‘Man, I’m sorry,’ because I kind of was not playing good the first four holes. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not tournament sharp right now, I’ll get into it.’ Then eventually I started getting more comfortable,” Clark said. “But for sure, I felt like a lot of us weren’t prepared. … I think we should all play before. I know we have such a grueling schedule and we all just played the Tour Championship, but it’s one more week to play and to keep us sharp so that we can win, I think it’s worth it.”
There’s sound logic to what Clark says but, on the flip side, four years ago, no Americans played in Napa before the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and the U.S. routed Europe 19-9.
Nevertheless, the U.S. team appears to have learned its lesson — there are worse places to spend a week than wine country, after all — and it is here for these training days, which just as importantly also serves as a chance to experiment with who may play together. On Monday, Ryder Cup caddies walked the course together. Might Sam Burns, Cam Young and Collin Morikawa be part of a pod?
On Tuesday, Harris English paired up for a practice round with Morikawa under the watchful eye of Keegan Bradley. Next up: Scottie Scheffler with his Presidents Cup partner Russell Henley and J.J. Spaun with vice captain Gary Woodland. Behind them were Burns, Young, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, whose usual partner in team competition, Xander Schauffele, is sitting out training camp after the recent birth of his son, Victor.
Bryson DeChambeau, the other American Ryder Cupper who isn’t playing this week because of his LIV Golf ties, will be at a team dinner that Bradley is expected to host Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, all 10 team members will be in the tournament pro-am between 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET playing in 10-minute increments.
Three vice captains – Woodland, Brandt Snedeker and Webb Simpson – are in the field this week while Jim Furyk and Kevin Kisner will be on site but not playing.
As NBA great Allen Iverson once said, “We’re talking practice?” Yes, indeed.
It’s Fall training camp season in men’s professional golf. In the no-stakes battle for a golden trophy that means everything to its competitors, it speaks volumes that the U.S. Ryder Cup team is devoting an extra week of team prep to play in a $6 million purse event in order to gain any edge on its competitors who are hoping to achieve the same across the pond at the BMW PGA Championship.
Read the full article here
