Team Europe golfer Justin Rose hits his tee shot on the third hole during a practice round of the Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Score prediction: Team Europe, 15½ – 12½
Odds: Team Europe to win by 1-3 points (+350); Team Europe to win (+100)
A few weeks ago I was sitting with Lanny Wadkins, whose 18 total overall match victories are the most by any living player on the U.S. side, when he said something that stuck with me:
“When we come play Ryder Cups here, we play the best venues. We go to Whistling Straits, we go to Bethpage Black,” Wadkins said. “In 1977, we went to Lytham & St Annes. We’ve never played another great venue over there since, and it’s disappointing that we haven’t. I think they do that because they know we know those great venues from playing Open Championships, but we never get to go play the others.”
Damn Euros. Hiding their courses in plain sight.
But Lanny has a point. Familiarity certainly helps and in a competition as emotional as the Ryder Cup, that home cookin’ will prove the difference between two evenly matched sides.
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