6 lingering questions about the Ryder Cup: Haircuts, Tiger and tie-dye

We have formally arrived at the ready recreation portion of the Ryder Cup calendar. There was the months of qualifying, the weeks of captain’s picks angst, every group’s scouting journey to Rome and now, the ready recreation. For this week and subsequent, questions persist, as just a few American group members compete on the West Coast, and whereas each European teammate performs at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. 

While you wait out this part of the calendar, may we first recommend diving into the Solheim Cup, which kicks off subsequent week in the south of Spain. That competitors is likely to be even tighter than what we see in Italy. But for the Ryder Cup-inclined, the ready recreation is a time of questions, a few of which is able to and gained’t get answered over the subsequent 20 days or so. Here are six such questions lingering in the background forward of the Cup:

How many 5-match horses are there? 

Can you think about telling Jon Rahm he wants to sit down a match? During the yr of our lord 2023, by which he gained the Masters, performed higher golf than 99.9999% of professional golfers ever have, and absolutely will waltz to the Player of the Year award on the PGA Tour? That’s the factor — you may’t.

Rahm is one among the European horses whom you may depend on enjoying 5 matches. Rory McIlroy is, too … most likely? He sat for the first time in his RC profession throughout the Saturday afternoon session in 2021. Viktor Hovland is unquestionably a 5-match man, however after these three are there any ensures? Likely simply Scottie Scheffler on the American aspect. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, in the event that they win their foursomes match 5&4 on Friday morning, will possible turn out to be 5-match horses. But the American depth doesn’t make it apparent.

Having horses is vital, however solely three gamers performed each match at the 2021 Cup: Dustin Johnson, Rahm and Hovland. Then-Euro captain Padraig Harrington believed it was vital to not have many gamers concerned in each session, to assist save their power for the Sunday singles. But, once more, are you going to inform Rahm he wants to sit down? We may very well be in retailer for a Cup that mimics 2018, when six gamers performed each session.

Who will get a haircut?

This is extra vital than you assume, given a part of Europe’s roster insist on going hatless throughout this occasion. But early content material from the group observe classes in Rome present some ‘dos that I might definitely do with out. And it makes me surprise if there are any changes in the works. Because the Ryder Cup just isn’t too totally different from weddings. There are three-piece fits, gala robes, a ceremony, the after-party, cigars, champagne — the listing goes on. As a end result, there are numerous, many photographs. The sort that stay on without end.

Brooks Koepka has clearly gone months and not using a haircut, and we’ll permit that largely as a result of he and his spouse simply welcomed new child child Crew to the world. I belief BK will trim the hedges earlier than the large photoshoot that’s the Ryder Cup, if just for the cause that of the few podcasts Koepka has appeared on, one was along with his barber. Brooks enjoys his hair.

Sam Burns will get much less of a cross. It will not be a full-blown mullet that he’s rocking proper now, however it’s definitely mullet-adjacent. And the reality is, we’ve already bought sufficient mullet in professional golf. Here’s hoping Sammy will get it clipped neatly earlier than arriving in Rome. 

Will Brooks Koepka play nicely?

Speaking of Koepka, it’s not outrageous to surprise how he’ll play. He made this American group on the again of performances in April and May. We’ll toss in his high 20 at the U.S. Open in June (at a course he didn’t favor) for good measure. But ever since July began, there have been many extra common rounds than nice ones. The pattern measurement of performances is small, to be clear, however August Koepka was decidedly worse than world-beating, April Koepka. 

So, what does late-September Koepka seem like? Probably nonetheless fairly good, I’d assume. He calls LIV occasions “tune-ups” for the larger tournaments, and coincidentally has a LIV occasion the week previous to the Ryder Cup in Chicago. If that doesn’t go nicely, we’ll have far more to speak about. 

Why the tie-dye?

The uniforms Team USA has made public are, in a phrase, typical. They are similar to uniforms of the previous — there’s a hoodie, darkish blue polos with massive stripes and hats with dominant U.S.A. lettering. The white, knit sweater with purple and blue bordering stripes has nice potential. Especially if worn in a very saggy method by swashbuckling shot-maker Scottie Scheffler. (Say that 5 instances quick.) But in addition to that, the uniforms depart loads to be desired. And that vibe was solely made worse when Zach Johnson debuted a tie-dye hat throughout his group’s preliminary go to to Marco Simone. 

This ain’t it. It’s simply not. Tie-dye is nice for summer season camp creations and possibly NBA pre-game entrance matches. But the Ryder Cup? The premier occasion in the whole professional golf world? Where execs and their companions get dolled up in formal apparel for opening ceremonies? We don’t want tie-dye. We don’t need tie-dye. 

Take one have a look at the European unis, debuted just a few days after the Americans. White on white on white. With some auburn accents, if something. Simple and clear and elegant. Exactly what the Ryder Cup wants. Here’s hoping the tie-dye will get left behind.

Is Tiger in the group chat? 

Barring a wild shock, Tiger Woods is not going to be at the Ryder Cup this yr. He wasn’t at the final one, both. But he was with the American group…digitally. It turned clear through Xander Schauffele that Woods was actively speaking with members of the group through textual content, providing encouragement from his sofa in Florida. 

“We had a nice message from Tiger last night, and obviously not going to reveal what it said, but Pat and I know,” Schauffele mentioned after one other victory with Patrick Cantlay. “We referred to it a few times today, and we knew what we needed to do.”

We’ve seen group chats band Ryder Cup groups collectively in the previous, however is there an American chat that Tiger Woods is getting concerned with? One step additional, will he be calling in pairing ideas to captain Zach Johnson? 

“He is, for lack of a better term, on call with us,” Johnson mentioned. “He is very much in the know as to what we’re trying to do.”

How lengthy is just too lengthy for a gimme?

This is my favourite recreation that apparently Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry love enjoying, too. How many ft for a gimme putt is just too many ft? Recall that one among the official distinctions handed out at this occasion is the Nicklaus-Jacklin Award that goes out to a participant on every group who greatest demonstrates sportsmanship and “embodies the spirit of the Ryder Cup.” It was impressed by the well-known concession between Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin in 1969, whereby Nicklaus conceded a two-footer to Jacklin on the seventeenth gap at Royal Birkdale, guaranteeing the remaining match would attain the 18th.

For higher or worse, the understood — or misunderstood! — size of a gimme putt has turn out to be a headline-making machine in current group competitions. Look no additional than the 19-9 beatdown at Whistling Straits, when Thomas, Lowry, and even Bryson DeChambeau all used their putters as measuring gadgets close to the gap after being pressured to make quick(ish!) putts in 2021. Lowry talked about it afterward, acknowledging the chippiness lingering in the air throughout tense matches.

“For a start Bryson Dechambeau’s putter shaft is about four feet long so it was definitely not a gimme,” Lowry mentioned. “Justin Thomas did the same thing and then I did the same thing but purely because Justin Thomas did it. They made me hit a putt from literally 18 inches on the 1st so I did the exact same thing as Thomas did just because I was annoyed with the picture I’d seen of him that morning.”

Thomas was concerned in comparable mocking efforts at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia, in addition to throughout his singles match at the 2022 Presidents Cup in North Carolina. That’s three-straight group occasions for J.T.’s antics. Is he enjoying thoughts video games? Will we get him to lastly make clear how lengthy a gimme putt needs to be? Maybe we’ll get a solution by the finish of Rome, however I’m not relying on it.