‘Sleeping with the enemy’ and lying Fred Couples? BEST lines from Ryder Cup Day 4

Editor’s word: The Ryder Cup, after final being performed two years in the past, is now simply sooner or later away. But that’s additionally 24 hours. And 1,440 minutes. The level being, the biennial matches are as shut as a par-3 — however but really feel as far-off as a brutally lengthy par-5. The second hand can appear caught till Friday. 

And then there are the press conferences. They, too, can largely drag. After all, there are solely so some ways to slice a golf ball, double-pun supposed.

But there are tasty morsels. 

So, beginning Monday, as a way to get us to the second when balls are in the air, we’ll provide a spotlight or two. They may be technical. They may be insightful. They may be emotional.

They may be technically insightful, emotionally stated. 

They may embrace quotes about “sleeping with the enemy,” Fred Couples, “gladiators,” like Thursday’s. 

(And should you’re fascinated with highlights from day three, please click on right here. And should you’re fascinated with highlights from day two, please click on right here. And should you’re fascinated with a spotlight from day one, please click on right here.)

Day 4 at Marco Simone was pairings day. At the opening ceremony, we discovered who’s taking part in whom, and afterward, the captains and gamers had been requested about the matchups. The proceedings had been shorter right now — the captains’ press conferences lasted only a half-hour mixed — however we learn each phrase, together with when:

Luke Donald was requested about ‘sleeping with the enemy’

Yep. 

Here was the trade:

“Sorry to hit you with this on the eve of the tournament, but following exhaustive investigations, it’s come to our attention you’ve got an American wife. And the phrase ‘sleeping with the enemy’ comes to mind. So I just wonder how tricky is it going to be this week for you? I wonder if you talk in your sleep.”

“Not tricky at all,” Donald stated. “My wife’s parents were born in Greece. She has a lot of strong European roots, and my number one fan. There’s quite a few guys on our team that have U.S. wives. It’s really not a problem. They are 100 percent behind us.”

“She wants Europe to win?”

“Of course.”

Noted.

Zach Johnson was questioned a couple of knowledge service, then he had questions 

Johnson and Donald spent a lot of their classes going over the whys and hows of their opening-session picks. Did they have a look at present type? Yes. Did they have a look at friendships? Yes. Did they have a look at cohesiveness? Yes. Did they have a look at knowledge? Yes. Would they preview future classes? No. In brief, little was revealed regarding workforce technique, unsurprisingly so. 

But we did be taught that Johnson had by no means heard of 1 service. Here is that this trade, began by a reporter:

“Just on the idea of navigating the analytical models, when you come to a situation where the Twenty First Group put out some of their data today and they said that J.T. [Justin Thomas] and Thomas [the reporter likely meant Jordan Spieth] wouldn’t rank in the top 100 most optimal partnerships, in terms of navigating the objective and subjective, would that be a non-negotiable for you, or how much of a factor would that be?”

“I’m sorry,” Johnson stated. “Can you slow that one down? I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be rude.”

“The Twenty First Group …”

“The Twenty First Group?” Johnson requested. 

“… put out some of their data today.”

“Twenty First Group,” Johnson stated.

“Yeah. It’s a statistical — it’s a data company. They used to do data for Team Europe previously.”

“I am so confused right now. The Twenty First Group, what does that mean?” Johnson requested. 

“It’s just a data, analytical company.”

“Oh, it’s an entity,” Johnson stated. 

“Yes.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Johnson stated. “Now I’m with you. The Twenty First Group.”

“So considered one of the items of knowledge they put out right now was that when [Spieth and Thomas play together, they wouldn’t rank in the top 100 most optimal partnerships.”

“They would or would not?” Johnson asked.

“Would not.”

“Hmmph,” Johnson said.

“So I was wondering how much of that would have been an inference in your decision?”

“Well, they’re not part of my consulting equation, so I don’t have a comment other than more power to the Twenty First Group because I don’t have any idea how they go about figuring out their work,” Johnson said. 

“I’m sure they’re highly qualified and a lot smarter than me and probably listen a lot better than me because that’s evident too. I don’t know.”

Johnson was asked whether Fred Couples was lying 

Notably, the American duo of Spieth and Thomas were not among the Friday morning groupings, though apparently vice-captain Fred Couples had said at one point that they would be, along with the other three team sessions. 

To that end, in the press conference, a reporter asked Johnson this:

“Zach, lighthearted question, but Fred Couples famously said that Cameron Young would definitely be on your team, and he said this week that J.T. and Jordan would play all four sessions. Are you just using him to spread disinformation?”

The question drew this response:

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t believe everything Fred says,” Johnson said, laughing.

Donald was asked about Wyndham Clark’s thought on his team

A day earlier, Clark noted that he had not played since the Tour Championship last month, which was a contrast to a more active schedule from most of the European side — and Clark wondered whether “they might be maybe a little mentally fatigued as this week goes on.”

Spicy, right?

A reporter wondered about the comment.

“Yesterday Wyndham Clark was claiming that recent lack of action for the American players would give them more energy, and Europe could well be dying on the hill Sunday because your players have played a lot more recently. Does he have a point that you could well be fatigued come the last day, or just how much energy and how pumped are you and your team?”

Donald did not take the bait. He answered calmly. 

“We’ve talked about this for months, about this being a tiring week, a big week on a golf course that’s quite hilly,” Donald said. “The weather, perfect every day, but it’s warm, and that saps your energy as well. That’s certainly a thing I’ll be thinking about.

“Am I going to play a lot of people five times? Probably not. We’ll have to see how the few sessions go on early, but certainly the thinking and the preparation and the planning for making sure that on Sunday hopefully you have 12 guys that are ready to go because there is 12 points on Sunday. We know that.

“The first two sessions are important, but you still have a lot of points to play on Sunday, and you want people fresh enough. I would say my guys are sharp and ready. They’ve been in competition quite a lot, and sometimes that can be a big benefit as well.”

Johnson went in-depth about dealing with negativity 

Every so often, you can leave a press conference with a tip. Consider this exchange, started by a reporter:

“Zach, 20-plus years playing this game, there’s a lot of negativity, a lot of negative thoughts over shots over anything, except Webb Simpson, I think. As a captain in quiet moments, have you battled any type of such negative thoughts?”

“Can you elaborate on that?” Johnson asked. “I guess I don’t understand.”

“Nervousness, thinking what could go wrong, worried about things like that as you get ready for a tournament, for a round, or whatever, any type of negativity that you battle as a golfer?”

“Yeah, again, I’m human,” Johnson said. “It’s natural to have negative thoughts. Certainly I’ve had them. At the same time, I think I’ve got the mentality of being able to understand those things in a pretty quick and efficient manner, and I can flip a negative thought, negative premise, notion into a positive pretty quick.

“The way I — dumb example is you play golf, and man, you shot 71. Could have been 68. Why wasn’t it 68? Well, it’s because of this. Well, now I know what I’ve got to work on, and that’s a positive. I’ve figured out what allowed me to shoot that number.

“When it comes to things like this, I’ve learned so much in my vice-captainships, from my current vice-captains who were captains before me, and I know — I mean, I’m at peace with whatever comes my way. Again, I can’t stress that enough. I’ve learned a lot. I know I’m going to make mistakes, but when it comes down to it … everything is very thorough.

“We know it’s not a perfect science. There comes a point when you’ve just got to let your thoroughbreds run, and I think we’re at that point, but I’m confident in the approach we’ve had up to this point.”

One last quote 

We’ll end things this way. It’s fitting, only because everyone is so close to the Roman Colosseum.

Donald was asked this: 

“Luke, are your 12 players your gladiators, and are they ready for the fight?”

“I would say they’re very fearless,” Donald said. “They’re extremely good golfers. We’ve had a great few days together. The atmosphere in the team room is fantastic. Everyone is in good spirits. They’re motivated. There’s a lot of good energy. Everyone feels like they’re playing well. So I’m very excited.”

One more day to go.

Editor’s note: To watch the press conferences of the captains, please click here.