Ryder Cup Outdated!!

[Andru]

There will be a few who don't agree here but frankly I thnk the Ryder cup is an outdated competition.

The format is great, the competition can be good, The sportsmanship, we'll say suspect. 5 of the top 10 players in the world won't be there. 3 of this years major winners won't be there. It's shaping up to be a bunch of mediorce golfers competiting for really nothing.

The best team is the international team and they're relegated to the Presidents cup. Which no one gives two craps about.

The PC is going to go away for two reasons 1) The Americans are going to get tired of playing evey year. The lustre wears off after a while, 2) Once they start moving this event to some other countries like Korea, Japan, SA etc etc. You're going to hear some grumblings about travel, time and fatigue. Then you'll see the better US players pulling out.

The ryder cup lends itself perfectly to very exclusionary nature of golf. You don't belong in this competition because you were not born in the right country, You don't belong in this club becuase you don't earn enough money, you don't belong in this club becuase you are not the right sex, Golf says you don't belong too much. It's time golf moved into the modern society.

Davis Love. "It's like the olympics" No it's not DL3. It's not like the olympics. The olympics welcomes everyone to compete. The Ryder Cup. DOES NOT!!

The sad part about this and a much bigger joke is the solheim cup for the ladies. They have an opportunity now to do something the ryder cup cannot. Welcome everyone. They won't, and it's even worse because if they solheim cup were run today. 12 of the top 20 players in the world would not be allowed to compete. 7 of the top 10. That's a joke and it's now obvious why no one cares about the solheim cup.

Wow that's twice today it muist have been the late hockey game last night.

Cheers

[Sakuraba]

? I just do not agree. Look at the Ryder cup thread, look at how Hank Hill looks forward to this as his favourite sporting event.

I agree the exclusionnary nature of the event could be better, but it is still very exciting nonetheless.

To me, it is close to my favourite golf event of the year (or every alternate year)

I think to the player today, the Ryder Cup is very close to a major. There are some very intersting matchups each year, and personally for golf entertainment value, I rank it just behind the Masters and the Open

[broken27]

I fail to see how the Ryder Cup is exclusionary (in the bad sense) because it doesn't allow women... It can't allow women because they don't play in the same league. That's like saying that the Renegades should be allowed to send players to the Pro-Bowl.

I will agree that the Europe/USA format is a bit of a no-no. I'm sure it was set up this way when South Africa, Australia, Mike Weir, Japan, Korea etc did not boast the tremendous talent they do today. It needs to be updated to either PGA (American Tour) vs. PGA (everyone else) or something that doesn't keep people out based on nationality.

I still enjoy the Ryder Cup more than the standard weekly tourney, but not so much as the Masters or US Open or Championship. Not a big fan of the British Open, because the courses usually don't look very nice on TV.

Dan

[Andru]

I can understand why you thought I was implying women should be allowed to participate in the Ryder Cup. I wasn't very clear. I was just giving examples of how golf, at times can be very exclusive. And the Ryder Cup is a leading candidate.

I think there are three teams. USA, Europe, ROW. There has to be a system where all three can claim the cup at some point.

Like I said in my original post. I like the format and the competition. I dispise that the rest of the world is excluded from this because way back when... We didn't have the golf talent we have now. Things have changed. Even the Masters have changed the qualifying standards to reflect the international talent that doesn't have an opportunity to compete in the US.

I'll watch only because I love golf. But Saturday and Sunday. I'll be playing not watching. I wouldn't miss Sunday at the masters for anything.

[jvincent]

I agree that the PC is kind of lame and it is a shame that a lot of good golfers can't compete in the Ryder.

Does anyone remember how they managed to change the "rules" to allow all of Europe in on the the team instead of just the UK?

[Hank Hill]

It's unfortunate that some of the best players will not be competing, but that is what the presedents cup if for.

Maybe this i sthe answer:

The holders (Europe this time) play USA and if say USA win then next years event will be USA vs ROW and if USA win again then they play Europe in the subsequent year, or if ROW win then they play Europe and so on. It would create some nice rivalry but i'm not sure how they would decide where to host the tourney.

[mberube]

I think there are three teams. USA, Europe, ROW. There has to be a system where all three can claim the cup at some point.

I agree. I have been playing in the Intersectionals for the past two years. It is my favourite time of year for golf. Even qualifying is exiting. Intersectionals are a 4-team format. Why cant the Rider Cup do the same thing. America vs Europe vs ROW. Granted Intersectionals is match play only but there is a possibility to incorporate of formats.

[mberube]

but i'm not sure how they would decide where to host the tourney.

The winner should host the tourney! The more you win the more you play on home turf.

[Andru]

Maybe this i sthe answer:

The holders (Europe this time) play USA and if say USA win then next years event will be USA vs ROW and if USA win again then they play Europe in the subsequent year, or if ROW win then they play Europe and so on. It would create some nice rivalry but i'm not sure how they would decide where to host the tourney.

This is a great idea. The longest any team will have to go without playing would be 2 years. The US and Europe has to wait two years anyway. There's no loss for them. This would allow the int team to play a meaning full event. Think about losing in 2004. Then you have to wait until 2006 to get it back. And you may have to beat a different oppenent. You could go 4 years without Europe and US playing each other. Think of the mystery and build up when they do meet. It's like the World Series before Inter-League play. This would be inclusive, great for the game and produt buidling for the professional Tours around the world. So you know won't happen. :shake

Cheers

[powerlefty]

One solution from a competitive standpoint would be a 3 year cycle - yr 1 Ryder Cup EUR vs USA; yr 2 Pesident's Cup INTL vs USA; yr 3 "NEW CUP" EUR vs INTL.


This way every team would play every other team whereas now the INTL and EURO teams do not meet. It would keep the USA from getting burned out because everyone would only compete 2 out of every 3 years. Based on the world rankings, the teams would all be fairly balanced form a talent standpoint.

The downside is money. The NEW CUP would have trouble bringing in the $ and TV revenues since there would be no US presence and the US networks wouldn't care about it

[LobWedge]

Actually there's a plan in the works to introduce a third tournament that would exclude the US and pit the EU against the ROW. It's called the Chairman's Cup and it's the brainchild of Terry Mathews (Newbridge/Alcatel)

I know for a fact that there would be a lot of interest here. I hope it comes to life.

[Farzin]

Why not have North America, Europe and the rest of the world playing for the cup?
all three play aginst each other and the team with most wins "points" takes the cup.
Europe , North America
North America, Rest of the world,
Eroupe, Rest of the world.

[golfmania]

I tned to agree with you Andru. The Ryder cup, as much as I like it, is too exclusionary. Like I said, USA vs the world...solves everything. Since other countries champions, like Korea, have to travel to the US for good purses anyway, have it the way it is now: either hosted in Europe or the USA.