We have a little over seven months to go until the staging of the next edition of the Ryder Cup but already, as it always does, it is attracting attention due to events both on and off the course.
When Ludvig Åberg won the Genesis Invitational last weekend at Torrey Pines (the traditional venue, Riviera Country Club, being temporarily indisposed due to the hellacious fires that swept through Los Angeles recently), it was the latest victory in a remarkable series of European successes in the early part of this season’s PGA Tour. He was following in the spikemarks of Sepp Straka (American Express), Rory McIlroy (Pebble Beach) and Thomas Detry (Phoenix). Previously, Tyrrell Hatton won in Dubai. Four of those five names were on the European team which prevailed in Rome in 2023, the exception being Detry. It is too early for the captain, Luke Donald, to get over-excited but he will certainly be pleased with what he’s been seeing.
Also hoping to be on the team is 45-year-old Sergio Garcia. He quit the DP World Tour to join LIV Golf but, having paid approaching $1 million in fines which he incurred for doing that, the all-time record points-winner (on either side) is again eligible to add to his tally. There are, not without reason, those who suggest he’s now past it as a Ryder Cup player but his fellow Spaniard, Jon Rahm, said recently: “On any given day Sergio Garcia can hit it tee-to-green better than anybody on the planet. It’s that simple.” That simply sounds like a man who would like him as a foursomes partner.
Rahm and Hatton, of course, are now among Garcia’s companions at LIV Golf. With there being increased expectation of some sort of deal being reached quite soon between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV, it seems likely that the ‘disciplinary’ proceedings brought by the DP World Tour against Rahm and Hatton (who have paid no fines as yet) which have been kicked down the road may vanish altogether if a rapprochement does occur. At the last Ryder Cup the only LIV player involved was Brooks Koepka, then the reigning USPGA champion. He looks certain to have more LIV company this time around.
Finally, a great deal has been written about the likely ‘bear pit’ atmosphere that will be generated by the New York fans at Bethpage in September. All considered then, I might suggest that if some recent remarks by the US vice-president, J.D. Vance, are a harbinger of the way things are heading then by the autumn the notion of Europe being some sort of genuine enemy of the United States may have taken hold to some extent among at least some of the fans in attendance. That and surely the likelihood of President Trump being there – he went to the Super Bowl, after all – might encourage major MAGA support for the hosts. And that’s even before we factor in the beer.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
