Bleacher Report: Why Has Team Europe Dominated Team USA at the Ryder Cup?

By Art Spander
Featured Columnist

GLENEAGLES, Scotland — Losing is the great American sin. A Harvard-educated author of young adult fiction, John Tunis, said that first. Losing is what America has done in the Ryder Cup.

With Tiger Woods. Without Tiger Woods, who is not on the team that this week in the rolling countryside of Perthshire will face Europe. With a deficit going into the last of the three days of play. With a lead, as was the situation last year at Medinah

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Bleacher Report, Inc.

SF Examiner: 'Graveyard of Legends' has new victims after 2012 U.S. Open

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Tiger Woods didn’t have a chance. Either did Jim Furyk or Graeme McDowell. Or Ernie Els. Not at Olympic Club.

Not on the Lake Course. Not in a U.S. Open.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 SF Newspaper Company

Newsday (N.Y.): Rory's next test comes at Royal St. George's

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SANDWICH, England -- The British Open this week returns to the course where Ian Fleming carried a handicap of 007 -- well, 7 -- where canines and females both were refused access; where France is visible across the Channel; and where Rory McIlroy is going to find out what it's like to be his sport's newest celebrity.

Royal St. George's is where Tiger Woods lost his opening tee shot in the rough in the Open of 2003; where Jack Nicklaus shot an 83 in the second round in the Open of 1981; and where a streaker darted out of the crowd only to be tackled by Peter Jacobsen at the 72nd hole in the Open of 1985.

When the wind blows, and Saturday it was around 20 mph, St. George's might be the hardest course in the Open rota. Unquestionably, it is the most southern, about 75 miles from London.

McIlroy, the reigning U.S. Open champion, will find out how it suits his game this week, and he hasn't played a competitive round since his overwhelming victory at Congressional.

McIlroy showed up at least twice at Wimbledon and jetted to Hamburg for last Saturday's Klitschko-Haye heavyweight championship fight.

"Some people may have wondered why I chose to go straight from one major to another, without anything in between,'' the 22-year-old McIlroy said this week. "The answer is simple. It's because of what happened at Congressional and the way it became such a big deal.

"I wanted to get everything out of the way and sorted, so when I did start playing again, I could just concentrate on golf.''

But Graeme McDowell, McIlroy's more experienced countryman and winner of the 2010 U.S Open at    Pebble Beach, and three-time major champion Padraig Harrington said just receiving congratulations is a huge distraction. Colin Montgomerie, captain of the 2010 European Ryder Cup team which beat the United States, seemed worried about the same thing.

"He's so natural, I don't think there are any fears about his game,''

Montgomerie pointed out, "but it's the locker room. Whether it was the French or the Scottish Open, he could have got that out of his system and out of the way so he can start the Open afresh.

"Now he's got that ahead of him and on the first tee, I think he will be mentally tired -- but who am I to say?''

While McIlroy was climbing the ladder of stardom when he won the U.S. Open, the last British Open at St. George's in 2003 produced one of the biggest "Who's he?'' champions, Ben Curtis of Ohio. He was a rookie then and benefited from back-nine failures by Woods, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III and Thomas Bjorn.

If that sounds like the plot of a James Bond novel, Bond's creator, Fleming, became a St. George's member in the late 1940s. In "Goldfinger,'' where Bond takes on Auric Goldfinger and his evil "caddie,'' Oddjob, Fleming named the course Royal St. Marks, but descriptions of various holes -- especially the fourth, the "Himalayas,'' with a bunker as big as a swimming pool -- are identifiable.

There used to be a sign near the entrance, "No Dogs, No Women,'' but ladies are now permitted.

So are American pros, although the English press has spent the week going after Bubba Watson, following Bubba's oafish remarks about France and the Alstom Open there, referring to the Arc de Triomphe as "The arch I drove around in a circle,'' and other such comments.

A writer for the Daily Telegraph said Watson had the "aesthetic appreciation of Ronald McDonald,'' and joined the gloating on this side of the Atlantic because Americans are winless in the last five majors.

The most recent was the U.S. Open last month at Congressional, where McIlroy of Northern Ireland -- part of Great Britain -- set records and golf on its ear.

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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/rory-s-next-test-comes-at-royal-st-george-s-1.3015127
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Donald tops Kaymer in Match Play final

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

MARANA, Ariz. — He majored in art at Northwestern and has his own name on a California wine. The image of Luke Donald, enhanced by his proper English accent, was that of a man who played golf less for the competition than for the
exercise and enjoyment.

“I’ve been depicted as someone happy contending, picking up checks, but doesn’t really care about winning,’’ said Donald after he picked up $1.4 million, the biggest payday of his career, for winning the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship yesterday. “And that’s about as far away from the truth as it can be.’’

In a final delayed by a hailstorm and played on fairways that had been covered by an overnight snow, Donald, 33, was as far away from finals opponent Martin Kaymer as he needed to be. Donald not only won 3 and 2 against Kaymer, the “Germanator,’’ at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, in the winter wonderland foothills north of Tucson, he climbed to No. 3 in the world rankings.

Kaymer became No. 1 on Saturday when he won his semifinal. Since Englishman Lee Westwood is at No. 2 and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell is No. 4, it is the first time since 1992 that no American player is in the top four. Tiger Woods dropped to fifth and Phil Mickelson to sixth. Both were eliminated early in the championship.

Donald’s play this week was unprecedented in Accenture history. He became the first never to trail in any of his six matches. Yesterday he went 3-up on Kaymer, 26, in the first five holes. Donald let the lead get away by the ninth but regained it with a birdie on 11. Not once in those six matches did Donald get to the 18th hole. In the 89 holes he played, he recorded 31 birdies.

“It feels amazing,’’ said Donald, who has homes in Illinois and Florida and mainly plays the PGA Tour. “I had a bit of a monkey on my back. I hadn’t won in the U.S. in five years.” Not since the Honda in March 2006.

Donald said he doesn’t consider himself a modern player, meaning peers outdrive him by 30-40 yards and he must compensate with his short game.

“I think he’s probably the best in the world around the greens,’’ Kaymer said. And the whites, after the hail smashed down. “It was testing,’’ Donald said of the weather. “It was bizarre.’’

With the site contract at an end, the Accenture might not return to a course at 2,700-feet elevation. The tournament moved here from La Costa, north of San Diego, because of rain. Where it might go now is a question. There’s no question, however, where Donald wants to go.

“I feel my work ethic is as good as any player out here,’’ Donald said. “I work  very hard trying to keep getting better. Winning is what it’s all about.’’

It certainly was in the Accenture.

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http://www.newsday.com/sports/golf/donald-tops-kaymer-in-match-play-final-1.2718355
Copyright © 2011 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Global Golf Post: Chevron Event Has Special Meaning for McDowell

By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA -- It was at the Chevron World Challenge a year ago that Graeme McDowell was given a chance to jump-start his career, and, as noted by his journeys and his successes -- a U.S. Open champion is forever -- he has no plans on stopping.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post