A spy at the 2018 Ryder Cup

[RogerTheFrench 55]

As I'll spend the all week at the Ryder Cup, I'll try to give you here some impressions or informations every day

TUESDAY : So here is a quick debrieff of this first day.

USA started from tee 1 at 9 :30, with Tiger, Phil, Reed, & Bryson Dechambeau.
Then Ricky, Justin, Jordan, & DJ.
Koeka, Finau, Bubba & Webb Simpson followed a little bit later.

Tiger was very smiling, and happy to share a few words with the crowd all along the day. He also played a very straight and very secure golf today. He used a lot his long irons from the tee, and touched a lot of fairways. That would be the key on this course.
But that was Patrick Reed who were the most impressive, and close to the flags today.

Behind them, it was a little more complicated for Jordan Spieth. But nothing to worried about too much. I was very impressed by DJ (first time « in real Â») : it's very strange to watch how he could play this course I'm used to play almost every week-end.

Same for Bubba. Best player on course today (with Patrick Reed). He was very abble to shape to ball like he wanted to do. He litteraly destroyed the course, and overpassed every obstacles. Koepka stuggled a bit at the beginning to find the right tempo, then it was juste « straight and long, straight and long Â»

You guys have a very very impressive team… I was expected a lot, but I think I was still under-estimating them.

Europe started from tee 10 at 10AM. Molinari & Noren were the only one playing good golf today. Rory was a bit inconsistent. He was playing with Jon Rahm : maybe they'll start together on Friday.

The others visited the rough all along the day. Especially Garcia….
 

I was surprised by the attitude on our side (I mean my side – EU ;-) ) : the americans were very concentrated and relax, like you need to do ; Europeans were joking like if it was an exhibition (Except for Poulter, who were very focused on his golf today)

As we were leaving the course area at the end of the day, I heard someone tell in the bus “well…Europe would need a miracle”.   
 

[perseveringgolfer 4,803]

thanks for the insight- some pics would be awesome if you can manage it.

 

#NotJealous

[StrokerAce 11,771]

wow... a dream tournament for me.  the course looks spectacular and both teams very very strong this year.  it should be quite close.

 

what's the weather like for the next few days?  Can the wind be a factor?

[MaxEntropy 8,218]

Great report! I'm very jealous.

 

Please update this as much as you can as the week progresses!

 

Sent from my BLN-L24 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[PMookie 17,347]

Gracias!

 

Oops!

 

I mean, merci!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[PING Apologist #9 4,568]

Awesome espionage out there fellow Spy! Keep the info filtering in and l too would like to see some pics if possible. What distance do they have the course set to? Is there a hole out there that you think can be the pivotal one in which we should all watch out for? Are there any pending weather issues?

 

Continuez votre bon travail! À votre santé!

 

(no I don't know French...I cheated...)

[GeekingGolf 1,801]

Awesome report thanks for providing insight...wish I could be there with you

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[excourse 741]

Keep them coming. Your first hand perspective is greatly appreciated.

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[Kenny B 33,485]

Great job!!  It is interesting to hear your perspective rather than the GC analysts.  I'm looking forward to further reports... with pics!!

 

I've heard the the Ryder Cup is a difficult watch in person.  Everyone is crowed around a small group of players rather than spread out all over the course as in a tour event.  Are you following groups, or will you be camping at a hole and watch as players come through.  What's your strategy?

[blackngold_blood 6,885]

This is some nice insight. I really wanted to go 2 years ago when it was in Minnesota but had family stuff come up. I look forward to reading and following along as the Ryder cup is one of my favorite events.

 

I just have one request. If you happen to hear some MORON yell baba booey, get in the hole, or mashed potatoes please slap the crap out of them!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[RogerTheFrench 55]

Great job!!  It is interesting to hear your perspective rather than the GC analysts.  I'm looking forward to further reports... with pics!!

 

I've heard the the Ryder Cup is a difficult watch in person.  Everyone is crowed around a small group of players rather than spread out all over the course as in a tour event.  Are you following groups, or will you be camping at a hole and watch as players come through.  What's your strategy?

 

 

My strategy is always to follow groups. But I have some advantages compared to the crowd. I move very quickly between holes because I know perfectly the course, installations, short-cuts, good spots, etc. And I'm tall :-) 

Thus, you have to understand than most of the french public are not "golf specialists" like you are in the US or in the UK. So they only follow Tiger, Mickelson and Garcia : the 3 players they really know. So the crowd is massively behind them, and that gives you the opportunity to get close to the rest of the players.

But anyway I think it will be very complicated this week-end, especially on sunday. 

 

I'll do my second report tonight, and try to answer the other questions : meteo, course, impressions, pictures..

 

[Kanoito 3,096]

Thanks for the info!

Sergio... SMH...

[kardboard.kid 2,261]

LOVE IT! thanks for taking us with you.

 

Sent from my XT1635-01 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[RogerTheFrench 55]

Wednesday : practice day 2.

Very interesting what I saw today.

It seems than Furyk has a strict "preparation programm” and all the players stick with it. Let me explain:

Yesterday, it was “free golf”. I mean than every players were using their own weapons, their own strategy, their own shots…trying to learn from the course, to enjoy it, and to get a lot of confidence.
But today, it was different. All day I've seen your guys played secure, with long irons from most of the tees, and trying to keep the ball very low on every shots…low draws, ¾ punched-wedges, short grip on irons to control the ball, etc…exactly like if there was a lot of wind (but conditions were exactly the same than yesterday).

That's interesting because wind can be a key factor here. There is always wind on this course (even when there is not in Paris). For the moment, wind is quite calm, but they say it could be strong on Friday. That could change a bit the strategy to adopt.
This year at the French Open (European Tour), Alex Noren manage to win by changing it's strategy to be sure to touch every fairway on Sunday.  Clearly that is something you wanted to test before.

Also, yesterday US players spent a lot on time on greens at each hole to putt from anywhere to every direction. Today, there were more focused on working around the green, chipping in every position, testing lob-shots in the rough, discussing which side of the green they should miss…

Furik's plan is clear. I think he knows he have the best players, and he wants to make sure they'll be ready to face any conditions.

One word about the course now.
It's a difficult course (we used to consider it as the most difficult in France), but the hardest part are the 4 last holes. To be honest, I'm surprised by the fact than rough are not as big as I thought they would be.  I already played this course with a much more higher rough, and I was thinking the course would be prepared “against USA strengths”
But this rough is still a problem, because sometimes it is “normal”, sometimes it has a very high “density”, so players are sometimes surprised by the way the ball comes out (or not)

See you tomorrow. I'll take some pics.

[tony@CIC 22,351]

My strategy is always to follow groups. But I have some advantages compared to the crowd. I move very quickly between holes because I know perfectly the course, installations, short-cuts, good spots, etc. And I'm tall :-)

Thus, you have to understand than most of the french public are not "golf specialists" like you are in the US or in the UK. So they only follow Tiger, Mickelson and Garcia : the 3 players they really know. So the crowd is massively behind them, and that gives you the opportunity to get close to the rest of the players.

But anyway I think it will be very complicated this week-end, especially on sunday.

 

I'll do my second report tonight, and try to answer the other questions : meteo, course, impressions, pictures..

 

Thank you for the detailed report. Your input will not only be much appreciated but better than the news feeds we get!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[Steve2100 224]

What an awesome post roger! I'll look forward to reading them each day!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[RoverRick 1,683]

Roger, thanks so much for your thoughts, I just found this, but it will be the first thing I look for in the morning.

 

I will also say, that I speak a little of 4 languages, not counting English, but your English is awesome. Probably better than mine.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[revkev 25,448]

Wonderful report - enjoy the event!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[Rickp 29,475]

thanks for the insight- some pics would be awesome if you can manage it.

 

#NotJealous

2nd that on the pics

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[808nation 1,789]

Thank you for your insight, your time, and sharing your thoughts on the Ryder Cup. Must be pretty awesome to see some amazing golf from the top players in the world first hand...lucky spy. Looking forward to reading more of your reporting. Have fun as well [emoji41][emoji106]

 

#PowerToThePlayer