{"id":34,"date":"2023-09-25T08:57:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T08:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/?p=34"},"modified":"2023-09-25T08:57:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T08:57:33","slug":"a-look-at-the-week-ahead-in-golf-must-watch-viewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/25\/a-look-at-the-week-ahead-in-golf-must-watch-viewing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at the Week Ahead in Golf: Must-Watch Viewing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Looking for something to watch this week? The Ryder Cup offers magnificent viewing opportunities not to be missed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, the main golfing event that hits our screens is the Ryder Cup; there will also be some analyzing and soul-searching looking at the Solheim Cup play. They are essential viewing for golf fans but also full of enough duffs and tap-ins to reel in even the most disinterested sports fan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Zach Johnson and Luke Donald get into the groove at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, the ladies have lived their best life at the Finca Cortesin; with both games played in Europe this year, events are looking tight. The Europeans got a home win (again), while the 50 states are tasked with ensuring that the Ryder Cup stays in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ryder Cup: History<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Samuel Ryder, the founder of The Ryder Cup, was born in Lancashire, UK, in 1858. One of five children born to a seed grower, Ryder became the unintentional founder of the Ryder Cup by sponsoring several golf tournaments and matches from Verulam Golf Club in St Albans, close to his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam and his brother James took a keen interest in the sport. They could indulge their hobby with the proceeds of their seed-selling-from-home business until it became a serious occupation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Samuel Ryder has a blue plaque bearing his name on the office building at 27 Holywell Hill, St Albans, and the first Ryder Cup was played a year after his death and in his honor on the 3-4th June in 1927, the first at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts and the rest, as they say, is HISTORY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 44th Ryder Cup: Runners and Ryders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 44th Ryder Cup is the charitable highlight in the PGA calendar; set against the backdrop of the controversy with the LIV series, this year\u2019s Ryder Cup is set to be a belter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Captain Zach Johnson, Vice Captains Steve Stricker, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples, and Stewart Cink are stepping out for the USA. The automatic qualifiers are Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Max Homa, Xander Schauffele, and Scottie Scheffler. The <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The captain picks include Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The boys representing Europe start with the captain, Luke Donald. The vice captains are Thomas Bj\u00f8rn, Nicolas Colsaerts, Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Molinari and Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Olaz\u00e1bal. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, and Robert MacIntyre are the automatic qualifiers, and Luke Donald\u2019s picks are Ludvig \u00c5berg. Tommy Fleetwood, Nicolai H\u00f8jgaard, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, and Sepp Straka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now you know who is who, which players will sprinkle the green with gold dust, and what player will pick up the booby prize?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking Hot at The 44th Ryder Cup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Team Europe is seeking revenge after their disappointing 19-9 loss in 2021 at Whistling Straits, while the Americans are eager to break the 30-year drought of winning in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not easy for the Ryder Cup Captain to avoid controversy when selecting his wildcard picks, and two of Johnsons have come under significant scrutiny. Brooks Koepka\u2019s inclusion means that LIV Golf has a representative; while tensions surrounding LIV Golf have eased somewhat in recent months, some players aren\u2019t happy with Koepka as one of the wilds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson is looking past Koepka\u2019s LIV choice because Koepka finished just 29 points behind Schauffele\u2019s 9450.269 points total for the sixth and final automatic spot, considering that LIV golfers can only earn qualification points through the Majors. Koepka\u2019s outstanding form was evident when he finished runner-up at The Masters, winning his fifth major title at the PGA championship. As a result, it was an effortless decision by Johnson to select Koepka for his fourth Ryder Cup appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the Europeans, Donald is the man entrusted to lead the European team\u2019s defense and protect the home-soil streak. While the Englishman was not the first choice to lead the team, the PGA called him to replace Henrik Stenson as captain following Stenson\u2019s participation in the LIV golf series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald will want to prove that the Europeans have made the right choice. With his seventh straight-ride appearance, Rory McIlroy will lead the team in Rome as the most experienced European player. The team will almost certainly look to him for guidance, primarily as he supports the four debutantes, Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka, Nicolai H\u00f8jgaard, and Ludvig Aberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of The Masters champions Jon Rham and Viktor Hovland will ensure the team has a  2023 major winner and one of the game\u2019s top players. Hovland\u2019s Impressive record, finishing no lower than tied 13 and winning two PGA Tour events in August alone, makes him a valuable asset for the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, with no clear-cut winner and some beef in both camps with live golf defectors, this year\u2019s 44th Ryder Cup will make for exciting viewing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relive The Solheim Cup <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Andalucia, Spain, hosted The Solheim Cup, and the European team captain, Suzanne Pettersen, led her team to victory. To date, the Americans have won 10 times and the Europeans 8, with Pettersen charged with maintaining the win; this year, the Solheim Cup was exciting to watch. If you missed it, you can catch the highlights here with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking for something to watch this week? The Ryder Cup offers magnificent viewing opportunities not to be missed.  This week, the main golfing event that hits our screens is the Ryder Cup; there will also be some analyzing and soul-searching looking at the Solheim Cup play. They are essential viewing for golf fans but also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4,10,7],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-golf","tag-rydep-cup","tag-solheim-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}