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“When I go in the gym and my trainer says ‘Ryder Cup’ whenever I’m flagging, I get a buzz and I go hard and I go again.” - Matt Wallace on the Ryder Cup motivation after being snubbed from the Europe team. So much I can relate to here.
Ryder Cup Reax: Euro Edition
O CAPTAIN, "THEIR" CAPTAIN
Following the breakdown I did of Kaptain Keegan's Team USA picks last week comes my takes on Luke Donald's selections for Team Europe. Joining Rory, Bobby Mac, Tommy, Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard and Tyrell are...
7) Shane Lowry - Ultimate vibes guy and a scary duo with Rory.
8) Sepp Straka - I can't figure out what I actually think about Sepp. He's always... just... around. People tell me he's good. He finished in the top 10 of the points standings. But like, what does he do? Spiritually he reminds me of parsley in the 90s. For some reason everyone agreed in a certain level of restaurant to put it on the plate as garnish. It was never meant to be eaten. It was always around and you were told that in the right settings, it's actually quite tasty. But ultimately, you finish your burger and fries... and leave it sitting there on the plate. That's Sepp.
9) Ludvig Aberg - My dude FIZZLED this year on Tour with missed cuts in some massive events. But he finally started to find something in a few of the last tournaments and scares the living $#&^ out of me in the Ryder Cup.
10) Viktor Hovland - He's just happy to be here. Where is here? Doesn't matter. If Sepp Straka is parsley then Viktor Hovland is a golden retriever. Crowd killer at Bethpage—who doesn't love this guy??
11) Matt Fitzpatrick - He was 11th in the points standings and without any further research I didn't bat an eye at his inclusion. Then I read that he is 1-7-0 in the Ryder Cup and I do wonder if there was a better option out there.
12) Jon Rahm - Uhoh. Probably the player I miss seeing on the Tour the most. He's an absolute monster and you can just feel how bored and uninspired he is by playing LIV. I expect him to be dialed for this. The louder that Bethpage crowd gets, the more he will feast.
Hard not to be terrified of this team. But I just keep playing the Kevin Garnett clip of him screaming "Anything is possibllllleeeee!!!!!" and I feel better.
Vintage and viral clip alert
WE HAVE TO GO BACK—TO THESE TYPE OF BROADCASTS!
Making the rounds on social this week was a clip of the 1981 Walker Cup broadcast at Cypress Point.
Put simply, it's epic.
Just imagine a golf broadcast today opening with a funky, disco-esque soundtrack. Such a vibe. Then you layer in a proper British man narrating the thing?
And sure, I do love a crisp, high-def drone shot flyover. But there's something so much more grand and monumental when you realize that they flew a helicopter around that golf course to capture the intro.
It makes me wonder whether a retro alternate broadcast would work. We give the Mannings an entire channel and that's basically just hanging out in their basement. Bring me some vibe-y soundtracks, some shakey cameras, only British people narrating with that tin-y sounding microphone, and of course the block letter graphic treatments.
Ping pong challenges and snack hauls
BRYSON'S GETTING SCARY GOOD AT THIS
If you don't follow Bryson, he's been on a heater with the social content. And I'm not even ashamed to admit that I'm into it. He's flat out getting really good at this.
The first video series is him inside his modern art museum feeling home—and I say that less from a classy POV and more from a cavernous, concrete structure that echoes and has no feel whatsoever POV. He's attempting to hit a ping pong ball from the first story into a tiny solo cup on a glass second story walkway. On the first floor in the background of him hitting the ping pong balls is a Bentley that's parked in his living room. When he makes the shot, a lucky winner will get said Bentley. And if that wasn't enough winning, it looks like he's paired up with Underdog Fantasy to give away $100 in site credit whenever he makes a shot into a small square surrounding the solo cup.
Now, if he wins, we all might win. Very Mr. Beast of him.
The second video is Bryson doing a snack haul and showing off the food in his snack bag. It's a shocking amount of Trader Joe's stuff and about thirteen different brands of protein bars. That's the entire video. And I watched every second of it. I EAT FRUIT LEATHERS TOO!
I've written plenty about Bryson's career trajectory already but just another proof point that he's figured out his angle and it's working big time.
Look at Golf Channel getting in the mix
IS THIS THE MATCH I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR??
I can't believe I'm actually saying this again... but I think I might be excited for another made-for-TV golf match.
The newest announcement is from the Golf Channel as they plan to air a special golf event program in December called the Golf Channel Games. (Rough name but I respect the branding.)
Perhaps the most shocking news is that they've already got Rory and Scottie on board. According to a GOLF.com piece, the two mega stars will be team captains and lead their players through a series of All-Star game-like competitions.
EVENT 1—DRIVE, CHIP AND PUTT GAME
Players are timed on how long it takes them to do a skill competition/task related to each of the three titular skills. (For instance, how long will it take to hit 2,000 yards of tee shots.)
EVENT 2—14 CLUB CHALLENGE
Inspired by the DP World Tour content team, this features the two teams using clubs from one 14-club bag. After each is used it can no longer be used again by either team. Whoever finishes closest to the hole wins.
EVENT 3—TIMED SHOOT-OUT
Inspired by the DP World Tour originally and plenty of YT golf stars since, this is a competition where players from one team are stationed across an entire golf hole (tee, fairway, greenside, etc.) The goal is for the team to collectively complete the hole in as fast a time as possible. So one player tees off, the second player is waiting in the fairway for the ball to land and as soon as it stops, they hit their approach. And the third player is waiting on the green to putt as soon as the approach lands.
EVENT 4—CAPTAIN'S CHALLENGE
Rory and Scottie will hit six shots from six locations around a hole and whoever has the least collective distance from the hole will win.
This entire event is so center of the bullseye, wheelhouse to my sensibility. I want to go play this myself somewhere right now.
It's fun. It's different. It's non-traditional golf setups that allow for interesting camera angles and plenty of action. And it's still golf skill related.
No clue who else will be involved with this from a player perspective but I'm sure we will get a series of news leaks here over the next few weeks and post-Ryder Cup.
