When looking at the tournaments around the world of golf on Thursday, Sobel felt that the most impressive round was the 68 that Davis Love III shot during the first round of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. When you consider how busy he was during Ryder Cup week plus the impact of the dramatic Sunday loss to Europe, it is amazing that Love III played at all this week.
The Ryder Cup captaincy takes a great toll on those individuals and in fact, no Captain has won on the PGA TOUR after leading a Ryder Cup team since Tom Watson won a few years after he led the 1993 U.S. team to victory at The Belfry.
Within hours of the U.S. team losing to Europe, many people on Twitter began to play the blame game. He has heard people blaming everything from the decision to making Steve Stricker a Captain’s Pick to the decision to sit Phil Mickelson & Keegan Bradley in the Saturday Afternoon Four-Ball session. A number of people also blamed Davis Love III for his Sunday Singles lineup.
On GolfChannel.com, Sobel wrote an article recently about a variety of myths as to why the U.S. team lost. One of those myths is that U.S. Captain Davis Love III was too nice. That is not the case at all plus the Captain cannot hit a single shot so there is no way that Love III could have personally changed the outcome of the Ryder Cup when he was on the sidelines.
After Rory McIlroy arrived at Medinah just 10 minutes before his Sunday Singles tee time, the reaction on social media was immediate and spread like wildfire. After Steve Sands broke the story on Sunday, the reaction ranged from doubt to shock to amazement and the discussion accelerated quickly. Had Rory missed his tee time and Europe lost the Ryder Cup by one point, the dynamic around Rory McIlroy would have changed completely. He would have been viewed differently by fans and potential sponsors around the world. But thanks to a Chicago state trooper, McIlroy made it to the course on time and was able to defeat Keegan Bradley in his match.
During the European team celebration, many players and wives/girlfriends were more than willing to open the curtain a little for those on Twitter. Luke Donald’s wife Diane tweeted a picture of the champagne bottles that were ready for the team members after they won the Ryder Cup. This kind of inside access is very popular on social media and the reaction will only encourage more such access in the future.
