42nd Ryder Cup Matches: Le Golf National & Predictions

 If you thought this past weekend which featured Tiger Woods capturing his first win in 5 years was exciting, then are you in for a treat.  This weekend was an appetizer to the most exciting golf tournament in the world:  The Ryder Cup.  It’s hard to believe that this past weekend is going to be topped, but year after year the Ryder Cup finds a way to get bigger and better.  Who can forget last years Sunday’s singles match between Rory McIlroy (riling up the crowd in Minnesota) and Patrick Reed (shushing Rory after dropping a bomb on top of him).

The 42nd matches return to Europe and Paris, France.  Le Golf National will be the focal point of both the golfing and sporting universe come Friday morning.  If you remember Hazeltine National 2 years ago, you are not going to see a similar course this week in Paris.

Le Golf National 

Designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge, Le Golf National is a Par 72 golf course that plays to a modest 7,183 yards.  (RyderCup.com).  While the event is not being contested on a traditional links course and is being played in continental Europe for only the second time ever, the course is going to be setup differently what we last saw at Hazeltine.

Setting up the course is a tricky balancing act.  Yes Captain Bjorn will want to play to the strengths of his European team to give them home course advantage, but given that the majority of his players ?regularly play on the American PGA Tour, what exactly does that look like?

For starters, this course is not going to be a bombers paradise.  Le Golf National features a lot of water that plays alongside the fairway and high grass on the other side.  The opening hole, appropriately titled “En Avant” perfectly demonstrates the theme of this course.

The opening tee shot will require precision - not necessarily distance.  The fairway narrows considerably near the hole.  That Tiger stinger from The Players would be ideal here.  Oh and not only do players have a daunting opening tee shot to face, but this is what will be behind them:

In addition to placing a premium on accuracy, you can also expect to see greens that run much slower than what players face weekly on the PGA Tour - certainly much slower than the greens at the Tour Champonship that were running at a 14 on the stimpmeter.  (Photographs courtesy of RyderCup.com).

Predictions

So who is going to win the 42nd Ryder Cup Matches?  Does Europe win back the cup?  Or does America win it for the first time in 25 years on European soil?

While Europe boasts a strong team with FedEx Cup champion Justin Rose, Champion Golfer of the Year Francesco Molinari, and multiple major champion Rory McIlroy, they also have 3 rookies who have never performed on the big stage of a Ryder Cup.  And while the American team also boasts 3 rookies, Justin Thomas has a PGA Championship and FedEx Cup championship under his belt.  Bryson DeChaumbeau has won 4 times on the PGA Tour.

The American players have also consistently played better in 2018.  Koepka and Reed both boast major championships.  Woods won the FedEx Cup finale.  Spieth and Mickelson have both struggled coming into the event but have a way of turning their game around for this event.

It's going to be close, but at the end the United States of America retains the cup 15-13.

And if you haven't done so already, make sure you check out our other Ryder Cup preview posts:

http://www.bogeysandblue.com/2018/08/the-42nd-ryder-cup-matches-team-usas.html

http://www.bogeysandblue.com/2018/09/the-42nd-ryder-cup-team-europe.html

http://www.bogeysandblue.com/2018/09/the-42nd-ryder-cup-matches-us-captains.html