“Balls in the Air with Charlie Rymer” Podcast Episode 24: Ryder Cup Preview

“The Big Timer” is on location this week, checking in from Wisconsin as Team USA and Team Europe get ready to tee it up tomorrow and kick off the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits! Charlie shares his thoughts on both teams; who do you think he’s picking to win the Cup? Tune in and find out!

 

Balls In The Air Podcast · Ep. 24: Ryder Cup Preview
 

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Charlie Rymer (00:10):

Hi everybody. Charlie Rymer here. Welcome to the Charlie Rymer Balls In The Air Podcast, and you all know what week it is. That’s right, it is Ryder Cup week. And for a lot of people that is the best week of the year in the world of golf. It’s not exactly my favorite. I enjoy it, but Ryder Cup week for me is certainly a lot of fun. I’m a little bit more into the majors than I am into the Ryder Cup, but a lot of people absolutely are all about Ryder Cup. I can understand and appreciate that and this week I think is going to be super special.

Charlie Rymer (00:44):

It’s an amazing venue at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. I’m actually up in the area right now. I am recording this show from downtown Milwaukee, and if you hear a little bit of noise in the background, don’t yell at me or blame me because it’s windy up here. The forecast is actually this week for pretty decent weather, but I can tell you, having played at Whistling Straights quite a bit in my lifetime, it sits right there on Lake Michigan and the wind will blow and believe me, it’s definitely going to be a factor. Got a little bit of rain in the forecast as well.

Charlie Rymer (01:19):

But a lot of great story lines. I though what I would do is just take a look at all the players from top to bottom, maybe in a way that is sort of a heat index and let’s get after it and see what we’re looking at. Obviously 24 players in the field, 12 for each team, and the goal is to win 14 and a half points over the course of the three days of the Ryder Cup. And looking at, again, those players from the ones that aren’t playing their best to the ones that are playing at the best.

Charlie Rymer (01:52):

Let’s start with Bernd Wiesberger. I love that name. I wish I had that name. It sounds like something you order on purpose when you go to your favorite hamburger joint. I’ll have the Bernd Wiesberger. Yeah, that’d be pretty good, a little bit of bacon and barbecue sauce on it, but he is the only player in the entire Ryder Cup that’s not a current member of the PGA TOUR and he really has struggled when he’s come over to play golf in the U.S., but obviously a very talented player. Just hasn’t played his best golf here.

Charlie Rymer (02:23):

And Brooks Koepka. He is coming in a ton of question marks around Brooks Koepka and Brooks just has been dealing with injury after injury after injury. Looked like things were going to get back normal for him, then he messed up his wrist at East Lake. So, just don’t really know what you’re going to get from him. He can play with pain and I get the feeling that he might be the kind of player that really his entire career, he’s going to be dealing with some injuries. You get a guy that’s that big and that strong, goes after it that hard, injuries are going to be an issue, no doubt about that.

Charlie Rymer (03:01):

Tyrrell Hatton comes in, obviously he’s played some great golf over the past two or three years, but he has not played well at all coming in. In fact, he missed his last five starts in events that have a cut and you just wonder how strong he is going to be this week.

Charlie Rymer (03:20):

And Collin Morikawa, who now has two major championships on his resume. Certainly a very talented player. He’s been battling a little bit of a sore back, so a little bit of a wild card there from Collin Morikawa.

Charlie Rymer (03:35):

And Tommy Fleetwood, always a fixture in big events seems like over the past five, six, seven years, and a player who came into his game a little late in the year and has a nice Ryder Cup record going back to the last Ryder Cup over in France where he was 4 and 0, and Fleetwood though, really just hasn’t played his best golf this last year or two. So, interesting to see what we’re going to get from Tommy Fleetwood.

Charlie Rymer (04:10):

Bryson DeChambeau. He’s the man to watch in golf right now, isn’t he? And especially what happened there at Caves Valley where he looked to have been able to pull off the win over Patrick Cantlay, but Patrick hung in there and Bryson just really struggled trying to finish that tournament off and a playoff. And Cantlay was just a bit too much of a bulldog for Bryson. And yeah, just comes in, you obviously got the conflict with Koepka, which is very interesting. And I think it adds a little bit of spice week in and week out on the PGA TOUR, but on the same team in a Ryder Cup where they’re going to be forced to play nice with each other, I just hope for the sake of the competition, they put that behind them, but you just never know how all of that’s going to work out.

Charlie Rymer (05:08):

And then a player who has really come into his own over these last couple of years, you look at Harris English, came off a really long victory drought, and that’s the one thing that surprised me that he could go six, seven years without winning on the PGA TOUR. He’s 32 years old, played his college golf at Georgia, and I’m going to tell you what, he is an absolute talent and it’s just going to be fun to watch his career, especially all the confidence he’s built up here over these last couple of years and see what he does in major championship golf.

Charlie Rymer (05:45):

And then young Scottie Scheffler. I always think of him as young Scottie Scheffler because I met him when he was about 97 pounds and a product of some of the great golfers that come out of the Dallas area, including Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler’s a USGA junior champion, played his college golf at Texas. And you folks have probably heard of the Gatlin brothers, Rudy Gatlin’s a good buddy of mine. He’s been telling me about Scottie Scheffler forever. He tries to take some credit for Scottie Scheffler, but I’m not giving it to Rudy. Every time I see Scottie, I ask him about Rudy, but they apparently played a good bit of golf when Scottie was just tiny, had to run around in circles in the shower to get wet. He’s not tiny anymore. Week in and week out, he is at absolutely the top of leader boards on the PGA TOUR. Looked for Scheffler and Spieth to partner up. They would definitely partner up really well.

Charlie Rymer (06:45):

Matthew Fitzpatrick. He’s 27 years old and I love his golf swing. I spent some time with him interviewing him back when I was on Golf Channel. He’s absolutely delightful. I love that golf swing, it’s like a Rory McIlroy golf swing, it’s just absolute classic. And hasn’t played his best golf in his previous Ryder Cup experience, but a very talented player. No doubt about that.

Charlie Rymer (07:11):

So Dustin Johnson. He’s coming back to Whistling Straits for the first time since the debacle back in 2010 at the PGA Championship. And I remember what happened there in the 18th hole, grounded his club in the bunker. Was it a bunker? I don’t know. You tell me. They’ve got walking referees with every group this year. I went out and looked at it, there’s like 10,000 bunkers out there. It looked like a little bit of a depression, but that ended up costing him a shot at the playoff. And so Dustin might be looking to extract a little bit of revenge from the last situation that he faced here at Whistling Straits.

Charlie Rymer (07:53):

Lee Westwood, the delightful Lee Westwood. He has only missed one Ryder Cup in the last 11. Comes in playing some really, really good golf and he’ll partner well with just about anybody. I’d maybe see Lee Westwood getting paired up with a younger player, and Lee is fit and playing great golf and loves the Ryder Cup. And he’s always got that smirk on his face like he knows something that you don’t know. And as much great golf as he’s played in his career, he’s had some downs too. He probably does know a lot of stuff that you don’t know.

Charlie Rymer (08:28):

Tony Finau. Everybody wants to pair up with Tony. He’s one of the most well-liked guys on the PGA TOUR and got a win in the playoffs there. And if that putter gets even moderately hot, look out.

Charlie Rymer (08:41):

Shane Lowry. I love watching Shane play. Of course, he’s a British Open champion, an Irishman and really struggled for a little bit with his game, but comes in with some form having played pretty well the last six months.

Charlie Rymer (08:53):

Paul Casey. Some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had with tour players over the years have involved Paul Casey. He’s a pro’s pro, he’s really sharp. He’s a really smart guy and amazing game and in the big events, he is always there.

Charlie Rymer (09:12):

Daniel Berger. Young talent, even though he’s multiple-time winner on the PGA TOUR, hard to believe that just a little more than a year ago, he was outside the top 100 in the world. Today, he’s now inside the top 20.

Charlie Rymer (09:28):

Sergio Garcia. Now, talk about experience. In 41 matches across his nine appearances in the Ryder Cup, he got 25 and a half points, and that’s pretty much as many points as the entire U.S. team has won. How about that? And when you start thinking about who Sergio will pair up well with, let’s see, there’s another Spaniard that’s playing some pretty good golf right now.

Charlie Rymer (09:57):

Maybe U.S. Open champion, John Rahm. How would you like to put any two players up on that first tee in either foursomes or four ball, if you’re team USA and look across that first tee and have a look at Sergio Garcia and John Rahm. I think that’d be pretty intimidating.

Charlie Rymer (10:18):

Xander Schauffele. It’s hard to believe this is Xander’s first time on the Ryder Cup squad. And he absolutely has a ton of game, and of course he’s got the Olympic gold medal in his golf bag somewhere and I’m sure he’ll have that with him this week. He gave the medal to his dad to pretty much keep and say, “Hey, thanks Dad for everything you’ve done for me.” But I’m sure maybe Pop will let him tote it around at the Ryder Cup with him. And I imagine you’re going to see Xander Schauffele paired up with Patrick Cantlay and that’s going to be a pretty strong team.

Charlie Rymer (10:53):

And Viktor Hovland. Love watching Viktor play golf, still a really young player and just love his attitude, just love watching him operate. I like watching the pros play that seem to really enjoy getting out there. That’s not always the case. Some pros will play angry. Viktor Hovland plays happy. Don’t take the fact that he’s being happy with, confuse it with not being a fierce competitor, because he certainly is.

Charlie Rymer (11:21):

And Justin Thomas, been a little bit of an up and down time for him these last two or three years, but he’s really a force to be reckoned with. Permanent fixture (not permanent, nothing’s permanent in golf), but he’s a fixture in top 10 in the world for quite some time to come.

Charlie Rymer (11:37):

And McIlroy, I still say, I always have, I’d rather watch him drive the golf ball than anybody on the planet. And a little bit on this golf course, this a big, mean, tough golf course, seems like they all are these days, but this one in particular, that really is the truth especially with a little bit of wind up, which we’ll get and Rory really unleashes it. Love watching him drive. It should be a nice fit for him, unless that wind gets up really high. It’s unusual for an Irish player to not be real comfortable in a ton of wind, but he hasn’t played his best golf when there has been a lot of wind and the setup of the golf course, those fairways will be wide, the rough’s going to be down a little bit. That’ll probably benefit Rory as much as it will the U.S. team.

Charlie Rymer (12:19):

And Ian Poulter. What can you say about Ian Poulter? Ian Poulter in his lifetime, and this goes back a while, he’s never going to have to buy himself a pint anytime he’s in the UK. He’s just a Ryder Cup hero. He was built for Ryder Cup. And it’s not necessarily anything about his game, although he is a great putter, but he’s a great putter in big moments. Some people just have a knack for match play. They can take it to the next level in the biggest moments, and that’s what Ian Poulter does.

Charlie Rymer (12:47):

Patrick Cantlay, who’s been on my radar for quite some time, comes in. He’s won everything this year, all the money. He just won everything except a major, and believe me, those are coming and Patrick Cantlay, the more people find out about him and what he’s gone through in his life, the ups and downs, I think really learning to respect him a good bit more. He’s a fierce competitor. Jamie Mulligan from out on the West Coast, a great teacher who’s been working with him. John Cook, my buddy, has spent a lot of time with Patrick and he was raised and born and bred to do what he does right now, which is play wonderful golf. And it’s going to be interesting to see how many major championships he finishes with. That’s a tough thing sometimes to say, “Oh, this player’s going to win multiple majors,” but I’m going to be surprised if he doesn’t win at least a couple of major championships in his career.

Charlie Rymer (13:47):

And then Jon Rahm, who’s already doing what a lot of us thought he would do, watched him come out of school at Arizona State and just fighting his own. That golf swing seems to get quicker and quicker, doesn’t it? And it just does not get off track though and loves a big moment, so I’m a little worried about Jon, the fact that he played last week on the West Coast, he was dealing with some stomach issues, but I’ve heard he is been back in, lifting weights. So apparently that’s behind him. He [inaudible 00:14:19] out there in Napa.

Charlie Rymer (14:20):

And then not surprising, we get to the bottom of the list on the heat index. And we find Jordan Spieth back in the winner’s circle again, playing some wonderful golf, ironing things out. Super, super dangerous in match play and with his short game, you can never count him out. I don’t know that the length of this golf course is going to help him, but the creativity that’s required around the greens most definitely will be a factor.

Charlie Rymer (14:53):

And then just a quick word or two on our two Ryder Cup captains. You’d have to get up really early in the morning, in fact I don’t think you can get up that early, to find anybody ever say anything wrong about Steve Stricker. He’s just one of the neatest guys that’s ever played the game, universally respected, and he loves Wisconsin. He’s Wisconsin through and through. And to be a Ryder Cup captain on home soil where he grew up, the home soil obviously for the U.S., that’s a really neat situation for him.

Charlie Rymer (15:26):

And then Padraig Harrington, I’ve really enjoyed the few times I’ve had a chance to have a conversation with him. You’re not going to find anybody to say anything bad about him either. He’s universally loved and respected. You might find some people say he’s crazy, but who isn’t who’s played this game for very long and played it at the highest levels?

Charlie Rymer (15:47):

And don’t forget, both these guys still play some great golf. Harrington slid in there and had a top five at the PGA Championship at Kiawah. And Steve was playing some regular golf, both on the PGA TOUR and PGA Tour Champions and competing quite well. So they’re both playing some wonderful golf right now. Of course, they get supported very well by their vice captains, but two great guys. And it’s a thankless job because if you think about it, if you try something a little bit different and it works, you’re a genius. If you try something a little bit different and you’ve got great reasons for it and it’s well thought out and you got PhDs backing you and all this and it doesn’t work, then you’re an idiot. And if your players play well and win, you don’t really get much credit. The players get the credit for it. If they don’t play so well and lose, then you get all the blame.

Charlie Rymer (16:36):

So it’s a tough situation being a Ryder Cup captain. And of course, I guess that’s true with a lot of things in life, but it definitely will be a fun week. I, in particular, like watching the foursomes play more than anything. You can call it alternate shot, that’s what it is, and got to get players that really communicate well and pair well together. You got to put a little bit of thought into which golf ball you’re going to use, because the golf ball that you tee off with is the golf ball that you have to finish. A lot of times players are using different varieties of golf ball. That may be a long time ago. Well, not that long ago, 10, 15, 20 years ago might have been a little bit bigger deal than it is now, but it’s certainly something to consider.

Charlie Rymer (17:23):

So it’s going to be a very interesting Ryder Cup. I hope it’s a spirited competition. I hope the fans enjoy it. I hope the fans don’t get too over the top, which is something that sort of rears its head a little bit from time to time in our game. But we’re looking for a spirited competition, a lot of fun, maybe a few arguments every now and then will be all right too, but nothing that just really crosses the line. We’re golf. That’s what we do. We have great competition, we argue a little bit, and we have a controversy, it might be a big deal for us, but that controversy in any other sport wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

Charlie Rymer (18:03):

And even the Brooks Koepka situation with Bryson DeChambeau, that’d be fun to keep an eye on, but I’m guessing that they have an agreement to put whatever differences they have aside at least for this week. And who knows? Hopefully they’ll keep that under wraps for quite some time. I remember, go back, Phil and Tiger used to get into it a little bit and not a lot of love lost there, but it’s my understanding now that they’re both really good friends.

Charlie Rymer (18:37):

So folks, enjoy the Ryder Cup, know it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m guessing it’s probably going to come down to some key matches on that final day, which is Sunday. Have a lot of fun with it. And I appreciate you joining us right here on the Charlie Rymer Balls In The Air Podcast. And remember, we’re based in beautiful Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and I tell people, if you’re interested in traveling to play golf, and I don’t care if you’re going to Myrtle Beach or anywhere else in the world, you better do your planning in advance because more people are playing this great game right now than I can remember in my entire lifetime. And we’d love to have you in Myrtle Beach, but get over there to PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com, and make your arrangements early because don’t think you can wait to a week out or even a month out and get the golf courses and the arrangements that you want in Myrtle Beach or anywhere.

Charlie Rymer (19:23):

So, keep playing golf, keep enjoying it, enjoy the Ryder Cup, and we’ll be right back here with you next week on the Charlie Rymer Balls In The Air Podcast.