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USA team take to the stage
The are dressed in sombre dark suits. Zach Johnson is wearing a blue and white striped shirt whereas white shirts seems the order of the day elsewhere in both team and vice captains.
Lots of videos of talking heads so far
No-one has appeared on stage yet apart from our host and the singer. The latest set of videos does has some golf interspersed with the talking heads.
This has been very video-heavy so far. We are now being introduced to the USA side not in person but by video.
The ceremony is underway
We start with a brief introduction from host Mellssa Satta, who seems to be wearing a jacket a least one size too large for her and then we have some live music. The live music at this opening ceremony is being provided by singer-songwriter Tom Grennan.
Live music has crept in to the staging golf tournaments, a process accelerated by LIV Golf. The Solheim Cup opening ceremony had a Queen tribute act, and players were welcomed on the tee with their own song. Did feel for some poor soul out on the course just about to hit their putt when a blast of music settling over a putt only to have a burst of music drift across the course.
Tiger conundrum
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The USA side has announced that Tiger Woods will be at home during the Ryder Cup, but available for consultation by the captain. On the face of it, this seems bonkers. The captain has five vice captains, 12 players and 12 caddies to consult, but instead he has an arrangement whereby he can ask advice of someone who isn’t there, hasn’t been part of the team meetings, hasn’t watched the practice rounds, hasn’t… etc etc.
Maybe Zach Johnson has no intention of phoning him, but Tiger Woods has to be part of the narrative somehow, part of golfing patriotic America dealing with the legacy of Tiger Woods The Ryder Cup golfer. However way you to try to dodge it, USA had, in Tiger Woods the best player of his generation. But they also had someone seemingly so focused on individual success that playing for his country failed to inspire him. Certainly he did not do that well at it.
He played in 8 Ryder Cups and USA lost 7 of them. In terms of his own matches, he played 37, won 13, lost 21 and drew 3. Or put in another way, he won 39% of the points available to him. By way of comparison, in those eight Ryder Cups, in the games not involving Woods, the…
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