European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald did a strange thing by leading off with foursomes, in the opinion of many pundits, including Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.
It’s the first time since 1993 that the European team has chosen to open the Ryder Cup with foursomes rather than fourball.
“It’s pretty simple really, we feel like as a team, statistically, we are stronger in foursomes within our team than we would be in fourballs,” Donald explained of the decision. “Why not get off to a fast start? That’s it.”
Chamblee, speaking on Golf Channel’s “Live From,” called it “a mistake.”
“It is very important to win the first session from a momentum standpoint. But it’s significantly more important to lead after the first day. If you go back to 1997 to present, starting with fourballs allowed them to end with a strength on the first day, and mostly they’ve dominated in the foursomes,” Chamblee argued. “If you win the first session, you win the Ryder Cup about 60 percent of the time. But if you win the first day, you win 70 percent of the time. So in one fell swoop, he’s potentially thrown away a 10 percent chance, which is a monumental advantage given to the European side, and I think that’s a mistake.”
For all their success in the Cup, the Euros haven’t led after an opening session since 2006. But in the last four Cups at home, the Euros have bested the Americans in the foursomes format by a score of 22.5-9.5.
It’s early but there is a lot of blue on the board – all four matches at present – so maybe Donald knew what he was doing after all. — Adam Schupak
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