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Change for the better?

Americans hoping their youth movement will start a winning trend at Ryder Cup

JON MCCARTHY jmccarthy@postmedia.com @jonmccarthysun

Youth versus experience is a battle that takes place in nearly every walk of life, but the result is rarely as clear as it is in sport where winners and losers are so plainly sorted.

That’s the major storyline heading into this week’s Ryder Cup which begins Friday at Whistling Straits golf course in Kohler, Wisconsin.

The Americans, losers of nine of the past twelve, bring a team featuring six rookies that shouts generational change and hopes to put an end to the idea that the always-favoured Team USA has trouble playing with others. This is no longer the team of golf giants Tiger and Phil (although Mickelson will be on hand as a vice-captain and Woods is expected to address the team by video), it is a team largely made up of contemporaries and the youngest and highest ranked American squad in Cup history.

The problem for Team USA, however, has never been quality of player, it’s been that its sum is rarely greater than its parts.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are two of America’s new leaders and they see hope in their generation. On Tuesday, Spieth even pushed back at the term rookie to define several of his, well, rookie Ryder Cup teammates.

“It’s hard to call guys rookies here given the experience they have on the world’s biggest stage in golf, so I don’t really like using that term for these guys,” Spieth said.

Spieth likely was referring to two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, Fedex Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, and Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele. Again, pedigree has never been America’s problem, but Spieth also hinted at a more natural unity inside the always secretive team room.

“It’s a wave where, I was talking with Justin about it, we’ve known everyone on this team since grade school except for Dustin and Tony,” Speith said, mentioning team oldies Dustin Johnson, 37, and Tony Finau, 32.

He forgot Harris English, also 32, but English is probably used to that by now. “I mean, it’s pretty special, so you have a camaraderie, it’s kind of more like a really light setting. Guys have known each other for a long time.”

On the other side is Team Europe rolling out a merry band of Ryder Cup legends that includes, Lee Westwood, 48, Ian Poulter, 45, and Sergio Garcia, 41.

Golf writers the world over have, for years, been trying to uncover the secret to

Europe’s quarter-century run of Ryder Cup success. Former captain Paul Mcginley told me in 2014 at Gleneagles that the magic began with a status upgrade courtesy of Tony Jacklin and a team flight to America on the Concorde. In Mcginley’s opinion, every European captain since has been tasked with sticking to the template and adding their own cherry on top.

“There’s a lot of continuity in our team, and I think that’s been part of the reason for our success,” Rory Mcilroy said on Tuesday. “That’s something that I hope never changes because it’s worked very well for us.”

Brooks Koepka made some waves recently with comments that the Ryder

Cup was hard to get motivated for and that a team atmosphere is a difficult routine to get adjusted to. For Europe, it’s just another aspect of the Ryder Cup that has been passed down through the years.

“I doubt there’s been many as passionate about the Ryder Cup as Seve (Ballesteros) was,” Westwood said. “He was my captain for the first one. You just fed off him, really. With Nick Faldo as my partner, Seve and Nick both held the Ryder Cup in high regard, and just being around them you could see how much it meant to them. Passion for the Ryder Cup was never something that I had to learn or gain.”

Team unity and leadership continuity certainly sounds like a major ingredient in Europe’s special sauce, but it doesn’t hurt that, according to European rookie Viktor Hovland, European junior golfers play much more match play and alternate shot competitions growing up than their American counterparts.

This week’s Ryder Cup is shaping up to be another round in the endless human battle of youth versus experience, but the beauty of sport is that we’ll all have to wait to see the outcome.

“I’m not old, I’m 48. How old are you?” Westwood told a reporter on Tuesday.

“Older than that. Fair enough,” the reporter said.

“Can we use the word mature?” Westwood asked. “No, actually mature doesn’t apply to me, either.”

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2021-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

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