THE STARTER SHACK
Watching Paul Azinger's ridiculous attempt at a high five at the 2002 Ryder Cup gave us a g@d d#mn seizure. Watch this thing, it's like watching a goat make a collect call in a phone booth.
🎬 Did Paul Azinger star in a Hollywood Blockbuster?
🧐 Paul Azinger's zinger of a high five
🔥 Keep your deft touch on fire with this handwarmer
💰 The Moneyball of the Ryder Cup
PGA TOUR
The Good, The Bad, and the Worst High Five...EVER
First tee jitters; nothing like questioning your very being while a group of dandies quaff their drinks on the clubhouse patio disdainfully watching your hosel rocket into the woods.
Enter Ryder Cup pressure. It’s another beast wholly unto itself.
While the Yanks and Euros aren’t chasing a paycheque, clearly competing for your country has these guys more nervous than a virgin at a prison rodeo.
Sometimes with this nervous energy leads to spectacular shots/results:
- Seve’s 245 yard 3-wood bunker shot on the 18th in 1983
- Nick Faldo’s hole in one in 1993 (one of only six ever in Ryder Cup history)
- Near hole-outs to win matches (Lanny Watkins (1983), Jamie Donaldson (2014))
- Colin Montgomerie going undefeated in his career in single play
Other times lousy shots/results abound under this heightened scrutiny:
- Mark Calcavecchia’s four hole meltdown at Kiawah in 1991
- Fred Couples shanked 8-iron to lose his match in 1989
- Jay Haas popping up his tee ball less than 100 yards in his Sunday match in 1995
- Hunter Mahan laying the sod over on his chip in 2010, missing the green from 10 feet
- Ben Crenshaw broke his putter in 1987, used a wedge or a 1-iron to putt the last 12 holes (what’s a 1-iron? Some sort of torture device?)
The duress can also result in questionable decisions/reactions from those involved, leading to some great rivalry moments:
- Paul Azinger & Seve - 1989 Singles as well as Team events in 1991
- Paul Azinger & Nick Faldo - from 1987 Open to 1993 singles match
- Seve vs. Everybody - the man irritated opponents and players he captained!
As Gentle Ben once said, we’re gonna leave y’all with one thought, then we’ll leave...
The Ryder Cup has also produced, bar none, the worst high five ever when Paul Azinger holed a bunker shot on 18 in 2002 to extend his match. This makes Tiger Woods “high five” with Steve Williams at the 2005 Masters feel as regal as Seve and his brother shaking hands in Augusta’s 13th fairway after reaching the green in two.
Buckle up folks! It’s the greatest non-major week in men’s golf... Ryder Cup Week!
GIMME
- Statistics lead the Euros: what are probably the most interesting conversations during the Ryder Cup is Padraig Harrington and his team of statisticians. Who should be paired with who, who should tee off on what hole, how to play each hole...there is a team of people in Padraig's ear telling all of this. It's a real-life version of Moneyball. Wait, no, Moneyball was real life. So this is real life, imitating art, which first imitated real life.
- Team Europe Apparel Switch: Team Europe had a last-minute apparel switch for the Ryder Cup. It's a very sly move that they hope will bring the US fans to their side.
- Ian Woosnam loses it on Koepka: the stout man from Oswestry had a few choice words about Koepka. Good thing Woosy won't be at the Ryder Cup, Koepka would require security to keep his diminutive foe at bay.
- Every single turning point: you know there's that moment in your game where you have that one shot that turns everything around and you go on to shoot your best score ever? Us neither but apparently it happens...to people who are much more talented. Here are the 18 most definitive turning points in Ryder Cup history.
- Westwood is a turd: or at least that's what one US fan referred to him as. Westwood comes into the Ryder Cup as a sage 48 year-old with over two decades of experience at this event. He made his debut at 24 and the rest of his story here...
- A new winning tradition: Thomas Bjorn had his backside inked with the winning score of his Ryder Cup Team and now...apparently...Harrington has agreed to do the same. We were going to get our D Flight Club Champ score inked on our back but 107 just doesn't look good.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Patrick Cantlay on why Europe keeps winning (full article at Golf Digest)
"So I've read a few gin books. Let's see if I get it right. If you play enough gin hands a one or two percent difference in skill translates to almost an assured win over many, many, many hands of gin. But you could have a big difference between somebody, maybe a 60 to 40 percent skill level difference, and gin is still chancy enough to where you could play ten hands and lose six or seven of the hands than someone that's much worse than you skill-wise."
PIC OF THE DAY
"So you're sayin' there's a chance?!"
When watching all these old Ryder Cups we had a Deja Vu moment when we saw Paul Azinger and that straight-across-the-forehead haircut.
WITB
This is a Ryder Cup "Punchiron".
Now correct us if we're wrong but is a Punchiron the 15th club in the bag? The one you use to punch out of the rocks, off the cart path, smack it on the cart path after a four-putt, the one you pull out of your bag and throw when you shank your "actual" iron?
Is that what a Punchiron is?
GOLF GEAR
Keep Your Mitts Warm:
G-Tech will keep your fine fingers warm and nibble so you can ensure your deft touch around the greens doesn't get marred with too many three-putts. Or worst yet, laying the sod over your ball from 10 feet off the green like our good (not so good) friend, Hunter Mahan.
If it makes Mahan feel any better, we witnessed not one, but two double hit chips in two days. The world is on tilt people! ON TILT! Anyway, handwarmers, they're the bee's knees.
*not a sponsored post
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Today's email was brought to you by: Nolan Filipenko & Colby Johannson
