Ryder Cup. Why we keep loosing

American and European Team Psychology.

Every time America looses the Ryder Cup, the loss is followed by endless puzzled discussions by top sports analysts as to why a star-studded golfing team, packed with the top players in the world, including Tiger Woods, keeps loosing by such a wide margin to a European team of lesser stature.

There are two strategic reasons for the losses and several tactical ones, which when added together provide the variables that make it so difficult for the analysts to come up with a clear-cut answer.

It might be of general interests for Americans, both golfers and non-golfers alike, to share in this analysis as to why these losses against Europe are almost inevitable - as it might help to give us all some added perspective on the existential gap that exists between the American psyche and our cousins across the pond.


The first and most obvious strategic reason for the losses is the simple fact that European players, on both the European and American circuits, are always consciously representing their own country as well as themselves. The Euro-Union aside, the ancient history of European conflict is ever-present in European sporting competitions. Americans golfers on the other hand only play on our own country's more lucrative professional golfing circuit and consequently only represent themselves 99% of the time. They are simply not accustomed to carrying the extra burden of their country men's expectations around the course with them.

The second strategic reason is a little more subtle and may cause some controversial argument among us. But ever since America bragged that it won both World Wars for Europe, that more recent piece of history has served to make Europeans temporarily drop their own national differences and unite themselves against America in any competition. This factor goes beyond sports into international politics and business competition as well. As far as WWI and WWII are concerned the attitude in Europe is that they fought themselves to a stand still and lost millions of soldiers, before America entered the fray for clean-up operations. Though there is no real rancour about our boast, as all of them are grateful for the final victory, the underlying will of the sons and grandsons of European soldiers to prove to us how wrong we are, is very much part of the European psyche and is a significant factor in their sense of unity when they pit themselves against us.

So the net problem in trying to over-come our strategic handicaps in order to win the next Ryder Cup is in how to solve the problem of individual brilliance striking out against team unity.
The obvious answer is to make sure we pick American players who have plenty of over-seas experience, carrying America around on the shoulders when they play. And maybe get our president to publically give more credit to Europe about the wars and their contribution towards world stability than we currently do.

Now the tactical errors.
As four out of the five matches in Ryder Cup competition are regulated to pairs competing against each other, I think it is a mistake of pairing the best two of our players , and the next best two and so down the line, in order to ensure strong anchor teams. The basic psychology we should avoid here is that if you put two equal players together they tend to rely on each other. On the other hand if you put the strongest with the weakest, the strongest tries to stays strong and the weaker guy tries his best to prove he is just as good. Thus, from a tactical viewpoint, as captain, I would pit my own pairs against each other, with the expected result (seeing as how both of our men are stronger than either of the two European players) the opposition will naturally tend to come in third and fourth.

A team needs a recognized leader on the field. In this last Ryder Cup, Tiger, as the most experienced Ryder Cup player, was naturall picked to lead. Not to detract from his sense of social empathy, Tiger is the penultimate individual. His will to win comes from being a black man in a what is arguably the most elite of rich white men's games, and showing the world what being a champion is all about. Personally, I think that until he eclipses Jack Nicklaus's world records, he will remain focused as an individual. So we need to be more circumspect when we try to find the player who might be the most effective team leader, and not simply choose the strongest player. Inspired leadership in the field is what team work is all about, especially when the chips are down. Finding the right one is never easy.

On the general World front, I believe American citizens needs to gain a more holistic view on how the World views us. More of us should to try and travel abroad than we do at present - and try to gain a beter perpsective on our role as super-power by getting to see ourselves as others see us and not as we think they do.