Bagging rights

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Ben Curtis received a text message Tuesday. It read, “Go Europe.”

It was from his regular caddie, Andy Sutton. And it was meant as a needling joke. Curtis is playing in his first Ryder Cup this week and his caddie, an Englishman, is rooting for Europe. That’s why Sutton isn’t on the bag for Curtis this week, although he did have the job when Curtis won the 2003 British Open. They didn’t want to have even the appearance of mixed allegiances. So Sutton stepped off and was replaced by Tony Navarro, Adam Scott’s caddie.

Curtis and Sutton have been having fun with the whole idea. When the Ryder Cup began to look like a possibility, Curtis told him, I can’t have you caddying for me. And Sutton responded, I can’t work for you. They gave each other grief but, deep down, they knew they weren’t totally kidding.

“He said he’d do it if I really wanted him to, but it would be better if I found an American,” Curtis said recently.

So their badgering will continue this week. Curtis answered Sutton’s text with this: “Go bother a European player.”

They’ll be back together next week at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Asked how their reunion will go, Curtis grinned saying it would depend upon the Ryder Cup’s outcome.

“It’ll either be a middle finger or a big hug,” he said.

(Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

At the Ryder Cup, No Experience May Trump Bad Experiences

There’s a reason “EXPERIENCE” is the first thing we list on our resumes: It matters. Experience is where we’ve been. It’s what we’ve done. It’s who we are. It’s a “massive asset,” England’s Lee Westwood said today at Valhalla.

Westwood was speaking of Ryder Cup experience, and he should know, having amassed 15 1/2 points in five Ryder Cups. But what if a player has only losing Ryder Cup experiences in his back pocket? Or, worse yet, only drubbings? (See the Team USA members of 2004 and ’06.)

What’s that kind of experience worth?

“Anybody who has played Ryder Cups in the last 12 years, I mean, we've lost five of the last six Ryder Cups, so most of their experiences are bad experiences,” U.S. captain Paul Azinger said last month. “So it’s not like experience is going to be a great help.”

Zinger wasn't just yapping. He went on to award three of his four captain’s picks to players without a lick of Ryder Cup experience: J.B. Holmes, Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker. It’s better to have no Ryder Cup memories, Azinger seemed to be implying, than a scrapbook full of bad ones.

Westwood today took the discussion a step further, noting that to gain experience, you, well, need experience. “There might be a rookie on the American team that’s just made for the Ryder Cup, really raises his game for that situation. We’ve yet to find out,” he said. “I think it may be the same on our team. We've got four rookies and they might settle in quite easily. Who is to say Justin Rose isn’t going to be an unbelievable Ryder Cup player and never lose a match? So you never know all of these things.”

Which has helped make the Ryder Cup the game’s most consistently compelling drama. Even in blowouts, it’s great fun seeing which Ryder rooks can weather the pressure -- and which fold like Origami. 

“These guys have all withstood a lot already to get here,” Stewart Cink, a four-time U.S. Ryder Cupper, said today of the American debutantes, who also include Ben Curtis, Anthony Kim and Boo Weekley.

“I think being a first time Ryder Cupper in 2008 is maybe quite a bit different than it was in the ’80s or the ’70s because there are so many big tournaments around the world. Golf is scrutinized more than ever before, and the Ryder Cup is just another event of which you have to really perform well. So they are tested. The six guys that are on our team that have never played the Ryder Cup before have a lot of experience in other ways.”

Just look at their resumes.

Curtis could be the key for the U.S. Ryder Cup team

One of the major differences between this year's Ryder Cup and those contested in 2004 and 2006 is that Europe will be the prohibitive favorite. Not only will Tiger Woods not be playing for the U.S., but the European team is also stacked with both experienced stars and golfers who seem to be peaking at just the right time. Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson are going to make the visiting team tough to beat.

In some ways they remind me of last season's New England Patriots. The Pats seemed invincible, and after going undefeated in the regular season they rolled into the Super Bowl with talk of destiny ringing in their ears.

So maybe it's a good omen that Ben Curtis, one of the eight players who has already qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, wore a New York Giants logo on his chest Sunday at the Barclays. Curtis turned in yet another stellar performance and tied for fourth. Only a loose approach shot on the 16th hole, which eventually led to his only bogey of the day, kept Curtis out of the playoff with Garcia, Kevin Sutherland and the eventual winner, Vijay Singh.

Aside from Justin Leonard's tie for seventh, Curtis provided Paul Azinger with the lone bright light at the Barclays. After taking the lead on Friday, Steve Stricker's 77 on Saturday did not bode well for how he might handle Ryder Cup pressure. And after shooting 62 in the opening round, Hunter Mahan's 73-74-73 finish was not encouraging either. Phil Mickelson was never a factor, and Stewart Cink missed the cut.

Curtis has quietly been very impressive on some of golf's biggest stages this season. He was the runner-up to Anthony Kim at Wachovia, tied for seventh at the British Open and tied for second at the PGA Championship.

John Huggins, while lamenting the fact that Colin Montgomerie will clearly not be on the European Ryder Cup team, recently wrote in the Scotsman:

We [Scotland] are devoid of golfers good enough to take on an American side that looks mediocre at best.

No one thought that Eli Manning was going to avoid the sack and complete that pass to David Tyree. The Giants shocked us all and beat the mighty Patriots, so who's to say that, with Curtis's help, the Americans can't get it done, too?

(Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)