Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2016 - 24

YOUNG GUNS
BRANDT SNEDEKER
building exercises with the players and
more open discussion with potential
participants. While some of the changes
mirror efforts long employed by the European
teams, it has been a concerted effort
toward wrestling back the Cup from
the Euros at Hazeltine.
" Does this mean we are going to win?
No, we're playing tough competition,''
task force member Phil Mickelson told
ESPN. " But we're going to have a great,
positive, uplifting experience and we're
going to help bring out our best golf. It's
the only way to beat a very strong European
team that already had infrastructure,
already brings out their best golf. "
All the changes aside, it's ultimately
the players who decide the outcome, and
a gradual transformation in personnel
on the U.S. team may have the biggest
impact. The team includes a younger
group of players who relish the opportunity
to participate and don't have all
the scar tissue of the previous defeats.
Already, 22-year-old Jordan Spieth
is emerging as a leader of the U.S. team.
As the 2015 Player of the Year, FedEx
Champion and winner of two majors
last season, Spieth said the Ryder Cup is
a " huge goal " for him in 2016, and his
emotions were already bubbling to the
surface in anticipation of playing.
" We're tired of hearing about changes
that need to be made. We're tired of
hearing about the past, " Spieth told the
Associated Press in January. " And we're
ready to believe in a younger, more hungry
team going forward. "
While the members of each team will
not be named until season's end (the final
U.S. team captain's pick comes after
the Tour Championship-just days before
the competition begins), it's becoming
more apparent who may be teeing it
up in Chaska-and Spieth will certainly
be among them, as he held a big lead in
the Ryder Cup points list at presstime.
Other players that should be at Hazeltine
include Dustin Johnson, who had
one win and two runner-ups in 2015,
and has six top-10 finishes in 2016.
Johnson has played in just two previous
Ryder Cups, 2010 at Celtic Manor and
2012 at Medinah, and his record is 3-3-0.
Bubba Watson, a veteran of the past
22
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2016
ZACH JOHNSON
PHIL MICKELSON
PATRICK REED
three matches, created a stir in 2012
when he whipped the hometown Medinah
crowd into a frenzy as he teed off.
Watson has two tour victories in 2016,
and will bring his 3-8-0 Ryder record to
Chaska, where he will find another raucous
home-team reception.
Zach Johnson also has three Ryder
Cups under his belt (and a 6-6-2 record),
and he should make it to Hazeltine riding
his Open Championship title of
2015 and three top-10 finishes in 2016.
A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Johnson
should have a contingent of friends and
family in the Hazeltine bleachers supporting
his team.
Rickie Fowler, who walked Hazeltine's
grounds for the 2006 U.S. Amateur,
played in the 2010 and 2014 Ryder
Cups but is winless with a 0-3-5 record.
He won two tournaments last season,
finished fourth in the FedEx Cup race
and has five early top 10s in 2016. So he
will be looking to improve on his Ryder
Cup record.
Hazeltine could mark the second Ryder
Cup for Brandt Snedeker, whose
consistency resulted in eight top 10s
(including a win and a runner-up) in
2015, plus first-, second- and third-place
finishes in 2016. He will be jockeying
in the standings with Patrick Reed, a
young gun who paired with Spieth in
2014 and garnered a 3-0-1 record-
and the ire of the Scottish golf fans for
his on-course antics. Plus, J.B. Holmes
(who was unbeaten in 2008 with a 2-0-1
record) vaulted himself into contention
with a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Masters,
and Brooks Koepka moved into the
conversation in late May.
While the old guard likely won't be
represented by Tiger Woods (who is out
with injury and was added as an assistant
captain), Mickelson-a veteran of
10 Ryder Cups-has a chance to make
the team. He hasn't won in the past two
years but had three early top-five finishes
in 2016, and is battling to play in
one more Cup. He'd better make it on
points, though, because Love's picks
could skew younger this year.
www.mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2016
