Golf
Matt Cooper, Special to ESPN.com 7y

Ryder Cup -- One year to go, and Europe has it all to prove

Golf

HEDDON-ON-THE-WALL, England -- While Team USA takes on the Internationals in the Presidents Cup this week, across the seas a scrum of Europeans with one eye on next year's Ryder Cup compete in the British Masters at Close House Golf Club.

In many ways it is no different to any late September week in an odd year, the halfway point in every Ryder Cup cycle. But this time it is different. With 365 days to go until the 2018 match at Le Golf National in Paris, Europe appears, for the first time in two decades to have genuine reason to be concerned.

Next month, Europe's 2018 captain Thomas Bjorn will be joined by American counterpart Jim Furyk in an official One Year To Go celebration that will include hitting shots off the Eiffel Tower. The prevailing mood seems to be that Furyk ought to be the more confident leader and Bjorn the more worried, a situation that seems to have arisen almost out of nowhere.

Europe, remember, has won the past five Ryder Cups played at home and eight of the past 11 matches in total. Its dominance in recent times has been sustained and brilliant. Had the team won last year -- as many observers on this side of the Atlantic predicted -- it would have triumphed in seven of the past eight stagings. It was a perceived imbalance which had some concerned about future American interest in the match and a rare win for Uncle Sam was perhaps no bad thing for the long term.

Ahead of Hazeltine 2016, many Europeans were mocking the American team. The vice-captaincy of Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson was deemed laughable, the ongoing saga of Phil Mickelson's Tom Watson outburst at Gleneagles in 2014 was apparently divisive, and the return to Davis Love III's captaincy was desperate.

Turns out none of these things were correct. The USA won by a hefty score of 17-11. The tables had been abruptly turned. Suddenly Europe looked at the future and feared the worst.

Is it justified? Or is it actually just typical of the Ryder Cup, an event which thrives on partisan discussion?

It is true that, on the one hand, the European team's current state seems a little scary. The core strength of the team has struggled this year (Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose and, since his win at The Masters, Sergio Garcia). Paul Casey has been superb -- winning aside -- on the PGA Tour all year, yet continues to be ineligible. Ian Poulter has had a renaissance, but not one so overwhelming that he looks like qualifying for the side at a canter.

Few would be concerned by the prospect of Jon Rahm debuting as a rookie, but the rest of the team is likely to be made up of more first-timers and players with experience solely of defeat at Hazeltine.

When the subject was introduced to a group of Ryder Cup diehard fans during the first round at Close House -- supporters who had trod the mud of Celtic Manor and Gleneagles, and who are ready for Paris -- they winced and whistled through gritted teeth.

"It's not looking good," one bemoaned. "I'm a bit fearful," admitted a second. "If the Ryder Cup were played this week we'd be in trouble," concluded a third.

But what about the players? Matthew Fitzpatrick, a debutant in defeat at Hazeltine, waved away concerns. "We're a year away," he said after striking an opening 66. "There's no need for fear among our guys. It's true we've got some top guys struggling, but they're world class for a reason and they've proved themselves in the long term.

"For all we know, form could change completely for everyone. Golf is like that. It's exciting to talk about the match this far out, but the relevance of it? I'm not sure."

The naysayers still peer across the Atlantic, their glance settling on the likes of Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. These are not just major championship winners (or in Fowler's case, repeat contender), but friends. Close friends. Buddies.

It was once said that Europeans held the advantage when it came to that very Parisian quality of esprit des corps; it now seems that the Americans possess it in spades. It's a persuasive thought.

Similarly, where once The Presidents Cup was viewed by some as a bit of a drag for the Americans, creating a nonstop diet of team golf, now it is suddenly perceived as an advantage -- the opportunity to maintain the momentum of last year.

Tiger Woods said as much in the blog on his website: "I had a blast doing it [being vice-captain] last year at the Ryder Cup and we have another great captain in Steve Stricker. We tried to keep the band together with Jim Furyk, Davis Love III and myself, and added Fred Couples, to maintain consistency and unity."

Suddenly some wonder if Europe might be missing out. The flip side to all of this is related to Fitzpatrick's point; reputations glow and wither at astonishing speed in the Ryder Cup.

Regardless, the stars will need to shine bright next year in France and potential debutants such as Alex Noren and Tommy Fleetwood will need to bloom alongside returning second-timers like Fitzpatrick and Thomas Pieters.

One factor we must never forget is that it has been worse. Oh yes, it has been much worse.

Back in 1981, there was a time when the best corporate sponsorship offer on the table was £100,000 Green Shield stamps. Or, in the language of the modern day, the equivalent of £100,000 on a supermarket loyalty card.

Two years later ABC Sports in the U.S. offered to pay back $1 million so that it did not have to broadcast the match. That is so mind-blowing it bears repeating: They didn't want to cover it.

Today the match is a sporting behemoth, frequently cited as one of sport's most-watched events. That's how much the Ryder Cup has changed. If a bit of fretting about the current strength of the European team is as terrible as it gets, it's not that bad.

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