Oh How the Mighty Are Fallin'

Everyone and his aunt have a theory of why American superstars are anything but at the Ryder Cup. And of course, these guesses are all rubbish. I admit, I have no idea why Tiger continues to play poorly in this event. He certainly knows how match play is won... he has six straight USGA match play titles to prove that. It's not that he doesn't care... he is way too much of a perfectionist to not care about his less then impressive record. And please don't tell me that the pressure is just too much for him... whatever is the root cause, this I just can't see.

The other superstars... exactly who would you have in mind? Lefty? Sure he's the "people's player" and obviously very good but his icon status has less to do with his game and more to do with his cult following. DiMarco may be the Clay Aiken of the PGA but, that in itself explains the problem.

Furyk may be short off the tee and Toms may be short on the tee, but both are simply fantastic players. Clearly neither are what you'd call dominating, but they play smart golf. Verplank and Zach Johnson probably won't be winning American Idol anytime soon, but these two could easily continue to play spoiler to the Euro squad.

Who knows what might happen if Capt. Lehman took a look at the-Torrance-book-of-gutsy-plays and gaveTiger, Lefty, and Aiken the afternoon off. Those "2nd stringers" have big-time game and can't wait to prove it.