US RYDER CUP SLUMP
HAS ITS ROOTS IN THEIR
COLLEGE SYSTEM,
says JIM FARMER

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

R&A honorary professional Jim Farmer, captain of the GB&I team of club pros who won the PGA Cup two years ago, made a long-range forecast to me at today's PGA Scottish Region lunch at Gleneagles.
“It could be years before the United States regain the Ryder Cup because their top players of the future are not coming through the college ranks as they used to,” said Jim (pictured right).
He says the situation in the United States university golf squads is similar to the situation in the Scottish Premier League – so many players are imported that the home-grown talent is being snuffed out.
“It all started years ago when some of the American colleges started signing the odd top prospect from Sweden, Spain, Australia or wherever. But that snowballed to such an extent that most of the US college teams are now top-heavy with ‘foreigners.”
“Look at the result at Prestwick in the last Palmer Cup students’ match between the United States and Europe – the Europeans thrashed them.
NOT IMPRESSED
“I go over to the States once a year with a team of R&A bursars and I have to say I am not impressed with the American college players I see. Many of them have awful, four-knuckle grips. All they want to do is knock the ball out of sight,” said Jim.
“And they can do that. But ask them to play a threequarter swing shot under the wind, or any shot that requires a bit of skill and feel for it, and they have no idea how to play it.
“Many American colleges don’t have professional golf coaches as we would know them. They are administrators. So quite often the university golf team players are left to their own devices with nobody telling them how they should be gripping or swinging a club.”
Now you might say that the United States still managed to beat Great Britain & Ireland in the last Walker Cup match at Chicago. But Walker Cup line-ups are not restricted to college players.
Backing up Jim Farmer’s claim is the fact that two Europeans have won the last two United States amateur championships – Italian Edoardo Molinari in 2005 and our own Richie Ramsay in 2006.
Farmer, in fact, thinks that if the European dominance of the Ryder Cup matches continues, the top players, like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, will not want to go on playing for a team of losers.
BLEAK US OUTLOOK
“Then the United States will be in trouble. The American public don’t like losers and they could finish up in a few years with (a) nobody wanting to play in the Ryder Cup and (b) nobody wanting to watch the matches in the United States,” said Jim.
My own feeling is we should show mercy on the Americans by reverting to a Great Britain & Ireland team instead of throwing the might of All-Europe at them!
Only kidding, I think ….

WHAT'S YOUR VIEW?
E-mail your comments to colin@scottishgolfview.com