Europe’s Ryder Cup players are expecting a birdie blitz from their American opponents this week in a bid to establish an early stranglehold on the event.
Key to this they feel is the tradition that the home captain has the final say on the finer points of course layout – such as the length and spread of the rough and the width of the fairways.
US skipper Davis Love has opted for less rough and wider fairways at Medinah Country Club especially around the 280- to 290-yard mark to make it easier going for the big hitters. The US side are generally regarded as being on average longer off the tee.
“The only thing that Davis can do this week is to set the golf course up for scoring to get the crowds on their feet, and to get them charged up from the word go,” said Europe’s Graeme McDowell.
“I want to say Oakland Hills – in 2004 – the golf course was quite difficult, and the crowd didn’t really get behind their guys the way they would have liked them to, because scoring was tough and it wasn’t that exciting.
“It was a real battle of attrition, which obviously Europe won very well.
“I think Davis wants birdies and eagles made to get the crowd fizzed up and charged up and make sure that they are 120 per cent behind the guys. It’s going to be exciting and it’s going to be loud.”
McDowell’s skipper Jose Maria Olazabal agreed saying he expected to see “a bunch of birdies” this week.
Love admits he favours a birdie-friendly course to a bogey-friendly course but denies that has much to do with giving his side a narrow advantage.
Instead he says it’s all about giving the golf fans who flock out of the course from Chicago from Friday a show they will remember for a long time.
It all runs in stark contrast to the four majors where the general drift is to make the course layouts as stiff a test of golfing abilities as possible.
“One thing I’ve never liked is rough,” he said. “And I think the fans want to see a little excitement.
“They want to see birdies. I think one thing at Valhalla (2008), it was exciting. There was a lot of birdies. Even holes tied at birdies are more fun than six footers tying for par.
“We want to let these unbelievable athletes free wheel it a little bit and play.
“It’s still going to be tough … But without the deep rough, saves us the chip outs and the grinding it out style of golf.”
A look at the statistics shows that the longest hitter at the moment is Belgian rookie Nicolas Colsaerts who tops the European PGA Tour with a driving distance average of 317.7 yards.
That is slightly better than the 315.5 yards that Bubba Watson averages to pace the PGA Tour.
