At this time of night, it is still unknown whether Luke Donald has already sent a special request to the PGA of America to change the venue of the next Ryder Cup from Bethpage to Pebble Beach. If he hasn’t done so yet, he should. Also, of course, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to request a change of dates, preferably when California is cold, windy, and rainy, just as it happened today in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Jokes aside, rest assured that the Ryder venue will not be modified. The reality is that the third round of the second designated tournament of the year has been a tribute and praise to the European Ryder Cup team. The leaderboard says it all:
1.- Sepp Straka (-16)
2.- Rory McIlroy (-15)
– Shane Lowry (-15)
4.- Justin Rose (-14)
The first American doesn’t appear until the seventh position, the veteran Lucas Glover (-13). You see, not even on purpose. Although the temptation to see a cause-and-effect here is high, it really is just a blessed coincidence. It’s easy to get carried away and fall into the simplistic, outdated, twisted, and false analysis that Europeans play better in wind, rain, and cold. There are still those who can defend this theory at the bar of any clubhouse. If so, let those same people argue why three of the last four Open Championship winners are American and six of the last eleven.
Don’t go crazy, we shouldn’t go beyond the joke of imagining Luke Donald with a giant bowl of popcorn on his sofa watching the tournament with a grin from ear to ear. If anything, which is not insignificant, what this curious leaderboard at Pebble Beach shows is that a good portion of the core of the team that won the last Ryder in Rome, a third to be precise, is in good form.
Straka’s performance is very serious. It has been serious for a while, although sometimes it’s hard to place him in the top ranks of world golf. We tend to be unfair to athletes who look like they’ve never broken a plate. This happens with the Austrian. However, he is an exceptional golfer. Today he played like a shot when conditions were tougher, struggled mid-round with three consecutive bogeys, and came back like a titan with four birdies in the last five holes to regain the solo lead. In that last stretch of the round, the wind intensity dropped a bit, and Straka took advantage of the more receptive greens to give another iron recital.
One stroke behind are the two Irishmen. Pili and Mili. McIlroy and Lowry. The two lowest rounds of the day with 65 strokes. A Northern Irishman already won the US Open at Pebble Beach, Graeme McDowell in 2010. It seems to have something. But the same as before with Europeans and bad weather. As tempting as it is to connect things, if we want to be rigorous, it’s best to hold back. McIlroy has never been in contention to win at Pebble Beach. In fact, he himself admitted that it’s a course that hasn’t traditionally suited him well. He also usually doesn’t play well in bad weather…
In this sense, Rory can remove several thorns from his side this Sunday: Pebble Beach eludes him, he only won once in California (WGC Match Play at TPC Harding 2015), and his usual poor performance in bad weather. It’s not a small motivation. Moreover, it would mean starting the PGA Tour season with a victory. Either way, Rory would prefer a more pleasant day on Sunday. Quite the opposite for Lowry and Rose, who will dream tonight of a Pacific storm for Sunday, as they know it increases their chances.
The day has been beautiful at Pebble Beach. One of those we’ve seen many times. There were moments of rain parallel to the ground with wind gusts of 50 kilometres per hour. Scottie Scheffler (-10), who had a tough time, recovered to give himself a chance. He confessed that at one point he hit a 5-iron 140 metres to the flag, to give you an idea of how strong the headwind was. Under normal conditions, it can go about 200 metres.
Up to -10, one could say they have a chance of victory. At that mark is also Rasmus Hojgaard, who has not yet played the Ryder Cup, although he doesn’t seem keen on missing this year’s opportunity. Among the contenders for victory, don’t overlook Tom Kim (-14), tied with Rose and Cam Davis, or Russell Henley (-12).
