Ryder Cup Day 3 best lines

The Ryder Cup, after last being played two years ago, is now just two days away. But that’s also 48 hours. Or 2,880 minutes. Or 172,800 seconds. The point being, the biennial matches are as close to us as a hole on a par-3 — but yet feel as far away as one on a brutally long par-5. The second hand can seem stuck until Friday. 

And then there are the press conferences. They, too, can mostly drag. After all, there are only so many ways to slice a golf ball, so to speak.

But there are tasty morsels. 

So, over the next two days, as a means to get us to the moment when the balls are in the air at Bethpage Black, we’ll offer a highlight or two. They might be technical. They might be insightful. They might be emotional. They might be technically insightful, emotionally said. 

Wednesday, over 1 hour, 16 minutes, and 41 seconds, four Europeans and two Americans talked, and we heard about a wish for “absolute chaos” and anticipation for President Donald Trump’s Friday visit, along with a few other items.

The money question, Day Three 

Day three of press conferences brought the third round of questions on the U.S. decision to pay its players for playing in the Ryder Cup. Two years ago, the subject swirled around the Ryder Cup, and this year, the Americans will get $500,000 — $300,000 of which will go to charity, and the player will determine how the remaining $200,000 is used. (Previously, U.S. players had received $200,000, all of which went to charity.) 

In his press conference, Collin Morikawa had this exchange, and the reporter’s questions are in italics. 

There’s been a lot made about the money thing. I guess my question is more, do you know why you’re being compensated?

“Look, I think Keegan [Bradley] and the PGA of America have fought in certain ways just to, you know, whether it’s a thank you or — look, I think the PGA of America and whoever — whoever is making a lot of money from the Ryder Cup, right, is — they are making a lot of money,” Morikawa said. “And I think on that end, it’s just to give us an opportunity to either pay our respective teams, because look, the teams behind us, they don’t get the recognition that we do, but they deserve a lot of it that we get.

“But also just to give back to our own communities, right. We have a lot of communities back home that sometimes don’t get the recognition, that don’t get the word-of-mouth just because we don’t travel to those places that the PGA Tour stops on every week. Just more opportunities, I think, for us to help out people that we care about.”

And just to follow up on that, if you were actually being fairly compensated for the time that you put into this, is $200,000 anywhere close?

“Don’t trap me in a corner,” Morikawa said, laughing.

“There’s no number. It could be zero. It could be one dollar. It could be — there isn’t a right or a wrong amount. Look, I think at the end of the day, all 12 of us here playing, when we tee it up on Friday, and before this all started, we just want to win the Ryder Cup. We want to win it for ourselves. We want to win it for our country.

“When we stood out there two days ago and we got speeches from the Nassau Players Club and we got speeches from the firefighter and his son, look, I’m not an emotional guy, but like there was emotions. And sometimes it just hits home. When you hear that type of stuff and you’re able to bring out that emotion, just being able to represent a country, you want to step on that first tee and put points on the board. That’s all I’m going to remember. So hopefully we have a great three days come this week.”

The takeaway: The sides have been well established now. The Americans say they want to help others with the money; the Europeans continue to play without being paid. The questions will likely be asked again on Thursday.   

‘I hope Friday is just absolute chaos’ 

Morikawa’s thoughts on the Bethpage fans through two days of spectators on site?

“I’ll be honest, I think it’s kind of tame so far,” he said. 

Of course, it was only Wednesday, and, to quote Allen Iverson, “we talking about practice, not a game.” Morikawa then said what he’d like to hear on Friday, when the action gets underway.

“I hope Friday is just absolute chaos,” he said. “I’m all for it. I think it feeds into who we are and the American players and the American team. We want it. Like we want to use that to our advantage.

“I think every sport uses their home crowd to their advantage, and just because we don’t play in a setting like this doesn’t mean the craziness of New York and the rest of the country that people are traveling in from, it doesn’t mean that we can’t use that to our advantage. I think we really have to tap into that. I hope they come strong.

“Watching all these kids, I know they want autographs, but come Friday, I hope they go crazy.”

The takeaway: Outside of who wins, how loud things get figures to be the biggest storyline of this Ryder Cup. And the noise should influence the outcome. 

Team Europe’s ‘chief chirper’

One more item on noise. Justin Rose had this exchange, with the reporter’s question in italics. 

Rory [McIlroy] seems to be the self-appointed chief chirper. Are you happy with him in that role, and how well do you think he does it?

“Chief chirper. Yeah, I think Rory is very comfortable with himself,” Rose said. “I think he has thick skin. I think that he can handle the blowback of if he says something that he believes and it is not taken in the right way. I think he’s happy to see it how he sees it and call it how he sees it. And I think he has the freedom on the golf course to just roll with that.

“I don’t think it sort of layers — what he says I don’t think layers into his golf game, and that’s an amazing talent that he has. I think he always plays incredibly freely, and I think that’s probably the line where Rory can tiptoe better than most.”

In his press conference, Tommy Fleetwood was asked who the noisiest player on Team Europe is — and he named this year’s Masters winner. 

“I’d probably give Rory that mantelpiece,” he said. 

The takeaway: McIlroy is mostly open with his thoughts. There’ll be at least some curiosity when he talks with reporters on Thursday.  

‘I would love to see Cam Young just throw a massive fist pump’

Morikawa was asked which player he’d like to see ‘lose it,’ and he named perhaps the most stoic American. 

Cameron Young.

And what would Morikawa like to see from him?

“I would love to see Cam Young just throw a massive fist pump in someone’s face,” Morikawa said. “I would love it. I mean, home state, home crowd, red, white and blue, played on the Junior Ryder Cup.

“He’s a fiery competitor. I’ve known Cam for a long time. He’s been very stoic, right. We’re deep competitors. Whether you see that or not through the TV or through watching us play, he wants to whoop some butt. Yeah, I would love to see a nice little putter raise, undercut, fist pump.”

Just a putter raise?

“No, combined,” Morikawa said. “Maybe. I don’t know if he’ll do it. He didn’t even smile after he won. So I’m hoping. Fingers crossed. That’s my forecast.”

Making Scottie Scheffler cry 

Two years ago, after Ludvig Aberg and partner Viktor Hovland stomped Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, 9 and 7, in a Saturday morning foursomes match, Scheffler was spotted crying in a cart — and that led to this question to Aberg: 

Do you take any sense of pride in being probably the last guy whose golf made Scottie cry?

Aberg answered diplomatically. 

“It’s not something I think about,” he said. “Obviously that day, it was somewhat of a freak result and something that we didn’t quite expect. But it was a cool experience that me and Viktor had, and it was a cool thing to do, yeah.”

Why did Aberg and Hovland work so well together?

“Yeah, we’re good friends,” Aberg said. “We speak the same language. We come from a very similar background. Obviously he grew up in Norway, and Sweden are very close in terms of the cultural environment. And yeah, we get along. He’s a funny guy to have funny conversations with. They can go in any direction that you don’t really expect.

“We had a good time in Rome, and we’ve played multiple practice rounds since, and our caddies get along great, too. He’s a good friend to have on Tour and in the team room here.”

Funny conversations? What’s the strangest thing he’s said?

“Well, yeah, he’s always into sort of the UFO deals and all those things, so it’s quite interesting,” Aberg said. “I’m not quite down that road just yet. If I hang out with him long enough, I might be.

“Again, you never really know where it’s going to go, which is quite interesting.”

The takeaway: Notably, Aberg and Hovland have not played a practice round together. 

Money games?

The people who are poking the Americans the most?

Their own vice captains apparently. Morikawa said the fivesome — Jim Furyk, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Gary Woodland and Kevin Kisner — have been “giving us a little bit of a nudge.” And they also “are definitely trying to get into our wallets and in our heads,” and that nugget led to this exchange, with the reporter’s questions in italics:

When you say your vice captains are trying to get in your wallet, what does that look like?

“Like the amount?” Morikawa asked. 

No. Who is trying to get in your wallet and how are they trying to do so?

“Sneds is definitely trying to get in our wallet,” Morikawa said. “Kis is talking smack.”

Are these just prop bets?

“Yeah, I’ve had a lot of prop bets,” Morikawa said. “I’ve had a lot of fairway bets, birdie bets.”

Are you in the red or the black so far?

“Depends who,” Morikawa said. “I’m up on Sneds but not by much. Xander [Schauffele] is taking the cake this week. I’m positive on Sneds. Sneds is the main one that I think we all love to pick on and we love to have him as our bank.”

He’s become the mascot, punching bag?

“Correct.”

Trump is ‘going to bring certainly a lot of attention and patriotism’

Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump is expected to attend the Ryder Cup, and that led to this exchange with Rose, with the reporter’s question in italics:

Luke [Donald] seems to have planned — seems to have detailed plans for everything this week. Is there an official policy for how to handle President Trump on Friday when he’s on the course? Are you going to ignore him? Say hello to him? How are you going to handle it?

“Yeah, obviously he’s going to bring certainly a lot of attention and patriotism to the event,” Rose said. “By all accounts, he’s going to be in — I don’t know what I can say, but I don’t think he’s going to necessarily be on the tee box with us or roaming the course.

“So from that point of view, I think there will just be a lot of noise around it, but I’m not sure there will be the continued distraction of it. But again, I could be wrong, just based upon what I’ve heard, how they’re going to handle his movements around the property.

“Listen, it’s great for golf that he’s engaged in the game and obviously he brings a lot of eyeballs with him. Yeah, fan-wise, I’m sure Friday afternoon will be certainly very intense and entertaining.”

We all know Trump likes a winner, and he was there when Chelsea won the trophy in July. Would you welcome him on the stage if Europe retain the trophy, invite him along if you do win on Sunday?

“One-hundred percent, yeah, would love the opportunity to have that opportunity,” Rose said. “Listen, I’m not sure he’s going to want to be on the stage congratulating the team that sort of wins in his backyard.

“But listen, of course, he’s the president, ultimate respect, and that would be a great opportunity.”

Editor’s note: To read Day One’s observations, please click here. To read Day Two observations please click here.