Humbled U.S. May Take Strange Turn Next Time

Now that we know the Ryder Cup is staying in Europe for at least the next two years and that the United States will be the defending two-time loser in 1999, let’s take a last look at what happened in Sotogrande, Spain, then say goodbye to the thing.

But that’s probably wishful thinking. The Ryder Cup may be over, but the recriminations are just beginning.

* Best player (tie): Bernhard Langer, Costantino Rocca. They were each 3-1, and you can call this retribution, mainly because these were the two guys remembered up to this time as Ryder Cup goats. Langer missed a six-foot par putt on the 18th hole at Kiawah Island in 1991 that killed Europe and Rocca missed a two-footer that essentially did the same thing in 1993 at the Belfry.

* Worst player: Davis Love III. Sadly, it’s the PGA champion who wears this year’s goat horns. He was the only player on either team who didn’t win a point. His 0-4 record accurately reflects the way he played. He couldn’t have putted any worse with a bunker rake.

* Best match: Lee Janzen def. Jose Maria Olazabal, 1-up. It didn’t get much attention, because the U.S. chances were basically done by the time they got together in the singles. But Janzen won the last three holes, kept the faint U.S. hopes briefly alive and showed that his selection by Tom Kite as a captain’s pick was valid.

* Worst match (tie): Fred Couples def. Ian Woosnam, 8 and 7; Tom Lehman def. Ignacio Garrido, 7 and 6. Two complete routs, which were equal parts of great playing by Couples and Lehman and perfectly awful playing by Woosnam and Garrido. Couples was steady throughout. It was Lehman’s only victory in four matches, although he deserved a better record than that.

* Most disappointing: Tiger Woods. The 21-year-old Masters champion was 1-3-1. When you’re the No. 1 player in the world, the expectations are high, and Woods failed. He never figured out his irons or his putting--he was the only player to putt the ball off the green into the water, which he did at No. 17.

* Most valuable: Olazabal. He produced 2 1/2 points--the same total as Woods, Love and Justin Leonard combined. A year ago, he couldn’t walk because of foot problems.

* Best captain: Seve Ballesteros. He won, didn’t he? And he did it in spite of his controversial management style that even the European press criticized, for such things as letting his players find out on television if they were playing and questioning club selection during the round.

* Worst approach: United States. For some reason, the Ryder Cup mentality for the U.S. seems to have evolved into something along the lines of a joy ride, an excursion where the main idea is to make sure all the players and their families have fun and winning seems secondary. This philosophy is begging for a review.

The disappointing outcome for the U.S. at Valderrama Golf Club may have virtually guaranteed that Curtis Strange will be appointed the next Ryder Cup captain for the century’s last matches, in 1999 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

Strange, 42, isn’t the feel-good Mr. Nice that Kite was, which means he may be capable of creating a different edge for the U.S. team. Also, Strange won the 1988 U.S. Open at Brookline, so he knows something about the course. As for the players, well, they have only two more years to get ready.

LOVE’S LABOR LOST

Love is the only player from either Ryder Cup team to be playing in this weekend’s Buick Challenge. He said he can’t escape what happened, even when he’s asleep.

“Every dream I’ve had since then has been something about the Ryder Cup. On Sunday night I didn’t want to play golf ever again, but I know in my heart I played a lot better than my record,” Love said.

“I hit the ball as good as I’ve ever hit it on the practice range and in the practice rounds, but I just didn’t score because I wasn’t relaxed.

“At the PGA I found ways to take the pressure off, and I played through it. I didn’t do a very good job at the Ryder Cup.

“We had a lot of pressure on us, and we didn’t play well. We never seemed to make that crucial putt when we needed to. I’m convinced that if I’d won my match on Sunday, we would have won the whole thing.”

MORE LOVE

Wait. There’s more bad news about the Ryder Cup. Love said it’s only going to get harder for the U.S. to win it, because golf has much more room for growth in Europe than in the United States.

“I can see a time when it’s going to be very difficult for us to have a chance to win,” he said. “The more golfers there are in Europe, the harder and harder it’s going to get.

“If I’d said 10 years ago that an Italian was going to play three Ryder Cups in a row and be the hero, you would have said, ‘You’re kidding.’

“It’s almost to the point that we could go back to the old format [the U.S. against Britain and Ireland] and it would still be a very good match.”

MONTY ON HIS WAY?

All right, so Colin Montgomerie said the U.S. would have trouble in the Ryder Cup, and he was right. He said Woods wouldn’t play well, and he was right. Now, Montgomerie said that if he ends the year leading the European PGA Tour money list again, he’ll play the PGA Tour full time in 1998.

Can he do it? Bet money on it. Montgomerie, who has been the leading money winner the last four years, leads Darren Clarke by $130,000 with three events left.

Montgomerie isn’t giving up his European PGA Tour membership, but he also isn’t going to play both tours full time. He doesn’t have to. Under new, relaxed restrictions, he needs to play in only seven European events besides the four majors to keep his playing card.

Montgomerie said he will announce his decision by Nov. 7 after the season-ending Volvo Masters at Montecastillo, Spain.

The top 125 players on the PGA Tour money list qualify for the PGA Tour. Montgomerie is No. 36.

LPGA: PAR-BUSTER

Wendy Ward’s record-setting score in last week’s Fieldcrest Cannon Golf Classic couldn’t have been more unexpected. Ward, 24, not only won her first tournament, but her 23-under 265 was the lowest total to par in the 47-year history of the LPGA.

Ward, the 1994 U.S. Amateur champion and three-time All-American at Arizona State, had played 74 competitive rounds in 1997 and had broken 70 only four times--no lower than a 68, before shooting 66-65-64-70.

MONEY NEWS

Time is running out in the race to finish in the top 125 on the PGA Tour money list. With this weekend’s Buick Challenge and three more events left, some fairly big names of tournament winners are on the bubble: John Huston, Fuzzy Zoeller, John Morse, Wayne Levi, Jim McGovern.

Best estimates are that it’s going to take $180,000-$185,000 to make the cut. Those who don’t can look forward to the joys of qualifying school.

There are 17 players in the top 125 who earned their PGA Tour cards at last year’s qualifying school. Stuart Appleby is the highest at No. 15. Last week’s winner of the B.C. Open, 26-year-old Gabriel Hjertstedt, jumped from No. 226 to No. 84 after banking $234,000--not to mention gaining a two-year exemption.

SENIORS: MORE ILLNESS

When Bruce Devlin, 59, announced he had kidney cancer and said he would have surgery today, he became the fourth Senior PGA Tour player struck with cancer this year.

Larry Gilbert, 54, has inoperable lung cancer. His cancer has spread through his bloodstream to shoulder bone and in his ribs. Gilbert will begin chemotherapy soon.

Arnold Palmer, 68, had surgery for prostate cancer in January, but he is playing again. Jim Colbert, 56, has been out since he had surgery in June for prostate cancer.

Colbert is going to play the last four events, beginning at the Hyatt Regency Maui Kaanapali Classic Oct. 17 and including the Ralphs Senior Classic at Wilshire Country Club, Oct. 31-Nov. 2.

JUNIORS GET A BREAK

Junior golfers got a shot in the wallet this week. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to reduce junior golf green fees 50% across the board at its 16 municipal courses.

“Interest in golf among children is at an all-time high,” said Craig Kessler of the Southern California Public Links Golf Assn. “The local junior programs are exploding.”

John Morrison is the director of the Los Angeles section of the LPGA’s Urban Youth Golf Program, in which nearly half of the nation’s 2,000 golfers from the program play. Morrison welcomed the move.

“It gives us an opportunity to expand what we feel is a very important program,” Morrison said.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Jason Gore of NCAA champion Pepperdine is making his professional debut this weekend at the Nike Tour event in Olympia, Wash. . . . When Kevin Stadler, 17, won the 30th Junior World golf championship at Torrey Pines, he also made history. Stadler, the son of Craig Stadler, bettered his dad’s 1970 total by 13 shots and the Stadlers became the only father-son team to win the junior world. . . . Larry Nelson is a late entry in the Ralphs Senior Classic at Wilshire. Raymond Floyd, Graham Marsh, Gary Player, Gil Morgan and Tony Jacklin are among those entered. . . . The 20th SCGA Senior Amateur Championship will be played Monday and Tuesday at Saticoy Country Club in Somis. . . . The Southern California College of Optometry tournament will be played Wednesday at Coyote Hills Golf Course in Fullerton. The event benefits eye clinics in Los Angeles for the needy. Details: (714) 449-7464. . . . The Energy Tour, which raises funds for Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, will be played Monday at Friendly Hills Golf Course in Whittier. Details: (714) 270-7092.

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Faldo Factor

Ryder Cup records held by Nick Faldo:

* Most Ryder Cups: 11.

* Youngest Ryder Cup player: 20 years 1 month 28 days.

* Most matches played: 43.

* Most points: 24.

* Most foursome matches: 17.

* Most four-ball matches: 16.

* Most matches won: 22 (tied with Arnold Palmer).

* Most singles won: 6 (tied with Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Peter Oosterhuis).

* Most foursomes won: 10 (tied with Seve Ballesteros).

* Most four-ball lost: 9.