The European Ryder Cup team has spilled Champagne and smoked cigars for most of the last two decades, with Sergio Garcia running sprints over fairways and Colin Montgomerie holing out a mile of putts.
No European has won a major in seven years, and Tiger Woods has won 10 over the same span. But team camaraderie has elevated Europe from the role of underdog to the realm of superpower heading into the biennial Ryder Cup matches against the US at the K Club in Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland, in September.
"I think that this might be the first Ryder Cup that we ever actually go into as favorites," David Howell of England said last week during the British Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. "That's the moment we have to be most careful. As we've proved so much over the years, as the underdog is when you're at your most dangerous. I think more so than ever before we have to be at the top of our game to retain the trophy."
Even as the British Open played out last week in Hoylake, England, several eyes gazed west past the Isle of Man and across the Irish Sea to the course where the US will try to end a slide that has seen Europe win four of the last five Ryder Cup matches and six of the last 10.
Star power
For all the star power at the top of the US Ryder Cup standings, led by Woods and Phil Mickelson, the US team will have a new makeup, and may include several first-time members, when the matches begin on Sept. 22.
A revamped qualification system for selecting the US team has emphasized golfers who are playing their best this year. The US team will be completed on Aug. 21, the day after the PGA Championship, when Tom Lehman will use his two captain's picks to round out the 12-man squad.
Europe's team, captained by Ian Woosnam, will comprise the top five players on the Ryder Cup world-points list and the top five players on the European Ryder Cup points list through Sept. 3. Woosnam will complete the team with his two captain's picks.
Currently, the last four spots on the US team are held by J.J. Henry, Zach Johnson, Brett Wetterich and John Rollins, who would each be making his Ryder Cup debut if they hold on to their positions.
"You win a tournament, it's a huge number, so you can jump way up in a hurry," Lehman said of the qualifying procedure during a news conference last month. "But the guys who are consistently playing well week after week are the ones that are near the top."
Vaughn Taylor, a two-time PGA Tour winner who is 11th in the standings, said during the British Open that his lack of name recognition was of no great consequence, at least in his view. He said he just wanted to make the team.
"I always tend to fly under the radar," Taylor said. "I mean, every weekend in the US, people don't even know who I am. It doesn't bother me."
In recent years, it has been lesser-known European players who have helped take down the US, as Phillip Price did in shocking Mickelson in singles during the 2002 Ryder Cup.
This year, however, the Europeans occupy 10 of the top 24 spots in the official world golf ranking, and the US occupies six.
"The unknown is never welcomed in a situation," Montgomerie said during the British Open when asked about the potential makeup of the US team. "If there are five rookies on that team, it will be unknown to know what to expect. The rookies in the past on these Ryder Cups, on both teams, have performed actually quite well. We'll just have to see how that situation evolves."
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