The United States has lost four out of the last five Ryder Cup competitions, so it’s not particularly surprising that some U.S. golf fans are viewing the 2006 Ryder Cup competition next month at the K Club in Ireland with some trepidation. However, former Houstonian and noted teaching professional Butch Harmon is already gripping particularly hard in anticipation of the competition, and Brett Wetterich — who will be playing in his first Ryder Cup competition for the American team — is the target of Harmon’s nervousness:

Brett Wetterich, who squeezed into the US Ryder Cup team in the last available qualifying spot, will have to greatly improve his attitude at next month’s Ryder Cup match at the K Club.
At least that’s the way widely-respected US swing coach and Sky Sports analyst Butch Harmon sees it.
Harmon told Sky Sports he was “appalled” by what he saw on day two at the 9th hole at last week’s PGA Championship where Wetterich, destined to miss the cut by nine shots after shooting a 2nd-round 77, took four shots to get out of some greenside rough.
Harmon says he was infuriated by Wetterich’s attitude.
“I was appalled by what I saw with Brett Wetterich,” he told Sky Sports. [. . .]
“This isn’t the kind of guy you want on your Ryder Cup team,” Harmon said of Wetterich.

H’mm. I guess Wetterich will at least have something to talk about with Tiger Woods during the Ryder Cup competition.

Meanwhile, Rick Reilly at Sports Illustrated.com weighs in with this article ($) in which he predicts another disaster for the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup team:

Have you seen the U.S. team? It has all the intimidation power of the Liechtenstein navy. It would have a hard time beating the Winnetka Country Club ladies’ B team. It’s the single worst squad we’ve ever taken to a Ryder Cup, and that’s saying something, considering the last batch got pummeled 18.5 – 9.5. . . .
This outfit would be the underdog to a stiff breeze. Or do Brett Wetterich, Zach Johnson, J.J. Henry and Vaughn Taylor make your timbers shiver? It sounds like somebody’s Webelos troop. None of those four have ever played in a Ryder Cup before. Three of them missed the cut at last week’s PGA, and Henry finished 41st.
Wetterich has missed five cuts in his last eight starts. You look at him and think, Was he my waiter at Olive Garden last night? If he wasn’t, he will be soon.
Won’t Tiger be psyched to be paired with him?
That’s the other thing: Tiger. He’s the No. 1 player in the world by a light year, the Golfing Gladiator. Until he goes to Ryder Cups, and then he suddenly becomes Dead Man Walking.
He mopes around like a husband in couples therapy, only he talks to his partner less. It may the only thing he sucks at. His Ryder record is 7-11-2, and no wonder. He wasn’t wired for team play. He trusts nobody. Why should he buddy up with people he’s been trained to swallow in two bites or less? The hangman doesn’t play on the prison softball team. Lions don’t room with lambs.

Sheesh! These folks need to get a grip. What many reasonably informed people often misjudge in golf and other sporting events is the substantial role of luck in determining the outcome. A good case can be made that bad luck has been the biggest factor in the American squad’s failure in recent Ryder Cup competitions, as certain members of the American team simply have not been playing as well as their European counterparts at the time of the competitions. That happens to everyone in golf — just ask British Open and PGA champ Tiger Woods, who missed the cut in this year’s US Open. In a perfect world, the Ryder Cup teams would be comprised of players who were playing the best at the time of the competition, but that wouldn’t be fair to the players who earned their way on to the team by playing at a consistently high level during the previous two seasons.
So, yes, this US Ryder Cup team is comprised of a relatively large percentage of first time players. But that will likely have very little to do with the success or failure of the American team. If most of the players happen to be playing better than their European counterparts during the third week of September, then the Americans will win. If not, they won’t. Whether the players are well-known to the general public has nothing to do with it, and even prior Ryder Cup experience doesn’t won’t make much of a difference. All of these players have played under intense pressure before and the key is going to be how well they are striking the ball and putting at the time of next month’s competition. My bet is that this American team will do quite well.