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Tiger and Co. take on Europe

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Chris Maratin

As Tiger Woods and the rest of the U.S. team prepare to take on the Europeans in the final Ryder Cup of the millennium, the pressure of another embarrassing defeat at the back-swings of the Europeans is looming.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Ryder Cup, it is the most patriotic and intense golf showdown in the world. And no, intense golf is not an oxymoron.

This year's showdown will take place at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., on Sept. 24 - 26.

So far, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the Ryder Cup with U.S. players like Woods, David Duval and Mark O'Meara wanting the PGA to pay them to play.

Get paid? How about proving you are worth the money and finally winning a Ryder Cup for the first time since 1993?

The U.S. team must prove that they will have the title-holders bounce back, after consecutive losses at Choke Hill (1995 at Oak Hill C.C., in Rochester, N.Y.) and the Trauma at Valderrama (1997 at Valderrama G.C., in Sotogrande, Spain) and bring the Ryder Cup back to where it belongs.

U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw clearly has the dominant team on paper, but the United States also had the dominant team in 1995 and 1997.

Lead by Woods and Duval, the U.S. has 11 players ranked in the top 25 in the world, while the Europeans have only five.

Don't be fooled by the numbers though, because they are misleading. The United States was heavily favored when it went to Valderrama and everyone knows that the U.S. Ryder Cup team left Spain looking like a bunch of amateurs.

The European team, though always underrated, faces a momentous challenge as it brings in a bunch of no-name players with no prior Ryder Cup experience.

How can the seven rookies from the European squad expect to do well in the most pressure-packed event in golf?

Hell, Tiger Woods went 1-3-1 in his first Ryder Cup.

European players like Jarmo Sandelin, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jean Van de Velde and Padraig Harrington couldn't even carry Tiger's clubs, let alone the pressure he carries to do well.

With this in mind, this should finally be the year that the Ryder Cup comes back to the United States.

There are three good reasons why:

1. The U.S. has the best core group of young talent that golf has seen in decades with the likes of Woods, Duval, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard.

2. Woods is beginning to live up to the hype that he is the next Jack Nicklaus and there is no way he will choke like he did in Valderrama.

3. The matches are being played on U.S. soil. Americans never like to get shown up on their own turf. Just ask the British.

Of course, it looks like the Americans will run away with a victory. Whether or not they will, is another question.