In the Rough

The victorious US Ryder Cup Team were congratulated Monday afternoon at The White House by American President George W Bush. The US Ryder Cup team were the first team to beat the Europeans since 1999 and celebrated with The President by posing for pictures and having lunch.

George Bush himself stated he was an avid follower of the Ryder Cup and watched “every minute” of the US Ryder Cup Team’s win at Valhalla.

Seven members of the US Ryder Cup team were at The White House with captain Paul Azinger, vice captain Raymond Floyd and also Secretary of State Condolezza Rice.

The US Ryder Cup Team presented George Bush with a personalised Ryder Cup Golf Bag, the same Sunday red golf shirt and sweater vest worn by the victorious team. He also received a Ryder Cup money clip.

Former Ryder Cup Captain Ian Woosnam has said he would relish the opportunity to Captain the European Ryder Cup Team in his home Country of Wales at the Celtic Manor.

Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal was thought to be the front runner to be the Ryder Cup Captain but has since ruled himself out of the running after vice-captaining in Vallhalla this year.

Scotland’s Sandy Lyle the only one of the “big 5″ european players in the 1980’s not to captain the European Ryder Cup team has said he would like the chance to be captain at Celtic Manor for 2010. After Nick Faldo captained the European team in Vallhalla it leaves Sandy Lyle as a good candidate to try and bring the Ryder Cup Trophy home.

European has gambled on day two of the Ryder Cup by dropping Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia for the morning foursomes line-up at Valhalla Golf Club, Valhalla.

After day one at Valhalla the US team lead by a clear three points (5 1/2 v 2 1/2). Inspired by there captain Paul Azinger and with a powerful blend of experience and youth from their side, day one belonged to the US Ryder Cup Team.

For Day Two foursomes Nick Faldo has mixed it up aiming to fight straight back.

Stewart Cink / Chad Campbell V Ian Poulter / Justin Rose

Justin Leonard / Hunter Mahan V Miguel Angel Jimenez / Graeme McDowell
Phil Mickelson / Anthony Kim V Henrik Stenson / Oliver Wilson
Jim Furyk / Kenny Perry V Padraig Harrington / Robert Karlsson.

The Ryder Cup 2008 from Valhalla is underway.

The pairings for Friday mornings Foursomes -

Phil Mickelson / Anthony Kim V Padraig Harrington / Robert Karlsson

Justin Leonard / Hunter Mahan V Henrik Stenson / Paul Casey

Stewart Cink / Chad Campbell V Justin Rose / Ian Poulter

Kenny Perry / Jim Furyk V Lee Westwood / Sergio Garcia.

European ryder cup captain Nick Faldo has a put together a good couple of strong pairings and must fancy  having a slight advantage after the mornings golf.

With the Ryder Cup now just a few days away the betting market is hotting up with who is going to be the top points scorer come Sunday evening.

Millions are spent each time the Ryder Cup is played on Special Ryder Cup Bets, Overall highest point scorer and what will be the winning margin.

For the 2008 Ryder Cup Sergio Garcia is the favourite to win the most points over the three days with his current odds 7/1, American Phil Mickelson and Ireland in-form golfer Padraig Harrington are both at 11/1. American Jim Furyk is currently showing at 12/1 with Lee Westwood and Anthony Kim of America.

For those people looking to back an outsider Englands Oliver Wilson is showing at 80/1 to be top points scorer come Sunday with Soren Hansen at 50/1, Graeme McDowell and Chad Campbell at 40/1.

All latest odds can be found on Sky Bet and you can bet live during the Ryder Cup.

The European Ryder Cup team have arrived in Louisville ahead of the Ryder Cup start on Friday 19th September.

The team is there to defend its title, which they retained at the K Club in Ireland in 2006.

European Ryder Cup Captain Nick Faldo was in confident mood at the first press conference at Valhalla saying he has 12 winners in his team who were all here for one goal and that is to beat the American Ryder Cup team. He also rubbished rumours he was at a disadvantage by only having one vice captain in Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal.

Faldo was right to be in confident mood after Robert Karlsson won the Mercedes Benz Championship over the weekend and Jimenez came third, hansen eight and mcdowell sixteenth.

The 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla will still be going ahead after the storm that hit the golf course. There was initially some concerns that the storm that hit over the weekend could damage the actually course through falling trees and damaging the actual playing surface.

However with the worst of the storm has now passed the Valhalla golf course with only a few fallen trees and a fallen TV tower on the 12th hole. Wind reached over 60mph over the weekend and plunged most of the surrounding area around the course into complete darkness after electricity lines were torn down.

The good news is though that by the time the Ryder Cup starts at Valhalla the winds will be reduced to 5 - 10mph and temperatures will be back to 25 degrees - perfect golfing conditions.

England’s Lee Westwood has said he will be fit for the Ryder Cup in Valhalla despite missing last weeks European Open and also set to not to compete in this weeks Mercedes-Benz Championship.

The Ryder Cup is now only 10 days away and with Lee Westwood not 100% captain Nick Faldo must be getting a bit worried that one of his talisman has not played for a few weeks.

Should Lee Westwood not make next Friday at Valhalla it will be German Martin Kaymer who will step in to take his place as he is the first reserve.

Not having Lee Westwood will be a massive blow to Europe considering in 5 Ryder Cups Westwood has scored 15.5 points and has been the top scorer over the last two Ryder cups along side Spain’s Sergio Garcia.

For the 2008 Ryder Cup this year the course will be the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky, the course opened in 1986 after been designed by Jack Nicklaus on the 486 Acres of Kentucky land available.

The brainchild of Valhalla Golf Course was Dwight Gahm and his three sons, who in 1981 decided to look at a course that could become a force on the PGA Tour. Dwight Gahm himself was a major businessman so finance wasn’t going to be a problem and with the funds available to him he commissioned Jack Nicklaus to design the course.

In 1992 Valhalla was awarded the 1996 PGA Championship and after agreeing this the PGA bought 25% of Valhalla Golf Club in 1993. The PGA after the PGA Championship assumed 50% of Valhalla and agreed to host the PGA Championship for 2000. The following two years enabled the PGA to maintain 100% of Valhalla Golf Club.

Due to the size of Valhalla Golf Club it is possible for at least 20,000 people to gather around the 18th, which for the Ryder Cup will be very useful.

Below is the Scorecard for the Ryder Cup Players and Valhalla Golf Club host of the 2008 Ryder Cup.

Paul Azinger has said he will be in contact with World Number One Golfer Tiger Woods over the three days of the Ryder Cup in Valhalla.

The World number one is out of the Ryder Cup tournament after knee reconstructive surgery earlier on in the year however his advice and suggestions could prove very helpful for Azinger as he tries to win back the Ryder Cup for the United States Of America.

Azinger has this to say “I’m going to have an open phone line to him during the event as I am kind of curious to know how he feels as the event unfolds”

He also praised Tiger Woods by saying “He is really intelligent and he’s a great golf mind, so I’m looking forward to talking to Tiger.”

The US team have lost three straight ryder cups and are going into the event at Valhalla as underdogs as Europe seem to have the strongest team.