The ryder cup gets noisy. Very loud. "Allez, allez, allez", the french battle cry, is written in huge letters on the blue transparent of the gigantic tribune on the first tee at le golf national near paris.
Early friday morning, here alone, over 7000 golf-mad fans will give the best pros from europe and the u.S. A deafening reception at the world’s biggest and most emotional golf event. Over the three days, the organizers expect more than 270 young people to take part.000 spectators at the golf course on the outskirts of the french capital.
Tiger woods is already looking forward to the start of the 42. Continental comparison of the twelve strongest players from the USA and europe respectively. "Yes, it will be fun," the 42-year-old replied with a broad grin when asked about the unique atmosphere of the ryder cup. And the U.S. Superstar is accustomed to rough-and-tumble. Only last sunday, woods was arrested on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Victory on the PGA tour in atlanta the fans in ecstasy. "I think this week the decibel level will be a bit higher," he says.
The ryder cup is pure emotion – for spectators and players alike. There is hardly any other sporting event where triumphs are celebrated more loudly and tears are shed so bitterly after defeats. For the golf millionaires, it’s all about honor on the course. Prize money does not exist. To win for one’s own continent is incentive and reward enough, germany’s golf idol and ryder cup hero bernhard langer once said.
Woods and his U.S. Teammates are the favorites in paris as defending champions. Two years ago, they won the hazeltine national golf club in chaska in the u.S. State of minnesota with a clear score of 17:11. In the world rankings, the players of captain jim furyk have on average the better positions and also in the four important majors tournaments the americans were almost always in front this year. Patrick reed won the masters in augusta and brooks koepka triumphed at the US open as well as the PGA championship. Only the british open was won by a european, italian francesco molinari.
However, no U.S. Team has won on european soil in 25 years. Nevertheless, europe captain thomas bjorn sees his team in the role of underdogs. "We are aubenseiter? It’s probably us on paper. But we still believe we can win," said dane, who has brought five ryder cup rookies – thorbjorn olesen, jon rahm, tyrrell hatton, tommy fleetwood and alex noren – into his team. With the americans there are only three.
But the home field advantage of the european team is not to be sneezed at. Rory mcilroy, justin rose and co. Have known the difficult par-71 course at le golf national for years from the tournaments on the european tour. For most americans, the albatross course is uncharted territory.
Germany is at 42. Ryder cup in paris not represented at all. Martin kaymer, who had previously been a member of the european team four times in a row and made the "miracle of medinah" perfect with his decisive putt in 2012, will be absent this time in paris. Too weak were the performances of the two-time major winner this year. This is only the fourth time since 1981 that no german golfer has been a member of team europe, after 1999, 2006 and 2008.
In addition to kaymer, langer has made a decisive contribution to the history of the ryder cup: ten times as a successful player from the beginning of the 1980s to his triumph as captain of the european ryder cup team in 2004. This victory was one of the most emotional moments in the career of the german exceptional golfer.