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7 Things We Learned From This Year’s Ryder Cup

Published

4 years ago

September 27, 2021

The United States clinched the 2021 Ryder Cup on Sunday after rookie Collin Morikawa secured the final half-point to get to a 19-9 victory, which is the largest margin of victory in Ryder Cup history since the 28-point format came about. Read that again! It is not a typo…

It’s also the first time since 1979 and 1983 that Team USA won back-to-back home Ryder Cups after winning in 2016 at Hazeltine. The Americans lost in 2018 in France and seven of the last 10 Ryder Cups against Europe, so this historic & dominant victory just may have changed the tide in the rivalry.

Here are our top 7 takeaways from this year’s Ryder Cup

Spanish Armada is Real

A big part of Ryder Cup history for Europe has been the play of several Spanish golfers. Starting with the legendary Seve Ballesteros and later Jose Maria Olazabal. Now, Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia seem to have assumed that role. Rahm & Garcia were near unstoppable as a team this past week at Whistling Straights. Sergio became the all-time leader in matches won at the Ryder Cup.

He secured his 24^th career match victory (passing Faldo with 23), however, I bet if you were to ask Sergio, he would call that a hollow victory. Rahm, the reigning world #1, secured 3.5 points in his 5 matches. For the most part… they were the lone bright spot for the Euros this year.

Rookies Rout

6! That’s right count em’…6 rookies were on the US Ryder Cup team this year. AND they demonstrated that a changing of the guard is on the horizon if not already onshore. Really, if I am being honest, they showed up in a HUGE way. I was apprehensive that our US team could hang with the veterans on the Euro squad. Boy was I wrong. Not only did they hang, they broke records!

Records that encompassed teams with names like Tiger, Duval, Phil, etc… The six rookies mark the most on one U.S. team since 2008, when the U.S. won at Valhalla Country Club. Four of our 2021 team rookies headed into Sunday with unbeaten records: Collin Morikawa (3-0-0), Xander Schauffele (3-0-0), Patrick Cantlay (2-0-1), and Scheffler (1-0-1). Scheffler and Morikawa were the only two rookies who went undefeated in their Ryder Cup play, and they arguably had the two most important victories on Sunday.

The young talent on the American side was simply too tough and too long for the veteran European team. It was an absolute onslaught! Not to mention that this was one of the youngest American Ryder Cup teams ever, with an average age of just 29 years old. The Americans didn’t lose a session for the first time in 44 years. They had the best team on paper. They played even better on grass.

The home field advantage was evident from the get-go

Lets be real, I found myself longing for the chants of “Ole’…Ole’ Ole’ Ole’…Ole’…Ole’”. That atmosphere creates such a buzz and seemed to be missing this year. With that, the US squad possessed a substantial home-field advantage. The sea of red that fills the galleries every time the United States hosts the Ryder Cup had far fewer European blue dots than usual this year.

“You only have to look around and all the grandstands are red,” Europe’s Ian Poulter said. “Everything that you look at, the fans, 98% are obviously going to be U.S. fans this week.”

WHY: Pandemic-related travel restrictions gave the U.S. a far bigger edge in fan support than the home team normally receives. European residents were not permitted to fly directly to the United States due to the pandemic. The U.S. announced 5 days before the event that it would allow foreigners to fly into the country if they have proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. But here’s the rub… those changes don’t take effect until November.

That meant fans living in Europe who wanted to watch the Ryder Cup in person had to take indirect routes. For instance, if you live in England, you would have to fly into Mexico and spend two weeks there. Then travel from Mexico to Wisconsin. Call me crazy, but as much as I love my squad, I am not sure that would be in the cards for me!

Brooks Koepka goes crazy, curses at Ryder Cup rules officials

Even while piling up points and producing one of its best days in recent Ryder Cup history, the American team’s performance was marred by a couple of salty moments of questionable behavior on Saturday at Whistling Straits.

Brooks turned into a proverbial “Karen” on two rules officials, cursing at them on the 15th hole during his Saturday morning foursome match alongside Daniel Berger against Spaniards Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia.

The incident occurred with the Brooks & Berger 1-down with 4 holes to play. Berger’s errant second shot landed in a bunker to the right of the fairway. When Koepka, who was hitting next, arrived and surveyed the lie he brought in a rules official to ask for free relief. Koepka argued that there was a drain in front of the ball that he said would interfere with his swing. To be fair it did appear to be some unusual ground conditions.

Sergio just spit out his drink laughing so hard at Brooks Koepka going back and forth with the rules official. https://t.co/5PfC8NRYwZ— Mark Harris (@itismarkharris) September 25, 2021

“I don’t think it’s going to interfere with the area of your intended swing,” said David Price, the rules official.

“You don’t think my club might hit right there?” Koepka said, pointing downward. “Have you ever seen me hit a ball? There was a root that far down a couple of weeks ago.’’

Brooks was heard saying prior to the shot “I don’t physically see how you can make a swing and not at some point have this impact or this impact your club,”

“If I break my wrist, this is on [expletive] both of you.” He dropped the F-Bomb!

The officials ultimately disagreed, and Brooks had to hit the shot as it lied. He striped it! It hit the green and it rolled up to 25 feet.

Here’s the deal Brooksy, you may have had an argument. Even Sergio was on sight and seemed to agree that relief might be warranted. He then spit out his water when he heard the interaction between the officials and Brooks. Bottom line, the official ruling was given. Cussing them out will not help the situation. Right or wrong! Hit the shot or take an unplayable. Simple as that.

Spieth hit arguably one of, if not the greatest, shot on the 17^thI have ever seen

It didn’t take long for Whistling Straits to produce a signature shot in the Ryder Cup. Unfortunately for Jordan and JT, it didn’t help them in a 3-up loss to Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia.

Here’s the shot in his words: “It was kind of one of those shots you practice as a kid for fun,” Spieth said of his shot from a wildly uneven lie that sent him careening down a hill and nearly into taking a plunge into Lake Michigan.”

Two holes down with two to play, Thomas hit his tee shot on the par-3 17th hole to the right of the green, only to watch as it bounced left and shot across the green and down a nearly vertical slope toward Lake Michigan.

The ball ended up lodged in deep rough on a ridge about 10 feet high. Spieth studied it a long time before pulling out a wedge and taking a wild swing at the ball, which somehow plopped onto the green about five feet from the hole.

The momentum from Spieth’s swing sent him falling backward down the slope, and he nearly ran backward as he tried to steady himself before going too far and ending up in the lake.

“I don’t think I exaggerated that fall,” Spieth said. “Once I started moving I had to keep moving until I found a flat spot.”

If you were under a rock this weekend or somehow didn’t see the miraculous shot…you have to see it with your own eyes to believe it! I would give him 5 large buckets of balls and I would lay 5-1 odds he doesn’t get another even remotely that close!

Bryson did not disappoint

Before the Ryder Cup, we were not sure if we were team Brooks or team Bryson. Brooks is a terminator and Bryson is a character. After watching this weekend, I have to admit, Team Bryson closed the gap significantly. It was awesome when he drove the green on #1 and eagled it during the Sunday singles match.

Bryson DeChambeau DROVE THE GREEN at the #RyderCup 😳

(via @GolfChannel) pic.twitter.com/mCDjy9ukL9— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 26, 2021

Yeah, he took down the Ryder Cup GOAT – Sergio Garcia. But the #6 tee is what ultimately won us over. Bryson and his caddie were trying to decide between driver and 3-wood. He was worried he would drive the ball over the green on the 350-yard hole. That’s right, he had to back off the driver and decided instead to hammer a 3 metal on a 350-yard hole. When he puts his driver back in the bag, the crowd started to murmur.

Bryson then loudly said – “Easy Guys, I am still going for the green. Calm down!” Awesome! Arguably the biggest round of his life and he is cracking jokes with the crowd. Golf needs more guys like him. Sure…guys like Brooks, DJ, Xander, and Collin are great golfers but they can be a little predictable/boring! Thanks, Bryson. I think it’s safe to say that you won me and millions of other golfers over this past weekend.

DJ settles the score at whistling straights

Dustin Johnson joins an incredibly exclusive group of players who have taken five wins out of five at a Ryder Cup (100% match victory!) DJ had been named as the ‘elder statesman’ in the USA camp, being the oldest player in the team at 37-years-old.

However, after his 1-up victory against Paul Casey, Johnson joined Francesco Molinari and Larry Nelson as the only players in the modern Ryder Cup era to go 5-0.

In 1967, Arnold Palmer and Gardner Dickinson also achieved 5-0, but that was against Team Great Britain & Ireland.

Dustin was making the short stroll from the 10th green to the 11th tee at Whistling Straits when the galleries on either side of the narrow path began roaring: “MVP! MVP! MVP!” They were not wrong!

Eyes straight ahead, impassive as ever (Bulletin), Johnson deserved the chants but barely acknowledged them. Somewhere deep down, though, he had to be smiling. This is what people mean when they say revenge is best served cold.

On the very same course where 11 years earlier Johnson lost a shot at his first major championship, he won all five of the matches he played and led a young U.S. Ryder Cup team to its most lopsided victory ever over Europe. That the oldest player on the squad also turned out to be the best…made it just that much sweeter. Way to go DJ!

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The Bogey Man’s Guide to Accidental Course Exploration: Or, How I Found My Ball (Eventually) in the Rough of Life

Published

3 days ago

May 27, 2025

The Bogeyman "Boo"

Ah, golf. The gentle game of precision, patience, and occasionally, profound personal humiliation. You know, the kind that makes you question all your life choices, particularly the one where you decided to spend your Saturday morning chasing a tiny white ball around 18 acres of manicured torture.

Boo here, reporting live from the depths of a particularly thorny patch of “rough” that I’m fairly certain wasn’t on the course map. My mission? To recount a tale of a golf shot so spectacularly off-target, it became less about breaking par and more about breaking new ground. Literally.

It was a glorious Tuesday. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and my swing felt… well, it felt like something. I was on the par-4 7th, a hole notorious for its deceptive dogleg and a bunker that swallows balls faster than a hungry teenager devours pizza. My plan was simple: a nice, controlled fade, landing gently just short of the green. A textbook approach, really.

What actually happened was less “textbook” and more “abstract expressionism.” My driver, bless its misguided heart, decided that “fade” was merely a suggestion, and “controlled” was a concept best left to professional pilots. The ball, a brand-new, gleaming Titleist Pro V1 (because, you know, optimism), launched with the trajectory of a startled pheasant and veered sharply right. So sharply, in fact, it cleared the cart path, hopped over the maintenance shed, and disappeared into what I can only describe as a dense, untamed jungle previously known as “the woods bordering the 7th fairway.”

Now, a lesser golfer, a more sensible golfer, might have declared it lost, taken a drop, and moved on with their dignity mostly intact. But I, dear readers, am Mr. Bogey Man. And the Bogey Man doesn’t abandon his children, especially when they cost $5 a pop.

So, armed with a 7-iron (optimism again, clearly), a profound sense of misplaced determination, and a faint hope that perhaps a deer had picked it up and was using it as a chew toy, I plunged into the abyss.

The first five minutes were a blur of tangled vines, unseen roots, and the distinct feeling that I was being watched by small, judgmental woodland creatures. My pristine golf shoes quickly became mud-caked relics. My carefully tucked-in shirt became a casualty of low-hanging branches. I swear, I heard a squirrel snicker.

Then, a glimmer! A flash of white amidst the green. “Aha!” I cried, startling a family of robins. I pushed through a particularly stubborn bush, only to find… a discarded plastic water bottle. My heart sank faster than my last putt from 3 feet.

I pressed on, muttering to myself about the unfairness of golf, the existential dread of lost balls, and whether it was too late to take up competitive napping. Just as I was about to give up and declare the ball a permanent resident of the arboreal underworld, I saw it. Nestled perfectly at the base of an ancient oak, gleaming defiantly, was my Pro V1.

The triumph! The sheer, unadulterated joy! It was like finding the Holy Grail, if the Holy Grail was spherical and prone to slicing. I carefully extracted it, brushed off a few leaves, and held it aloft.

Then I looked around. I had no idea where I was. The fairway was a distant, hazy memory. The cart path? A myth. I was utterly, gloriously lost.

It took another fifteen minutes of bushwhacking, a brief but intense wrestling match with a particularly aggressive thistle, and the accidental discovery of what I’m pretty sure was a very old, very moldy sandwich, but I eventually stumbled back onto the course. My playing partners, who had long since finished the hole and were contemplating sending out a search party (or at least ordering another round of drinks), looked at me with a mixture of pity and amusement.

My score on the 7th? Let’s just say it involved a number that would make a mathematician weep. But the story? The adventure? The sheer ridiculousness of it all? Priceless.

So, the next time your ball decides to take an unscheduled tour of the local flora and fauna, don’t despair. Embrace it. See it as an opportunity for accidental exploration. You might not break 80, but you’ll definitely have a story. And isn’t that what golf is really about? (Besides the frustration, the lost balls, and the occasional snickering squirrel, of course.)

Until next time, keep those swings (mostly) in bounds, and remember: even a bogey can be an adventure.

Boo

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Make watching golf more interesting.

Does the idea of sports betting intimidate you? Stick with me and learn how to make watching sports with your partner more engaging and fun.

Published

1 week ago

May 23, 2025

Sports Betting Babe

Hey there, ClickItGolf fam!

I’m the Sports Betting Babe, and I’m here to shake up your Sundays and sprinkle a little extra thrill on your tee times. I know most of the guys on here already love golf, but this one’s for the ladies, especially those of you who’ve been watching golf with your boyfriend or hubby and secretly thinking, “Wait, can I actually bet on this stuff?”

The answer is yes, you absolutely can and you should.

I’m going to make golf betting super easy to understand, a little sexy, and a whole lot of fun. You don’t need to be a pro or know who won the Ryder Cup in 1999. You just need to know how to make smart, simple bets and enjoy the ride.

Let’s Start with the Basics: How to Bet on Golf

Betting on golf is like picking your favorite brunch spot. You check the vibe, pick someone reliable, and hope it all works out. Here are the easiest ways to get started:

1. Pick the Winner (Outright)

This one’s like calling your shot. You’re betting on who will win the whole tournament. Odds are listed next to each golfer. For example, +1200 means a $10 bet would win you $120. Favorites are usually listed around +800 to +1400 and less favorites, or long shots, are usually +5000 and up. Big swings, big rewards.

2. Top 5 / Top 10 Finish

If you’re not ready to go all-in, no worries. These bets are like hedging your weekend plans – low commitment, still fun. Bet on a golfer to finish strong (in the top 5 or 10) instead of winning outright. It’s a safer bet, but still gives you a reason to cheer all weekend long.

3. Matchups

This one’s juicy. Sportsbooks will pit two golfers against each other, and you just pick which one finishes higher.

For example, if you see a matchup like Viktor Hovland vs. Tony Finau, and you think Viktor is trending hotter, bet on him to beat Tony. Even if neither of them wins, if Viktor finishes 8th and Tony finishes 9th, you win. It’s a simpler way to stay engaged without needing to track the entire tournament field because even if they’re not winning the tournament, you’re winning your bet. It’s low drama, high payoff.

Bonus? It’s a perfect way to gain low-key bragging rights during Sunday brunch.

4. Live Bets

Tournaments stretch over four days. That means the odds shift, players rise and fall, and you can jump in with bets mid-tourney. It’s like shopping sales in real time—see who’s hot in real time and grab the value before it’s gone.

Why Women Should Love Golf Betting

Golf is the perfect sport to ease into betting. It’s slow enough to follow, exciting enough to matter, and gives you tons of chances to win over the weekend. Plus, nothing gets a guy’s attention like a woman who casually drops, “I’ve got Rickie to finish top 10. Let’s go.”

You don’t need to know every stat or swing path. You just need to be curious, confident, and down to learn. The goal? Make betting approachable for women and show the guys we can hold our own.

Why I Love ClickItGolf

ClickItGolf is all about making golf more fun and accessible and I’m all about the same. Whether you’re here for gear deals, course perks, or just that perfect swing tip, this site is your clubhouse. Adding a little betting action into the mix? That’s just next-level fun.

So, ladies go grab your iced coffee, fire up the PGA app, and get ready to make golf weekends a lot more interesting.

Follow me here at ClickItGolf or on Instagram @sportsbettingbabe_official and let’s turn birdies into bankroll.

See you on the green (and in the winner’s circle).

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Meet the Sports Betting Babe: ClickitGolf’s Newest Voice Bringing Style, Smarts, and a Whole Lot of Fun to the Game

Published

1 week ago

May 22, 2025

Bobby Markowitz

Hey ClickitGolf family,

I’m thrilled to introduce someone who’s about to shake up your sports weekends in the best way possible.

She’s smart, stylish, funny, and knows her way around a betting slip—please welcome The Sports Betting Babe to the ClickitGolf crew.

Now before you assume this is just another picks column or dry rundown of odds, let me stop you right there. The Sports Betting Babe is anything but ordinary. She’s not here to act like a Vegas oddsmaker or overwhelm you with stats. She’s here to make sports betting fun, flirty, and totally approachable—especially for the ladies.

So who is she?

She’s the kind of woman who can turn heads at a cocktail party in heels one night, then toss on a tee and jeans the next morning to watch a game on the couch with wings and a cold beer. She’s sharp, relatable, and yes she actually loves sports. Not the fake kind of “I’m just here for the vibes” love, but the “I scream at the TV when my parlay falls apart in the 4th quarter” kind of love.

She lives for big Sunday slates, nail-biter golf finishes, buzzer-beaters, and 9th-inning home runs.

But here’s the best part, her mission is to bring more women into the sports conversation, and she’s doing it through betting.

Betting… but make it fun and responsible

The Sports Betting Babe isn’t trying to be your gambling guru. She’s not claiming to have inside info on who’s winning the Masters or who’s hitting a triple-double tonight. What she is doing is giving you the tools, confidence, and attitude to get in the game and have a damn good time doing it.

She believes sports betting can be empowering. It’s a way to connect, to learn, and yes, to make Sunday brunch with your partner a little more competitive. She’s all about responsible fun, setting limits, understanding your bets, and never taking it too seriously.

More Than Just Golf

Yes, she’ll be writing about golf betting often (because we are ClickitGolf after all), but don’t be surprised when she drops takes on NFL Sundays, March Madness upsets, NHL playoff runs, and MLB long shots. She’s a cornucopia of sports knowledge, and she’s bringing it all to the table served with a smile and a wink.

Her First Article Drops Tomorrow

Her debut piece hits the site tomorrow:
👉 “Ladies, Let’s Bet on Golf—Your Intro from the Sports Betting Babe”

It’s part pep talk, part how-to, and all personality. Whether you’ve never placed a bet in your life or you’ve been riding parlays for years, this one’s for you.

Follow Her Journey

Want more from The Sports Betting Babe?
You can follow her on Instagram at @sportsbettingbabe_official for daily takes, behind-the-scenes fun, and maybe the occasional outfit inspo for your next girls’ night and game day.

We couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to the team. Get ready for bold opinions, plenty of laughs, and a whole new way to fall in love with sports.

Stay tuned,
Bobby

#ClickItGolf #SportsBettingBabe #GolfBetting #SportsBettingForWomen #SmartIsSexy #GameDayFun #ResponsibleGaming