In 1983, Europe lost the Ryder Cup by a single point, their third defeat in as many renewals since uniting to take on the might of the United States, whose winning run stretched back to before World War II. Yet in defeat came something of far greater importance: the birth of the competition as something truly competitive.
"Why you all sit there like that?" barked Seve Ballesteros, scraping his teammates up off the floor. "We did not lose, this was a great victory. And anyway, you'll see – next time we f*** them."
Seve was right. Europe were dominant in 1985, won away from home in 1987, held onto it in 1989, and would not suffer a bruising defeat for a quarter of a century. This one had been different. At last, they had delivered a clear and proud message to their superstar rivals: we can beat you, and soon we will.
This is golfing folklore, and had the sport sailed smoothly through the last three years, it would've felt especially relevant as we prepare for the Presidents Cup, another team event which has been dominated by the USA. They've now won 11 from 13 including each of the last eight, and few give their International opponents much hope of stopping the rot at Quail Hollow this week.
In 2019, they had hope. In fact, they entered the singles with the lead, eventually losing 16-14. It was the second time in three that they had their chance, and had there been a Seve in Melbourne, those in the team room would surely have heard something similar to those words he yelled back in '83. In Korea, the Internationals had hinted that they might be able to stop the rot. In Australia, they all but confirmed it.
For now, we're left with hope, and not much of that. The United States would be a better team were Kevin Kisner not playing and Dustin Johnson was, but Kisner is the World Match Play-winning world number 25. They have a popular captain and nobody in the team who is widely disliked. They're at home, at a course they know, where two of their squad have won tournaments. There are no excuses.
Spieth has a little added incentive here as he missed the 2019 renewal before playing poorly for much of the subsequent Ryder Cup, or else scoring poorly with an out-of-sorts Justin Thomas as his sidekick.
He went on to halve his singles, the first time in seven matches across both main team events that he'd salvaged any kind of result. That's in some ways alarming but there's some randomness at play here and again, a 0-6-1 record guarantees that he's engaged come Sunday, at such a time when the result may already be beyond doubt.
He also has course form, playing well here when a rookie in 2013 and then again, in 2017, when in pursuit of the career grand slam for the very first time. In the circumstances, finishing just outside the top 20 was a very good effort and confirms that Quail Hollow, with its slight Augusta parallels and greens he'll certainly enjoy, is a good course for him.
There should be more scope for separation here, as there are players who would need to be exceptional from the off to justify more than three sessions, and others who'd need a good excuse not to play five. It seems likely the winner is involved in every session, which yes is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy: play well, score points, and you get to play more.
Key though must be to focus on the best players in a group with quite a disparity from top to bottom. Again this sounds obvious but even in 2019, when two rookies shared the spoils, they were the fifth- and sixth-ranked players on Ernie Els' team. In 2017 Louis Oosthuizen was the fourth, in 2015 he was the second, and players ranked second and seventh shared the spoils in 2013.
Only in 2007 has the best International scorer come from their four lowest-ranked players, and that was major champion Mike Weir. There is no equivalent in Immelman's side. This time his bottom four is Taylor Pendrith, Si Woo Kim, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Cam Davis, and I actually rate Sebastian Munoz their weakest link. It would be only a little less surprising were KH Lee their star, and Mito Pereira is woefully out of form.
That leaves a pool of five players from whom the winner will surely come, and with Adam Scott likely to be paired with one of the weaker players on Thursday, and at 42 perhaps not expected to turn out five times, I'll suggest that we might be talking about four.
Corey Conners again is likely to be with Taylor Pendrith at some stage and both have serious putting issues to overcome so I'll make no apologies for siding with two of the remaining three, namely HIDEKI MATSUYAMA and SUNGJAE IM.
These are the best two players at Trevor Immelman's disposal and Im looked born for the task when earning 3.5 points on debut in Australia. He ended the 2022 season at the very top of his game, finishing runner-up three times in five starts, and his putting improvement should continue on his favoured bermuda surfaces.
He'll likely partner Joohyung Kim who is also respected, but it would surprise me were they together all week and it may be that Kim is rested at times. That plus the fact Im has already been out and won a singles match in this arena make him the preferred choice at what are generally similar odds, though there is a case for backing both in the hope they prove a formidable partnership.
Kim has hired Rickie Fowler's former caddie, Joe Skovron, and that's a smart move especially given that Fowler's first win came here. However, I'm wary of expecting too much too soon and that change is also something of an unknown, which on balance means I'm comfortable passing over him in favour of the 2021 Masters champion.
This is the first time he'll go out as the clear star man for the Internationals, as a major champion, and after flushing his way through his final preparation round last week, I'm hopeful he is one of the key reasons the scoreline remains somewhat respectable. That we know he's very effective at Quail Hollow is another positive and three points from five is a target he can reach.
Splitting stakes on both these two in the top overall market should also be considered, on the basis that the target could be lowered by US rotation. The Internationals have asked more players to take part in every session (40 to 31 in renewals where minimum number of matches per player was set at three or lower) and that gap should widen. Note that as of 2019, the minimum number of sessions per player was reduced to two, and one International player featured just twice. There could be a couple more here.
All of this means that if either Im or Matsuyama produce their best golf this week they could top-score overall despite featuring in a likely losing side, as Im did (joint with two others) in 2019, and Oosthuizen did in 2015. Both are available at 20/1 which makes for a 19/2 chance combined, but I'm happy focusing on the top International scorer market and two chunky each-way plays aimed at exploiting a serious lack of depth.
Those expecting the United States to run riot might consider the 5/1 with Sky Bet that they win every session, though this is something they're yet to do. Better would be to speculate that they can take either THURSDAY'S FOURSOMES OR FRIDAY'S FOUR-BALLS 5-0, which has been combined to make a boosted 15/2 shot – each can be backed at 14/1 individually, which makes for 13/2 if done that way but does offer up the chance of collecting twice.
Scores for the first session (USA first) since inception read 5-0, 4-1, 1.5-3.5, 5-0, 2.5-3.5, 2.5-3.5, 5.5-0.5, 3.5-2.5, 4-2, 3.5-2.5, 4-1, 3.5-1.5, 1-4. Translated, there have been just seven renewals which began with five matches on day one, and USA have managed the whitewash twice, both at home. This alone doesn't mean that 14/1 represents value, but I suspect it does. Effectively this is a five-fold accumulator at an average price of 8/11 each match, and I can see a scenario where this looks good business after the draw.
They came within half a point of a whitewash on Friday in 2017 and given the respective line-ups, upwards of 6/1 that they go 5-0 in either of the first two sessions makes plenty of appeal. If this is over quickly, perhaps we can profit from the disappointment of a non-event.
Finally and in contradiction to much of what I've written above, don't underestimate the possibility of professional pride and focus influencing Sunday's singles and any wide-margin handicap wagers or correct scores.
In 2017, the Internationals trailed 14.5-3.5 away from home, staring at a record defeat, and bossed Sunday's matches 7.5-4.5 to restore pride. In 2007 the match was over and again they won the singles session, notably securing three of the bottom four matches when the celebrations had started. These are two of the heaviest defeats suffered by the Internationals and backing them at 5/1 with Sky Bet, Betfred and BoyleSports (bet365 go 13/5, some other firms offer 7/2) to win the Sunday singles session looks worth the risk.
They've won the final session in 2007, 2013 and 2017, tied it in 1996, 1998, 2011 and 2015, and while this is priced as the most one-sided renewal to date, the visitors should be shorter than they are to end on a high whatever the match situation. If, as expected, it's as good as over, that may take the edge off what looks a sharp US side who should win and win well. Perhaps they'll start with a bang and then fizzle out.
Posted at 1130 BST on 20/09/22
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at and .