GolfGizmo

The 37th Ryder Cup will take place from 19th to 21st September 2008, with team Europe hoping to retain the cup from the US PGA team and make it four in a row.

The Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville plans on being prepared, even after a recent storm roughened up the course to some extent. The forecast looks sunny and warm, as it looks to be another exciting weekend, with the two sides having finalised their teams and ready for the Ryder Cup weekend. With practice rounds underway, here is a preview of what the two sides plan on offering this weekend.

Team Europe: Captained by Nick Faldo, top golfers include 28 year old Sergio Garcia, who has fared well in past Ryder Cups, winning eight and a half points out of a possible ten in the last two match ups.

Another top favourite to take home a few points is Padraig Harrington, winner of two majors this year, along with Lee Westwood, who has made five previous Ryder Cup appearances, and has an ambition to be a Ryder Cup captain himself one day.

Pairings for the European team have still not been announced, with many pundits wondering if this was the right strategy to take, along with questioning those that Faldo left off of the team, such as Darren Clarke.

Still, the European golfers come into this as favourites to take their fourth straight Ryder Cup win.

Team America: Some people have written off the US team from this match up, especially with the absence of one Tiger Woods. However, they have had time to plan for this, while a lot of the top members from previous US teams are here, including Phil Mickelson, along with a few young PGA golfers such as Anthony Kim who as one of six rookies on the US team, warned "We have absolutely nothing to lose."

With tensions brewing slightly in the team Europe camp, this type of attitude may be just what the US golfers need in order to overcome their underdog status. US Team Captain Paul Azinger has not been critical when being asked about team Europe, instead throwing complements and ignoring rumours that Faldo stated that Azinger regretted his choice of vice-captains Dave Stockton and Raymond Floyd.

We'll find out how it all plays out this weekend at the Valhalla Golf Club, as the 2008 Ryder Cup takes place.

Once again, the biannual Ryder Cup tournament is set to send shivers down the spines of many golf aficionados in both Europe and the United States. The 37th Ryder Cup will take place from 19th to 21st September, with top golf professionals from both continents battling it out in one of the last great sporting events founded on prestige rather than prizes.


With the European Tour golfers having won three consecutive (and five of the last six) Ryder Cups, the US PGA team wants to make sure that it takes full advantage of its home turf. This year's Ryder Cup will be hosted at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, which previously hosted the Senior PGA Championship in May 2004 and the PGA Club Professional Championship in June 2002. Outside of tournaments, it generally serves as a private golf club, and was designed by professional golfer Jack Nicklaus.

US Team Captain Paul Azinger intends to give his team another slight advantage, announcing a change to alternate shot format, citing past performance of the US team when playing under this format. For the first time in nine years, the opening matches of the Ryder Cup will feature this format, which over the last three matches was replaced with what is known as Four Ball Better-Ball. Azinger has also revamped the method of team selection, using the amount of prize money earned by a golfer in order to determine the top eight golfers, and then manually picking golfers nine to twelve.

As for the European team, three time masters winner Nick Faldo is the team captain, and believes that playing on US courses may be to his advantage too. After all, Faldo won Augusta in 1989, 1990 and 1996, and even does commentary for US based ESPN and ABC television networks. The European team will be selected via two qualifying measurements, the World Ranking Points List and the European Tour List.

Regardless of who wins, the 2008 Ryder Cup is expected to be one of the highlights of the sporting year, with millions of viewers in several markets.

The recently concluded Ryder Cup Competition was a well fought match between the top rated golf professionals of the USA and Europe. This competition began in 1927 and occurs every two years, alternating the location from a site in the USA to a site in Europe. There is a strong sense of history and national pride that accompanies this competition. The Ryder Cup began as and remains an atypical golfing event in that there are no individual awards. The Ryder Cup is a team competition – the USA against Europe - for national pride, and the only goal or prize is for the team to win.

Let’s take a second to look at precisely how this team competition goes directly against the nature of golf. Golf which dates back to the 15th century, is a purely individual event; at the heart of golf, you have one person with one desire to win for their own attainment of victory.  Now, you could argue that the golfers do get assistance from their caddies, but in the end, they are they only one swinging the golf club and they are the ones taking full responsibility for the consequences of that swing.  If I am the golfer, then the result is all about me.

So how does a team prepare for a competition that goes directly against the very nature of the sport? Easy! They do exactly what they have always done. They prepare and practice the same way they do for an individual competition. The only thing that changes is in their intention and the goal. They now practice with the intention to contribute to the goal of the team. They no longer are working hard for themselves. They are working hard for the team. The goal is no longer about me it is about us.

Anyone who has participated on any type of team can attest to the synergy that gets created when individual goals are melted into one desire for the same goal. This is also a key concept in the study of Kabbalah. The science of Kabbalah helps us to understand questions like “What is the meaning of my life?” One of the key components in the study of Kabbalah is that we all need to be on one team with one desire to grow closer to our Creator. As with any other team effort, the more we let go of our personal desires and focus on the great goal of the team, the greater chance that the entire team will achieve their goal.

What would the world be like today, if it were more popular to let go of our  personal desires and focus on those desires that would bring the greater good to so many? What would the world be like if the popular fashion was always to think of what is in it for the whole and not to think what is in it for me? What would the world look like if it were the norm to give more than you receive? What would this world look like?