As the winning captain of Team Europe in 2014, Ireland’s Paul McGinley hung a poster in the team room that read, “Passion has determined our past; attitude will determine our future.”
After the Europeans were routed by a score of 19-9 at Whistling Straits, McGinley told Shane Ryan in his book “The Cup They Couldn’t Lose,” that “the Americans have matched us in the passion stakes. So now it becomes about attitude, about being the Rottweiler, of being inside that siege mentality of playing away from home and knowing it’s going to be incredibly difficult.”
McGinley, who has taken on the role of strategic director under Captain Luke Donald, said that the Europeans are approaching this week’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black differently than any Cup before.
“We feel that we’ve really underperformed away from home,” said McGinley during a media call last week of a team that last won on U.S. soil in 2012. “We just haven’t lost in three of the last four times; we’ve been resoundingly beaten. And we’re trying to correct that.”
To do so, he said the team is looking at the Ryder Cup through a different lens. He conceded that the Euros have been guilty of replicating its successful home model, where Europe hasn’t lost since 1993, on the road and expecting the same results when the dynamics aren’t the same, especially facing a rowdy, partisan environment that serves as a 13th man of sorts.
For starters, Donald returned as Euro captain, the first repeat captain since Bernard Gallacher in 1993, bringing with him great continuity. That extended to the selection of the team, which features 11 of 12 returning players from Rome. [Only Rasmus Hojgaard is a newbie, replacing his brother Nicolai.] Then the team took a scouting trip to Bethpage Black ahead of the Cup, which begins Sept. 26, and played 27 holes while spending 2 ½ days together.
“We’ve never done that before. It was players, caddies, vice captains, captain, and me, and that was it,” McGinley said. “We got a real good look at the golf course and shared more extensive and elaborate ideas with each player about what their potential role is for the week and potential partners as well. And we’ve never done that before for an away match.”
“A different challenge requires different thinking and strategies,” Donald said. That means preparing for a hostile environment at Bethpage.
“We have to manage that tough environment, first and foremost. We understand that’s the biggest advantage that the USA have. So that’s been my focus for the last 20 months, really, to get these guys ready for that. And, I think they will,” Donald said.
Has Team Europe cracked the code for winning on the road? Only time will tell but this is a new approach and McGinley hopes the start of a new winning attitude that will emerge and can serve as a future blueprint every four years when Team Europe hits the road.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Europeans have new approach to road Ryder Cups to prepare for Bethpage
