2002 Ryder Cup far from normal event

Only a true optimist, or the two captains, would call the upcoming competition between the U.S. and Europe half full.

This Ryder Cup is definitely half-empty.

About half the players on both sides are struggling to make cuts this year. Under normal conditions, they wouldn't be anywhere near the Belfry this week.

But nothing will be normal about this year's Ryder Cup. The one-year postponement caused by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 has cast a different light on the event.

Usually, the Ryder Cup features the best players from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. That would have been the case if it had been held as scheduled last year.

When it was agreed that the event couldn't be played so quickly after the tragedy, the captains decided immediately to keep the teams intact. Whoever qualified in 2001 would play in 2002.

They decided against adding any additional wild-card picks, and they completely dismissed the notion of throwing the race for automatic bids open again.

"Nobody was ever going to be replaced to start with," said U.S. captain Curtis Strange. "I kept an open mind for a while on the possibility of adding somebody. But at the end of the day, the right thing to do was just keep the same team. There was nothing wrong with that."

Strange added that if somebody was added to the team, "there always would be an asterisk spot" by his name.

The decision was completely defensible, but it also had one notable consequence: Many of the players who qualified last year have had terrible years in 2002.

The overall dropoff has been dramatic. Last year, the U.S. team's average world ranking was 11; now it is 31. Europe has fallen from 24 to 53.

The players were selected off the points they accumulated in 2000 and 2001, with the latter year weighted more. The top-10 finishers earned automatic bids, and the captains then added two wild-card picks.

The format probably saved David Duval. The 2001 British Open champion not only is winless this year but he also barely is a factor anymore. He shot a 76 in Sunday's final round of the American Express Championship.

Duval's game is so deep in the dumps, he probably wouldn't have been a wild-card pick despite still holding onto the world's No. 12 ranking.

Duval isn't alone. Paul Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia, Scott Verplank, Scott Hoch and Stewart Cink have been plagued by injuries and/or poor play this year. And Hal Sutton has plummeted to 125th in the world rankings.

European captain Sam Torrance also has a number of gaping holes in his lineup. Players such as Phillip Price, Paul McGinley and Pierre Fulke have been one or two-hit wonders, none of them coming in 2002.

One of Europe's stalwarts, Jesper Parnevik, is mired in a terrible slump. He played in all five Ryder Cup matches in 1999, but it seems doubtful he can do it again.

Then there's the sad case of Lee Westwood. He has fallen from No. 5 in the world to 148th. He has gone from being one of Europe's workhorses to probably playing only on Sunday. That's likely fine with Westwood. He says the Ryder Cup isn't a place to be when you only have a quarter of your game.

With so many liabilities on his side, Torrance will have limited options for pairings during the first two days.

"I think it would help if everybody has played," Torrance said. "But if somebody isn't playing well, I'm not giving points away so they can have a free game."

If Torrance could redo his squad, he definitely would take Ryder Cup veteran Jose Maria Olazabal. He would count on young gun Justin Rose and 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie.

Strange, meanwhile, would take 1999 Ryder Cup hero Justin Leonard, along with Chris DiMarco, Rocco Mediate, and PGA champion Rich Beem. Brad Faxon probably would be one of his wild cards, with Western Open winner Jerry Kelly also in the mix.

But there's no going back. The players think the right decision was made.

"I don't think you want to get two more picks, instead of 12 guys, have 14 guys," Sergio Garcia said. "I really think the guys who got on the team to play in 2001 deserved to be on the team. It's unfortunate that maybe you get a guy who was playing really well then and now is not playing so well, but that's the way it goes."

That's the way it always has been, Strange said. He maintains the situation is just a bit more highlighted this year.

"My answer to that is: When has the Ryder Cup ever been played with 24 of the best players in the world at that time?" Strange said. "Probably never. You always have somebody who made the team that made it predominantly on their play the year before but is really not playing well at the moment. Will it take anything away from the matches? Absolutely not."

Indeed, match play is a different animal. One bad hole can knock you out in a 72-hole tournament. In match play, it only costs you a hole.

Strange thinks a slumping player like Sutton still can rise to the occasion this week. The Ryder Cup is known for being unpredictable.

"I dare say if somebody thinks the matches won't be as competitive because we have some guys not playing well, I think they're going to be wrong," Strange said. "I think the matches will be just as exciting if you would have had them last September."