Europe
is on foreign soil, playing with seven rookies against a star-studded U.S. team
with far better world rankings -- just the role European players seem to relish
in the Ryder Cup.
"It's nice
being the underdogs," said Briton Lee Westwood on Wednesday before heading out
for a practice round in the drizzle at The Country Club, where the biennial match-play
competition begins on Friday.
"It
means there's less pressure on us and more pressure on them. Great expectations
for them to win, I suppose. It's in their country, so the pressure is building,
I would imagine."
Westwood
and his teammates are forever conveying the company line in a strategy designed
to lighten their load, while turning up the pressure on the favored Americans,
who hold a massive rankings edge on paper of 142-486, led by one-two punch Tiger
Woods and David Duval.
Two
years ago in Spain the Americans came in with Masters champion Woods, British
Open champion Justin Leonard and PGA winner Davis Love and came out 14 1/2 to
13 1/2 Ryder Cup losers with that celebrated trio combining for a dismal 1-9-3
mark.
Four years ago at Oak
Hill in Rochester, New York, Europe staged a stunning Sunday uprising in the singles
to beat a favored U.S. team by the same 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 score.
Westwood, ranked fifth in the world, is not without confidence, mind you.
"I think we can beat anybody," said Westwood,
who joins world number three Colin Montgomerie as the only Europeans among a world
top 14, which includes nine Americans.
"I
think this format leads to shocks. Certainly 18 holes is a very short space of
time -- unlike the World Match Play where you play 36 holes in one day. So the
chances are there for you to have a good round and beat anybody."
Mark O'Meara, the 1998 winner of both the Masters and British Open, was quoted
as saying, "If we don't win, we'll get hammered."
Irishman Darren Clarke said there was a different attitude back home about the
European Ryder Cup team. "I think the Europeans, people at home, are all hoping
that we're going to win and not expecting us to win. And that's a huge difference."
This Ryder Cup marks a changing
of the guard for Europe, which is competing without such notable fixtures as Nick
Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosman.
"I
think everything changes from time to time," said Clarke. "Nick and Bernhard and
Woosie, they've been around for a long, long time."
It will mark the first time in 22 years that Faldo is missing from a Ryder Cup
competition. Faldo (11 teams), Langer (9) and Woosnam (8) have combined to score
62 Ryder Cup points with a cumulative 55-46-14 record.
"They've
played fantastic for Europe," said Clarke. "They had their opportunity to qualify
for the team again this time. They didn't quite manage to do it, so things move
on. The European Tour is progressing. I think we're getting stronger."
Westwood said it may not be the end of the Ryder road for that famous threesome.
"I wouldn't write any of
those three players off for qualifying for the next team," said the 26-year-old
Englishman. "But the strength in depth in the European Tour is such that it's
not as easy to get into Ryder Cup teams now. There's a wider choice of players
to pick from as well."
Westwood
got in a parting shot about pressure when asked if he detected pressure within
the U.S. team.
"Well, they
must be under pressure being the 12 best players in the world, mustn't they,"
he said, referring to a comment made Tuesday by Jeff Maggert. "According to themselves."
