Yes, it’s PGA Championship week, but let’s take a quick moment before delving into the season's second major and talk about the Ryder Cup.

The Ryder Cup stands as one of the finest events on the golf calendar, an every-other-year throwdown where golf sheds its staid, selfish image and becomes, for one glorious weekend, a team sport.

The U.S. throttled Europe last fall at Whistling Straits to win the Cup, and now, a new book documents how that historic triumph was decades in the making. “The Cup They Couldn’t Lose” (Hachette, $29) by Shane Ryan breaks down the many ways Team USA captain Steve Stricker countered decades of European dominance … as well as the years of American incompetence and mismanagement that led the team into the desert in the first place. It’s golf nerd nirvana, but more than that, it’s a brilliant sociological study of psychology and team-building.

“Both teams want to win the Ryder Cup,” Ryan writes, “but there is a specific, unmistakable desire among Europeans to beat America that doesn’t exist the other way around. For the Americans, it’s never quite as personal – they’re the reigning kings of the support, they know it’s not going to change, and it would never occur to them to have a specific grudge against the UK or Europe. They’re simply too good.”

The Ryder Cup was established in 1927 as a friendly competition between the United States and England. For most of the first four decades of its history, the event was little more than a biennial beatdown, an American triumph so constant and thorough that the Cup nearly died. Jack Nicklaus, of all people, stressed the need for the Cup to expand to all of Europe, but it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that Team Europe — under the steady, precise, visionary captaincy of Tony Jacklin — began taking chunks out of the USA’s hide.

By then, America was doomed, though in its arrogance and assumption of superiority — We just show up and we’ll win — it took several more years for Team USA to realize just how far it had fallen behind Europe, and how much work had to go into making a triumph like Whistling Straits a reality. Even after Paul Azinger captained America to a decisive victory at Valhalla in 2008 using leadership tactics inspired by Navy SEALs, the United States failed to change its thinking on a foundational level. That led to the 2014 debacle at Gleneagles, where Europe embarrassed the United States and Phil Mickelson humiliated Tom Watson in the post-tournament interview room.

The continued futility frustrated everyone on the U.S. side. “You know, if I could put my finger on it," said Jim Furyk, losing Team USA captain in 2018, "we would have changed this [stuff] a long time ago."

Coming into the 2021 Ryder Cup, Europe had beaten the United States in nine of the past 12 events even though the United States boasted the world’s best players (from Mickelson and Tiger Woods to Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth). But the U.S. seemed to show an uncanny knack for annihilating itself, whether it was Mickelson ripping Watson or Patrick Reed disrupting the locker room in 2018. And as 2021 drew near, Stricker had to wonder whether the then-burgeoning feud between Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka would have the same effect on his team’s all-too-fragile psyche.

“What we would find out,” Ryan writes, “is that Steve Stricker was a different kind of American captain. He was the kind who learned from everything, especially the mistakes.”

One of the book’s finest sections is a deconstruction of all the myths surrounding America’s decades-long futility in the Ryder Cup. “We just need to play better,” “Europe is more unified,” “America is a team of individuals,” “Europe just wants it more” … there’s merit to all those rationalizations and more, but as Ryan documents, there’s no substitution for preparation backed by good old-fashioned psychological motivation.

“We go to try to win the Ryder Cup, whereas the U.S. tries not to lose it,” 2021 European captain Padraig Harrington said. “Because they’re favorites, because they should win, they’re afraid, whereas we’re the country cousins! We have a point to prove.”

Disclosure: Shane’s a friend and companion on inside-the-ropes walks at various tournaments. He’s also a hell of a writer, researcher and interviewer. He managed to get microscopic yet revealing tidbits out of former captains and players that will thrill hardcore golf geeks, like the way Stricker kept a list of the balls each player used on his phone, or the way European captains would stagger the alternate-shot lineups to give Jon Rahm the best opportunities to wield his world-breaking putter.

What makes golf great — player against course, player against themselves — is still present in the Ryder Cup, but amped to an infinite degree. You make a putt to win a tournament, congratulations, you burnished your own career. You make a putt to win a Ryder Cup, you’re a national hero and a golf immortal.

The nationalistic element of the Ryder Cup — you’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for your country — inspires some and terrifies others. Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have one major between the three of them, but are three of the greatest Ryder Cup players in history. Woods, on the other hand, is 4-2-2 in singles matches but only 9-19-1 in the team events.

Contrary to the restrained decorum exhibited at most golf tournaments, Ryder Cup crowds are loud, raucous, profane, wicked … in short, it’s like a college football crowd in the gallery, and it’s a magnificent home-field advantage. Ryan captures every bit of that raucous spectacle, from the Packers fans who booed Stricker, a Bears fan, to the beer-chugging that Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas did on the first tee when their playing was done for the day on Saturday.

The Ryder Cup is an event like any other, and “The Cup They Couldn’t Lose” perfectly embodies what makes it so great. The next Ryder Cup is scheduled for Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2023, in Rome. Carve out some time for both.

Shane Ryan is *the* golf journalist, and I am so excited he wrote another book, this time about the Ryder Cup. I loved this book so much I bought it as a gift for my brother in law who also enjoys golf.

Sometimes ambiguous book titles work---and sometimes they do not. Shane Ryan’s new golf book, The Cup They Couldn’t Lose, works. Subtitled “America, The Ryder Cup and the Long Road to Whistling Straits,” his book is a thorough treatment of the history of the Ryder Cup from its inception in 1927 up to the 2021 Cup matches on the shore of Lake Michigan at Whistling Straits. With stops along the way to describe the American domination of Great Britain in the period from 1935 to 1983, the addition of European players to the overseas team in 1979 and the gradual ascension of the Euros to the point that in the period from 1995 to 2014, they won the Cup eight of ten time, Ryan meticulously reports the facts of these contests and adds just the right touch of colorful commentary to bring the characters to life.
Ryan dissects the troubles the Americans had in that period when they could muster only two wins, both on American. Ryan’s analysis, although not new, is straightforward and convincing. Simply put, the American teams’ arrogance in taking the Europeans too lightly was a huge obstacle for them to overcome for them to regain a more even battlefield. Ryan points to the 2008 captain, Paul Azinger, and his willingness to listen to folks outside the “inner circle” as a step in the right direction for America to “right the ship”. He skillfully describes and analyzes Azinger’s use of the “pod system” that allowed the captains to better pair players who complemented each other’s games unlike Hal Sutton’s disastrous pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Michelson in 2004 at Oakland Hills.
Using chapters alternating between the history of the Ryder Cup and the preparation and playing of the 2021 Cup, Ryan is able to keep the reader’s interest focused on a story line that is compelling. At the same time, he does not devote an inordinate amount of attention to some of the more famous Ryder Cup events—“The Concession” at Royal Birkdale in 1969 when Jack Nicklaus conceded a putt to Tony Jacklin for a tie; the “War by the Shore” in 1991 at Kiawah; the “Battle of Brookline” in 1999 and the famous come-from-behind victory by the US team; and the 2012 “Meltdown at Medinah and instead, keeps us focused on the “why is this happening” question.
On one level, the title suggests the pressure that was on the American team captained by Wisconsin native son, Steve Stricker, to bring home the coveted trophy. On another level, the title, if examined after Stricker completed picking his team, suggests that the Americans were a “lock” to win the Cup and that there was nothing---short of a monumental collapse—that could keep them from winning because they were the more talented team. The US team could not afford to lose the 2021 Ryder Cup, and as we all know, they did not!
Ryan’s book is on my bookshelf with many other enjoyable and informative golf history books. It is, by far, the best of the Ryder Cup volumes.

The United States won 21 of the first 25 Ryder Cups, but they’ve since won only six with 11 losses. I received an advanced copy for review of Shane Ryan’s “The Cup They Couldn’t Lose: America, the Ryder Cup, and the Long Road to Whistling Straits” expecting to read a detailed account of the 2021 Ryder Cup but instead the book carried readers through the history of the Ryder Cup while also giving an account of the leadup to Whistling Straits.
Ryan takes readers on a quick study of the Ryder Cup history throughout the book. He explains how the United States was so dominate in the early decades of the Cup that it was decided that in order for the Ryder Cup to survive, Great Britain's team should change to include the entire continent of Europe to make the event more evenly matched. It took a few years, but soon, under the leadership of Captain Tony Jacklin, Europe began to dominate and continued to do so after Jacklin’s departure. Even after the U.S. 's dominating win in Wisconsin,
itt’s still to be determined whether the U.S. has fully embraced the detailed planning and strategizing exhibited by U.S. Captain Steve Stricker. This book would be enjoyed by both the fan of golf history and a general sports fan. Ryan keeps the book moving while both keeping readers interested and delivering a nice history of the modern era of the Ryder Cup. Perhaps Zach Johnson and the U.S. team will deliver a performance in Italy in 2023 that necessitates a follow-up book by Ryan.

Considered to be the premier team event in golf, the Ryder Cup tournament started as a contest between the best golfers in the United States and England. Later in its history, the England team was expanded to include all of Europe and the matches always generate a large amount of interest by golfers, fans and the media. The 2021 Ryder Cup was no exception. The work of US captain Steve Stricker to get his team to pull out a victory is the major topic of this excellent book by Shane Ryan.

Reading just the title may make one believe the book is just about the 2021 Ryder Cup, which by itself makes an interesting story especially when one considers it was delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the book is MUCH more than that – it is basically a history book of the Ryder Cup and much of this information is helpful in understanding the strategy involved in the decisions made by Stricker.

This history can best be described as a roller coaster as for nearly 50 years, the event was dominated by the Americans – so much so that it was nearly ended on multiple occasions. But in the 1980’s, primarily through the innovative thinking by European captain Tony Jacklin and also helped by one of the best players in Ryder Cup history, Spaniard Seve Ballesteros, Europe started winning the event regularly and even won tournaments on American soil, something that was never done before Jacklin changed the European strategy.

Ryan writes about these people and so many more who are important in Ryder Cup history for both sides from a position of knowledge and ability to obtain inside information. As a result, any golf fan is in for a real treat when reading this as it is a book that will grab your attention and hold it for the duration. While one does have to have a serious interest in the game to truly enjoy the book, it is certainly worth the time to invest to learn about the history and specifically the challenges for the American team in the 2021 version of the Cup. An outstanding book for any golfer’s bookshelf.

I wish to thank Hachette Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.