http://www.kentucky.com/761/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com 2008 Ryder Cup 60 Wed, 14 May 2008 08:41:42 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/181456.html http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/181456.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:02 EST
How could Valhalla ever top that?

By hosting the 37th Ryder Cup next September.

"The Ryder Cup is the pinnacle of golf. It's absolutely bigger than the four majors," tournament director Tara Guenthner said. "Golfers playing as a team, with pride for their countries, takes it to another level of importance.

"It creates the most dramatic, spirited event in golf."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/285890.html http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/285890.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:03 EST
Then again, it's only January. The Ryder Cup is still eight months away.

Azinger is not too far removed from his best golf, the years when he was trying to make an impression on the Ryder Cup captain.

"I think the Ryder Cup is one of those things where you don't start really sugaring up to the captain until midyear," he said with a laugh. "They want to make sure they're playing well before they start sliding up to you. That's always the way I worked my little begging process. Make sure I'm playing good before I beg for what I don't want."

Azinger will have more decisions than any U.S. captain in recent history.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/191520.html http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/191520.html Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:18 EDT
The Americans raised the Presidents Cup after a runaway victory at Royal Montreal, and they raised hopes again that they are capable of being a world power in team golf, maybe even good enough to win that other cup.

"I was real happy to see the state of American golf is not what I've been reading," Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said yesterday morning. "They were playing against a juggernaut. It just shows you that when you get the right guys assembled and they're clicking, they are still dominant."

The simple conclusion would be the Americans can repeat all this next year at Valhalla.

But it's not that simple.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/210012.html http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/210012.html Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:15 EDT
Azinger smiled as photographers captured an increasingly rare moment: a United States Ryder Cup captain with the spoils of victory.

The Europeans have beaten the Americans five of the last six times they've crossed clubs, including embarrassing routs in 2004 and 2006.

The USA hasn't celebrated golf's ultimate team championship since its miracle comeback at Brookline, Mass., in 1999.

Azinger hopes to lead the USA to glory again when the Ryder Cup is played at Valhalla next September. But his American team will have to beat Faldo's Europeans, no easy task.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/404240.html http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/404240.html Wed, 14 May 2008 02:06 EDT
Fewer know that the 37th Ryder Cup begins in Louisville in just 126 days, delivering a $120 million-plus boost to Kentucky's economy.

"We are going to have a big party," Karl Schmitt told the Bluegrass Hospitality Association. "You are probably going to have a big party here, too, though you may not know it yet."

Schmitt, the executive director of The Cup Experience, the Louisville host committee for the Ryder Cup, urged Lexington hotels, restaurants and entertainment sites to go after their share of a tourism bonanza by holding special events and training their staffs to help the tourists.

Louisville hotels are full and Lexington hotels are filling fast for the Sept. 16-21 golf tournament that long ago sold all of its 240,000 tickets, he said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/308952.html http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/308952.html Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:49 EST
"I want to play in my home state for my country," Holmes told the Arizona Republic. "I love the international competition. My main goal this year is to make the Ryder Cup team."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/303684.html http://www.kentucky.com/761/story/303684.html Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:12 EST
"I felt like the Americans had an edge in alternate shot," Azinger said Wednesday at the FBR Open. "And I think it's partly responsible for why Europe has gotten off to a pretty hot start."

The Ryder Cup will be played Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla, and the home captain gets to decide the order.

Alternate shot, or foursomes, had been used in the first sessions every year since 1981 until European captain Seve Ballesteros opened with better ball (fourballs) in 1997 at Valderrama. U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw switched back to alternate shot in 1999 at Brookline, but the last three Ryder Cup matches have started with better ball.

Europe has won the last three Ryder Cup matches, and five of the last six. The Americans have not led after the first of five sessions since 1991 at Kiawah Island.]]>