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Captains who can beat players

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Because this week’s unofficial Ryder Cup training camps for Team USA (at the Procore) and Team Europe (at the BMW PGA) took place at actual golf tournaments, the rest of the players in each field had a chance to make a statement about where they stack up against the world’s best.

At the Procore, Team USA captain Keegan Bradley didn’t tee it up — spending the week scouting, note-taking and dinner-hosting instead — but we know from his Travelers victory in June or his T7 in his most recent start at the Tour Championship that he can beat every one of his teammates on the right week. In Napa, Ryder Cup snubs like Mav McNealy had the chance to show the same; McNealy entered Sunday inside the top 20, ahead of some of his captain’s picks. And while some of the Americans’ captain’s picks showed why they belong — Ben Griffin entered Sunday’s final round with a one-stroke lead — it was also easy to imagine a world where they’d taken a flyer on the world’s top-ranked amateur Jackson Koivun, who’s in line for his fourth consecutive top-11 finish on the PGA Tour.

Across the pond, something else interesting happened: Team Europe’s vice captain Alex Noren won the BMW PGA Championship, one of the premier events on the DP World Tour. It wasn’t just a massive victory — it was also his second win in his last three starts. Noren has now been in terrific form for most of two months: his final two PGA Tour starts of the season were a T7 at the 3M Open and a T3 at the Wyndham. Team Europe has no shortage of talent, as captain’s picks include Viktor Hovland (T5) Matt Fitzpatrick (T5), Jon Rahm (T13) and Ludvig Aberg (T20). But it’s a particular oddity of golf, and of the Ryder Cup, that one of the assistants is in better playing form than some of his players. Noren was ranked No. 32 in the world at the beginning of the week (and No. 25 in DataGolf’s ranking); he’s likely to enter this week inside the top 20, just behind Bradley (No. 11).

For his part, Noren downplayed the strangeness of the situation.

“I’ll take my clubs this time but take [them] home to Florida,” Noren said, asked if he was tempted to prep as some sort of alternate. “I think the other guys have played better than me throughout the year. I’ve had a great result now the last month but it came a little bit too late. I think the guys on the team are going to be fantastic.

“I’m really looking forward to that match more than, I don’t know, in a long time, yeah.”

Team Europe’s captain, Luke Donald, played the BMW, too, though he missed the cut; Noren said the two have been in regular contact about the upcoming showdown at Bethpage.

“I think my role is an extra set of eyes for Luke. He’s doing the most, and the other captains have done a lot of work … knowing about a month and a half ago I was going to be a captain, I asked Luke, ‘What do you want out of me?’ Obviously I’m not going to coach or captain much.

“[Luke said] ‘You’re going to be an extra set of eyes over a few players and be of any service they need.’ You know, I’ve only played one time but I know it’s different to play Ryder Cup than anything else. I’ll do whatever they ask me to do. I’m really happy to be part of the team because I think Bethpage will be an incredible venue for the Ryder Cup.”

Noren wasn’t the only non-Ryder-Cupper to show his stuff in Europe. Two of the first guys left off Donald’s final roster were Aaron Rai and Harry Hall; they finished T3 and T13, respectively. Meanwhile, “Captain America” Patrick Reed finished T3 alongside Rai.

What does it all mean? Mostly it doesn’t mean anything. They’ve already finalized Ryder Cup teams. It’s just a reminder that in golf, more than any other sport, the line between the very best and the guys right behind them is razor-thin.

And if either side suffers a last-minute injury? They’ll know exactly where to turn.

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