bottle key to k club glory
McGinley - lowest ranked European.
By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent
The 24 players on view in this week's Ryder Cup have between them won almost £250million from the game of golf - and that is just on the course. When sponsorship deals, appearance money and course design work are added to that you can probably double the figure. And while Tiger Woods obviously dominates that initial amount with his £40million - roughly twice what Phil Mickelson and Europe's biggest earner Colin Montgomerie have each collected in their careers - all 24 are multi-millionaires. There used to be a huge gap between the two teams, but no longer can Europe be considered the poor relations. Their combined on-course earnings amount to nearly £120million, while the United States total is approaching £140million. Despite all the riches on display it has not prevented the American side being dubbed in some quarters their worst side ever. And they can have no objections really. In one respect it is simply a statement of fact. Thanks to a labour of love by Tony Greer of the Official World Golf Rankings those facts are these: since the rankings started in 1986 only one player who qualified automatically for the United States was not in the world's top 50. Until this year. This time there are three who are not - Vaughn Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich. In 1987 the lowest-ranked American at Muirfield Village was reigning US PGA champion Larry Nelson at 36th, in 1989 at The Belfry it was Lanny Wadkins at 26th and two years later at Kiawah Island captain's pick Ray Floyd at 43rd was the only player outside the top 30. Two of the 1993 side back at The Belfry were not in the top 50 - Jim Gallagher at 60th and Wadkins at 61st, but Wadkins was a wild card selection. Curtis Strange was down in 64th in the rankings when he played in 1995 at Oak Hill, but once again he was a captain's pick. In the last four clashes the lowest-ranked Americans were Lee Janzen (37th), Steve Pate (32nd), Scott Verplank (26th) and Fred Funk (50th). How things have changed. Paul McGinley is the lowest-ranked European this time at 53rd, while two years ago David Howell was 68th, four years ago it was Phillip Price at 56th and in 1999 the side included Jarmo Sandelin (65th), Andrew Coltart (69th), Padraig Harrington (88th) and Jean Van de Velde (89th). Philip Walton earned a spot - and became Europe's hero - in 1995 when he was ranked 107th, while in 1991 Paul Broadhurst was 97th and David Gilford 112th. Eamonn Darcy was 111th in 1987. More than anything, of course, this week's Ryder Cup will not be about rankings, but about the one thing that when it comes to the crunch separates the great from the good - bottle. Nevertheless, the strengths and weaknesses of everyone's games are bound to be dissected by those who love such statistics and so here they are. The Americans have the three longest hitters in uncapped Wetterich, Woods and Mickelson, who average this season 308.7 yards, 306.5 and 300.7 respectively. Europe's longest hitter is rookie Robert Karlsson at 299.2 yards. The two most accurate drivers are also on Tom Lehman's side - Verplank and Jim Furyk with an average of 73.9% and 73.8% of fairways hit. Europe's best is Montgomerie with 69.8%. As for greens in regulation new World Match Play champion Paul Casey leads the way with 75.1%, followed by Woods with 72.8% - the best on the US Tour this year. The best putters are Verplank and Howell with averages of 28.2 and 28.3 per round respectively and the best out of bunkers are Howell and Luke Donald. In Europe this season Howell has got up and down an impressive 74.4% of the time, while Donald's 65.9% makes him the US Tour's top sand player. Scoring is what matters most, of course, and Woods, not surprisingly, leaves the rest for dead in that category. His average of 68.3 per round is almost half a shot a round better than next-best Furyk, with Europe's top man being Donald again with 69.2. They are the best, but who are the worst? In driving distance it is Verplank (276.4 yards), in driving accuracy Karlsson (55.1%), in greens in regulation Vaughn Taylor (63.4%), in putting Casey (30.3), in sand saves Henry (35.9%, the 196th worst out of 198 on the US Tour) and in scoring McGinley (71.5).
