Our Blog - Ryder Cup 2018 Wednesday Practice Round
The teams get a few days for practice rounds (Tuesday to Thursday) although some days they only practice 9 holes vs all 18, depending on the schedule of other events that are going on. On Wednesday, we got to the course a bit earlier than our scheduled hours and tried to catch some of the players as they came through. You can see that there were quite a few spectators on the course even for the practice rounds, but nothing like what we would see on tournament days.
First up, the European team ... here is Paul Casey (English) walking up towards the 3rd tee box, then Thorbjørn Olesen (Danish), Tyrrell Hatton (without the hat, English), and Henrik Stenson (Swedish).
A swing sequence of Tyrell Hatton.
A swing sequence for Henrik Stenson (using the burst feature on the iPhone, my first time attempting to use it).
And then they headed down the fairway, Henrik and Tyrell, then Casey and Olesen.
The next group was Francesco Molinari (Italian, here signing a hat for a kid who shouldn't be inside the ropes), Tommy Fleetwood (English), Alex Norén (Swedish), and Ian Poulter (English). This time, I tried video on a couple of the swings, even though I wasn't really close enough with my iPhone for it to be that great.
Molinari
Fleetwood (the control is right on top of the player, so click but don't move the mouse)
Last group of Europeans, Sergio Garcia (Spain), Jon Rahm (Spain), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), and Justin Rose (England)
Rory swing sequence
Rahm swing sequence
We then headed across the course to try to pick up the US team. From what it looked like (and what we heard later on the TV), they were practicing a "modified" alternate shot, where all players would hit the tee shots, and then switch and each player would then hit a 2nd shot using a potential partner ball. In this way, they get to practice alternate shot but also still hit each shot. Here we have Ricky Fowler, Dustin Johnson, and Tony Finau (didn't get a picture of Koepka).
Patrick Reed (on the right) Tiger Woods (center), and Jordan Spieth or Justin Thomas (left, I don't remember which one it was) all practicing on the green at 17.
Bubba Watson hitting out of the medium-deep rough. ... he was practicing with DeChambeau, Mickelson, Webb Simpson.
Captain Jim Furyk
This is Tom in the uniform ... this is one of the 2 shirts (the other has stripes), along with the hat, credentials and the "Hole Marshall" armband.
