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I have just heard on the 'Sky' commentary at the K Club that Tom Lehman sent a letter to all his prospective Ryder Cup Team to play this week and next week to prepare for both the Cup match and the Open.
None have done so.
If I was Tom Lehman I would be disgusted, how would you feel?

Unsuprised,and annoyed I'd wasted the postage

I believe the European Open is not being played on the Palmer Course where the Ryder Cup will be held, so it wouldn't be much preparation really. And the Western Open is a pretty important event on the US Tour so it is not surprising no one followed it up.

There will be a few coming over for Loch Lomond though, I would imagine.

Doesn't Phil typically play at Loch Lomond? I believe that's one European Tour event I remember him playing quite frequently.

We have a pretty good field anyway. Whilst the two courses are dis-similar, the Smurfit having a more 'linksy' feel the grreens are similar. Both are great courses.
If I see Tom tomorrow I might just ask him how true the alleged letter is and how he feels about it. Had a short chat and a hug from him today.

Phil has just announced that he is skipping Loch Lomond this year, but he is still coming over and heading straight to Hoylake. Hoylake has been out of the Open rota for decades so most of the pros (especially US-based ones) may have never seen it before.

The key will be for the key US players (Tiger, Phil, Furyk, etc.) to prepare for the Ryder Cup like they do for a major. I would like to see Phil play there after the British Open and map out his course/hole strategies.

It would be even better for the US team to prepare together rather than individually, but I must be dreaming. They don't even look like a group during the practice rounds. It's a shame that our players are so individualistic, but it is partly due to our definition of success ($$$$) on our tour.

I think we would be better off, if we let the captain pick his team completely. This would give the captain a little power that is needed, so players would not act so coldly like the original posting on this board.

I'm a little worried about the Ryder Cup this year. Nothing against the guys ranked 6-10....they're decent players. But I don't know if I would feel confident going over to Ireland with J.J. Henry, Brett Wetterich, Vaughn Taylor, Zach Johnson and Lucas Glover. No experience mixed with lack of playing time over in Europe. Meanwhile, the European Team is stacking up pretty strong on their home soil. I like the way the Euro team is picked with World Ranking points playing into the equation. I wish the U.S. would use the same system as the Euros...top 5 points and top 5 in world (not ranked in points).

We need Freddie, Davis, Cink, DiMarco, Perry, Verplank and Leonard to get their butts in gear and get in the top 10.

The simple reason behind the enjoyment Europeans get out of winning the Ryder Cup is the perceived arrogance of the US Tour. Comments such as Nationwide being second strongest tour , the history of USA preventing European players competing in USA (the latest qualifying changes for the Champions Tour have revisited those) and many years of an unfair contest have made winning the Ryder Cup a big thing.

I like winning the Ryder Cup ,same as I enjoyed winning the Rugby World Cup. It does not change my life and ten minutes after it has happened I move on. It is less important than breaking my handicap. If you gave me a choice between breaking 60 every Saturday in September but USA win Ryder Cup 28-0 ,or not breaking 90 in September and Europe winning Ryder Cup and Europeans winning the next ten Majors, I 'd take breaking 80 every time.

I do find it amusing that Americans say how unimportant it is when they lose, but have a huge party when they win...........is it only important when they win? Kiawah and Brookline showed how much it really meant to AMerican golf , to wear those shirts at Brookline showed the true suffering they were prepared to go through to win.

I was watching the US Open, with commentary from Ewan Murray and some other guy and they were talking about David Duval.

They said when he was in the Ryder Cup and the Europeans won, I think it was at the Belfry, he went and partied with them.

Good on Duval, I like him even more now!! I think that attitude is one that more of the pro's should have.

I will not know until it happens ,if it ever does. Eleven years ago , I was in California and picked up a game near Lake Tahoe. I joined two locals for an enjoyable round,during which we discussed the Ryder Cup starting the following week. They explained at great length how,why and where the Americans were going to win comfortably. They were good golfers who clearly understood the game well. Sadly I lost their phone numbers and could not ring them as Phillip Walton holed the winning putt. There was no reason why they were wrong, everything pointed to a USA win, especially when the singles started with USA 9-7 up. At Brookline, I always thought we were 10-9 up at the start of the singles because three players ahd been ignored and could not expect to do anything but lose.

I will expect you to enjoy your party and it's your turn.I expect you to give back all the garbage we ahve pointed at you ,but at least you will acknowledge the Ryder Cup is important.

Sam Torrance speaks very highly of DD,DL3 and Freddie in his book. They all played and partied with the right attitiude.

While not coordinating my life around the Ryder Cup, I confess that it DID influence a decision I made this year:

The Ryder Cup is shown over here on Sky Sports, a subscription digital channel. I had cancelled my subscription last year since money was tight due to home renovartions. I got an offer through in March this year offering 6 months at half price. So I carefully waited until my six months took me past the Ryder Cup, and signed back up!

Money's not so bad now, so I might not cancel when it's finished...

I don't plan my life around the Majors either FWIW. I'd rather be on the course than watching the Open, or the Masters.