Justin Thomas and "stimpgate"
When Team Europe loses, the motivation is quite clear.
At Hazeltine in 2016, Darren Clarke had called up some players who weren't in top form, thus leaving the door open for the Americans, who took advantage and won a resounding 17-11 victory.
In 2021, however, Team USA outclassed us at Whistling Straits (19-9) with stellar play, marked by the outstanding performances of Dustin Johnson (5 points), Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa (3.5 points), Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler, and Justin Thomas (2.5 points).
These motivations have never been followed by any conspiracy theories or abstruse searches for unlikely causes, but only objective analyses carried out by the captains' staff and the players.
For the Americans, it's different.
Every time they get beaten, controversy erupts within and around the team, fueled by merciless analyses from analysts.
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The Captain has to endure a barrage of criticism, and this time it was Keegan Bradley's turn, who, moreover, had exposed himself quite a bit in the months leading up to the Bethpage competition.
The latest episode of the No Laying Up podcast featured one of Team USA's senators, Justin Thomas, who, returning to analyze the events at Bethpage, stated that one of the causes of the defeat was the fact that the greens had not been prepared according to the Team USA Captain's instructions.
Justin Thomas, statements
"I don't know why the greens were absolutely not as Keegan had requested."
"What I mean is, he was very clear in requiring them to have a certain speed, that they be fast enough."
"I watched them (the officials) argue with us, saying that the stimpmeter was showing a speed of 13."
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And it was Thomas himself, as reported by Golf Digest, who responded:
we play golf every weeklook at how many guys stay short on the tee on TV
Nobody holes out, and you don't see a single putt go three or four feet past the hole.
These greens are slow, you have to make them faster.
Returning to the podcast, Thomas continued:
It was really bizarre, because it wasn't something you would expect at a home Ryder Cup.
It's a nice advantage you usually have as a home teamand it was really frustrating having to fight for it, arguing to get the speed we wanted.
