What we learned at the Ryder Cup

One hole can make a difference. In this case the 15th hole. On the scorecard it was a 370-yard par-four, but in reality it was just a 260-yard par four that some of the longer hitting American players could have been reached with a three-wood. But even with the their bevy of big hitters -- think Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton etc. -- the Europeans dominated the Americans at the 15th, winning the hole outright 10 times and halving it 13 times. Three times a match was concluded prior to the 15th and only two Americans -- Steve Stricker who drained a 25-foot eagle putt and Hunter Mahan who was the beneficiary of a chunked chip-shot by Graeme McDowell -- managed to notch a victory there.

Jeff Overton will win on the PGA Tour, and soon. At one point this season he was the hottest player on Tour. From late April until early August he carded two solo seconds -- one of which would have been a sure victory had Stuart Appleby not shot a 59 -- a tie for second, two third-place ties, a tie for sixth and a tie for eleventh. But he really stumbled after that with his best finish being a solo 29th at The Tour Championship -- a field with only 30 players. So he was certainly a question mark for the American team entering Ryder Cup week, but he played some inspired golf and ended up with a 2-2 record. Even more impressive was his turn around in his singles match against Ross Fisher -- coming at a key juncture in the American comeback -- rallying for a three and two victory after trailing for the first 11 holes of the match. It will be interesting to see whether his play this week will give them the confidence to go out and win on Tour.

Despite not being a playing participant will the Ryder Cup reignite Sergio Garcia's competitive fires? When he made his announcement in August that he was going to take a two month break following the PGA Championship, you had to think that would certainly eliminate him from any Ryder Cup participation. And given his apparent lack of passion on the course this year, it was at least mildly surprising that he was the one that approached European captain Colin Montgomerie about the possibility of joining his staff as an assistant. Considering his 14-6-4 career Cup record, it probably wasn't a tough sell for Monty. And even though his penchant for finding his way onto camera during pivotal matches provided much fodder for golf pundits on both sides of the Atlantic, it proved that a fiery passion still burned inside of him. He'll make his return to competitive play later this month at the Castello Masters in Spain and it will be interesting to see which Garcia we see. Will it be the one that won 15 PGA Tour and European Tour events between 1999 and 2008, or will it be the one that tried to change his grip and posted just one top-10 finish this year on either the PGA or European Tours?