U.S trade clubs for paddles to tune up

MEDINAH – If the Ryder Cup was decided on a ping pong table and not a golf course, Matt Kuchar would be the U.S. ace and the Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods doubles partnership would be pretty much unbeatable.

Thursday, September 27, 2012
Matt Kuchar is part of US Ryder Cup team. Net photo.

MEDINAH – If the Ryder Cup was decided on a ping pong table and not a golf course, Matt Kuchar would be the U.S. ace and the Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods doubles partnership would be pretty much unbeatable.The Americans have turned to another sort of little white ball this week to help promote team bonding before they begin the task of wresting the famous trophy back from the Europeans at the stately Medinah Country Club."We’ve got unbelievably fast thoroughbreds here and if you don’t ever let them out in the pasture to kick their heels up and eat some grass and keep them in the stall and make them run hard all the time, they’re never going to run,” U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III explained."So we’re just letting them be themselves.”Board games have also been part of the U.S. team preparations but on Wednesday the table tennis was the centre of attention."It’s clear that Kuch is the best,” Love added. "They can’t beat him, it’s just a matter of how close you came. But Phil improves every year."We have multiple guys that have their own paddles now. If we have an injury this week, it’ll probably be somebody stepping on a ping-pong ball because they’re everywhere.