NY Times · Sep 28, 2023
In the Ryder Cup, Home-Team Advantage Is Very Serious
A view of a golf course. There is a sandy bunker on the left and a green to the right of it; a golfer and a caddie are standing on the green.Max Homa returned from a scouting trip to the site of this week’s Ryder Cup in Rome incredulous with how the course had been set up.
Not only were the fairways reduced in width where a tee shot might land, but the rough was grown so thick, high and gnarly that slightly errant shots could disappear.
“One day someone hit it over a bunker, and we just lost it in the regular rough,” Homa said. “The whole first day I didn’t see a single ball from the rough hit the green.”