Czech It Off

Brayden Schenn celebrates a goal with his teammates in Team Canada's 7-2 romp over the Czech Republic during the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo.

          Brayden Schenn scored a goal and added four assists while Ryan Ellis had four points to lead Team Canada to a 7-2 victory over the Czech Republic Tuesday afternoon.

            For the second consecutive game, the Canadians got off to a very slow start. Goaltender Olivier Roy gave up the first shot he faced, which was a pretty weak goal from a netminder’s perspective. However, Canada battled back to take a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Schenn and Jaden Schwartz. The turning point of the game occurred midway through the second period. Czech forward Antonin Honejsek seemed to have a sure goal, but was robbed by Roy’s left pad. The action quickly shifted to the other end of the ice, where Schenn feathered a saucer pass to Montreal Canadiens prospect Louis Leblanc who made no mistake.

            Although Team Canada dominated much of the game, the victory came at a high price. Defenceman Calvin de Haan left the game in the first period with an apparent leg injury. The New York Islanders prospect is one of four returning players from last year’s squad. Jaden Schwartz twisted his knee in the first period. Although he didn’t leave the game, it was evident that the injury was hampering him dramatically. The team also lost forward Zack Kassian, but for a different reason.

            Kassian crunched Czech forward Petr Senkerik with a controversial open ice hit midway through the second period and was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The analysts on TSN believed that it was a clean hit, but I strongly disagree. Kassian’s shoulder clipped Senkerik’s chin, which caused his head to snap back. To add to it, the puck was not near the collision. As a result, Kassian will be suspended for Canada’s game against Norway, and possibly more, pending a hearing with IIHF officials. Kassian has garnered the reputation as being an overly physical presence on the ice. While playing last season for the Windsor Spitfires (OHL), he was suspended for 20 games because of a vicious open ice collision. If you missed it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAcGSbrEi-c

            Team Canada will look to continue their perfection Wednesday against Norway. Phoenix Coyotes prospect Mark Visentin will make his first start of the tournament, replacing Olivier Roy.

Building or Tweaking - Which Comes First?

Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke has gone against conventional wisdom and has chosen to tweak his roster rather than building it through the draft.

        History would suggest that Stanley Cup contenders are a result of a number of characteristics - patience, player development, good luck and staying healthy - just to name a few. But more importantly, championship squads are built over time from a core of draft picks augmented by the timely addition of experienced players to fill the gaps.

 

        There are many examples to support this, but let’s take a look at the past two Stanley Cup champions and one up and coming team. The Pittsburgh Penguins struggled mightily in the early part of this decade. At one point, it even appeared that the Pens might be moving out of Pittsburgh. They started laying down the groundwork for their future in 2003, when they selected goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. In the next three drafts, they picked Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal. Then they tweaked their lineup by adding Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, Sergei Gonchar and Ruslan Fedotenko, who led them to the Stanley Cup in 2009. 

            The Chicago Blackhawks nearly went bankrupt and missed the playoffs seven times from 2000-2007. Their poor play was rewarded with high draft picks. This resulted in the Hawks being able to select Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The Blackhawks added Patrick Sharp, Brian Campbell and Marian Hossa to complement their young core, winning the Stanley Cup in 2010 for the first time since 1961.

            The Washington Capitals also received top-end draft picks after consecutive seasons in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. They used those picks to select forwards Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and defenceman Mike Green. They were upset in the first round of the playoffs last season to the Montreal Canadiens. Arguably, they are only one tweak away from being an unstoppable team. The missing link is in between the pipes.

            So what approach has Brian Burke employed during his time as General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

            Since being hired in November 2008, Burke has made a number of player transactions. He started building the foundation by drafting Nazem Kadri seventh overall in 2009. He then appeared to deviate from the proven successful strategy by trading his 1^st round picks in 2009 and 2010, plus a 2^nd rounder in 2009, to the Boston Bruins in exchange for 23-year-old Phil Kessel.

            He then tried to compensate for his lost draft picks resulting from the Kessel trade by signing undrafted players from US Colleges in 2008. These included Victor Stalberg, Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson. Burke has made several other tweaks, including the additions of Dion Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek, Kris Versteeg and J.S. Giguere

            It would appear that Burke’s plan is to ignore conventional wisdom and tweak his roster first, and then build. Why has he done this? Well, that is all he knows and what he did when he was the General Manager in Anaheim.

            When Burke first joined the Ducks in 2005, the foundation was in place as the hockey club had already drafted three up and coming prospects in Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Kunitz. Burke’s role was to add the missing pieces to their puzzle to build a championship contender. He tweaked the roster by adding added the likes of seasoned veterans including Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Francois Beauchemin. All of these players were key contributors to the Ducks winning their first ever Stanley Cup championship in 2007.

           

            The fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks had to endure a lot of hardship throughout their years of trouble. Now that the young players who they originally drafted have developed into stars in the NHL, their teams are poised to be formidable for years to come. Can Brian Burke change his philosophy to build first and then tweak? Does Leaf nation have the patience to wait for a rebuild?

Only time will tell.

NHL Quarterly Report

           The NHL season is approximately one quarter completed and there have been many surprises and disappointments league-wide. Below, I will highlight three surprises and three disappointments that have transpired to date.

Surprises

Under the Radar Rookies

            Heading into the 2010/11 season, the only talk regarding NHL rookies focused on 'Taylor vs. Tyler', or for those of you who don’t regularly follow hockey -  Oilers’ Taylor Hall and Bruins’ Tyler Seguin. Both of these players have had slow starts in their professional careers. On the other hand, two other rookies have come out of nowhere and have shined for their respective teams.

            Jeff Skinner was the seventh overall selection in this past June's draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. I can't really comprehend why teams ahead of the Hurricanes overlooked this impressive player. In 84 games for the Kitchener Rangers (OHL) last season, he had 70 goals and 53 assists. A former national level figure skater has shown that he is dynamic both on his feet and when he fires the puck. The Markham ON native leads all rookies with 19 points in 23 games this season.

            The Philadelphia Flyers were coming off a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they were backstopped by journeymen Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton. When Leighton went down with a seemingly innocent back injury in the pre-season, no one knew who the Flyers would rely on in net. Their answer?  Sergei Bobrovsky, a no-name Russian training camp invite. The teammate they call ‘Bob’ doesn't speak much English, but his lateral movement more than compensates. The former Novokuznetsk Metallburg starter in the KHL has been a revelation for Philadelphia. He currently boasts a 12-3-2 record with 2.19 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. Bobrovsky has been an integral reason that the Flyers are in 2^nd in the Eastern Conference.

Netminders with Something to Prove

            Tim Thomas was the Vezina Trophy winner in 2009. Many expected that he would lead the Boston Bruins to the promised land in 2010. However, Tuukka Rask achieved a 1.97 goals against average and substantially outplayed Thomas, who dealt with a hip injury throughout last season. The 2010/11 season has been a whole different story. Thomas underwent surgery to correct the problem in the offseason and it has made a huge difference. He has been absolutely lights out this year to date with his healthy hip, as evidenced by his 11-2-1 record with 1.56 goals against average, a .950 save percentage and four shutouts. The Flint, Michigan native is definitely back to his old Vezina form.

            In the offseason, the Montreal Canadiens decided to trade Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues, thus putting all their faith in Carey Price. Price has proven to all of his doubters that he isn’t ‘past his prime’ (even though he’s only 23).  The Anaheim Lake, BC native leads the league with 14 wins and is tied with Thomas with four shutouts. He has been the Montreal Canadiens’ MVP to date and undoubtedly a key factor contributing to the Habs’ third place ranking in the Eastern Conference.

Upstart Teams

            The Atlanta Thrashers made a flurry of deals in the offseason. They acquired what seemed to be half of the Chicago Blackhawks’ championship roster, and goalie Chris Mason, who twice represented Canada at the World Championship. Dustin Byfugilen and Ondrej Pavelec have become the two best Thrasher players. In fact, last week they were the #1 and #2 ‘NHL Stars of the Week.’ The Atlanta Thrashers are 7^th in the Eastern Conference, four points clear of the 9^th spot. I guess it really was a good idea to trade Ilya Kovalchuk!

            The Columbus Blue Jackets have made enormous strides from last season. Their main offseason moves were on the bench, where they hired Scott Arneil as head coach and former NHLer Bob Boughner as his assistant.  Boughner coached the Windsor Spitfires to back-to-back Memorial Cup championships, so winning is in his blood. Steve Mason has been a revelation this year and Mathieu Garon has been sharp when called upon. Columbus is in 5^th in the Western Conference and is poised to become the Phoenix Coyotes of last season.

Disappointments

Superstar Struggling

            When thinking back to the free agency period in the summer, Ilya Kovalchuk is likely to be the single player that dominates one’s mind. The NHL rejected his original 17 year $102 contract with the Devils. The two sides finally agreed to a 15 year $100 million deal. Was it all worth it? The Devils gave up Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, four first round picks (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 or 2014), a 2011 third round choice and the $3 million dollar fine for the contract being rejected. Kovalchuk hasn’t been really impressive so far. He has only 10 points in 23 games. He’s been a healthy scratch and completely ‘whiffed’ on a game-deciding shootout attempt. I guess he’ll have 14 more years to improve his record.

Mainstay Teams on the Downfall

          Two teams expected to be division leaders have been the complete opposite to date.

            I’ve already mentioned Ilya Kovalchuk’s struggles, but his performance parallels that of the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey is having a very difficult time scoring goals and a hard time keeping pucks out of their net. This is the ideal recipe for failure. The Devils have made the playoffs for 13 consecutive seasons. They will need to ‘hike up their socks’ if they want to make it to the dance floor again this year.

            The Buffalo Sabres finished with 100 points last season, good for third place in the Eastern Conference. However, they were easily beaten in six games by the Boston Bruins in the playoffs. That kind of performance has continued into this season. Ryan Miller has not been himself and has been hampered by injury. Tyler ‘Zdeno Chara Jr.’ Myers has had a harsh case of the sophomore slump. He has a -10 rating thus far this season. Buffalo is currently 10^th in the conference and 10 points behind the division leading Montreal Canadiens.

Attendance

            Is it just me, or does it seem that NHL arenas are noticeably vacant this year? Eight teams have experienced significant drops in attendance, with Atlanta (36.2%), Columbus (31.9%) and Dallas (26.5%) leading the descent.  All three of these teams are performing much better than last year, which makes this whole situation quite odd. Even the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks (1.9%) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (0.3%) have noted decreased attendance. Come on fans, it’s not ‘dress up as an empty seat day’ every time you go to games!

The 2010 Golf Season – One to Remember

        After the 2009 golf season, all of the press was about the successes of Tiger Woods.  He was just coming off a victory in Melbourne, which was his sixth of the season.  With the sites of the 2010 major championships being held at courses where Woods has had a plethora of success, some thought that he could run the table. However, the events that occurred on November 27, 2009 changed fans views of Tiger Woods forever.

        The initial news reported that Woods had been in a car accident.  I remember when I heard about it, my heart stopped and I thought that he could be in serious trouble. Turns out he was, but in a whole different magnitude. There’s no need to explain all he did, but as an aside, did you hear Tiger Woods is changing his name to Cheetah?

         With Tiger Woods’ life in shambles, some thought the game of golf would head down the gutter.  I remember last year I asked a classmate if he watched the golf tournament from the past weekend. His response was, “Tiger Woods isn’t playing, so there’s no point.”  I strongly disagree with this perspective and believe that the 2010 golf season was one of the best in recent history.

         Let’s get started at the Masters, where Woods was making his much anticipated season debut. I was shocked that he wasn’t heckled and in fact wasn’t really jeered at during any point this season. What an unbelievable tournament. Phil Mickelson nearly making three consecutive eagles in the third round and his absolutely remarkable shot from the pine needles in the final round were breath-taking. Having Woods and the spike-less, sock-less, age-less wonder Freddy Couples in contention really added some drama. In the end, I was happy to see Phil triumphantly sink the final birdie putt on the 18^th green and raising his arms in the air. He’s been through a lot with both his wife and mother having breast cancer. By the way, has anyone else noticed that Phil’s trio of kids have really grown up fast?

         Tiger was in the hunt at the next major, which was the US Open at Pebble Beach. Several key moments highlighted that tournament. Tiger’s three wood on the par five 18th with the sun setting on Saturday was amazing. Thanks to NBC’s coverage, everyone not only saw the shot in slow motion, but his celebration, when he yelled ‘POP’, ‘YEAH’, and then his patented fist pump and awkward embrace with caddie Stevie Williams. Dustin Johnson folding at in the final round was painful to watch, but I was happy for Graeme McDowell to win his first major. I’m sure he had a pint (or seven) out of the US Open trophy afterward. 

         So how do you pronounce British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen’s name? I heard about 100 different ‘butcherings’ of his name on Thursday and Friday, but by the weekend, he was just Louis, or lucky Louis. He made the game of golf look about as easy as stopping the Toronto Maple Leafs on the powerplay.  I’m sure hundreds of weekend hackers tried using his technique and marking his glove with a red dot. I am glad to say that I didn’t, even though I have a knack to try different golfing aids. 

         And who could forget the PGA Championship, when Dustin Johnson was robbed by a questionable bunker rule. Many things could have been done to prevent this scenario. Of note, I thought it was uncanny that Jim Nantz, the NBC commentator, announced that Johnson was in one of the 1000ish bunkers before he got to the ball. Also, when it showed where Johnson was relative to the hole on their graphics screen, it clearly showed him in a bunker. All I can say is thank goodness he didn’t make that putt on 18. In the end, it was Martin Kaymer winning his first major title, barely edging Bubba Watson in a playoff.

         The FedEx Cup was very exciting, especially with Woods out of the final event. It was a crapshoot on the final day of the Tour Championship, and Steve Sands did a great job outlining the possible scenarios in the NBC ‘war room’. Jim ‘Loopy’ Furyk, backwards hat on and all, won $11.35 million in one day. Do you think he’ll now be able to afford an alarm clock?

         Another tournament that was unbelievable was the Ryder Cup. It almost looked like the Americans were going to pull off another miracle on Medinah-esque performance, but Graeme McDowell would have none of that. His putt on the 16^th green, combined with the atmosphere in the crowd gave me goose bumps. If you missed it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTtFh9bupCU&feature=related My favourite moment after the event was finished was seeing a ‘tweet’ from Rory Mcilroy saying, ”What a week!! Think I’m still drunk! Jaegerbombs out of the Ryder Cup! Great banter with Euros and Americans last night!”

         Just when you thought the golf season was over, not so fast! Possibly the two greatest endings to tournaments in recent golf history occurred during the “Fall Series”. Fan favourite Rocco Mediate holed out on four separate occasions to win the Frys.com Open. How about when Alex Prugh nearly aced the par four 17^th hole, and then Rocco casually sunk his shot from the fairway. The two simply laughed at each other, and that’s the beauty of golf. If you missed it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqViO_fO_to&playnext=1&list=PL6D0E4A29772E211E&index=15

         If you thought that ending was good, then Jonathan Byrd’s ace to win Justin Timberlake’s tournament was simply surreal. If you missed that, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5CvsG7olm0rom

         The year closed with the change at the top of the world rankings, where Lee Westwood is now the man to chase. Who could of "thunk" it? A few years ago, Westwood was 266^th in the world with a beer gut. Now he's a lean, mean fighting machine who's as about as consistent as the Toronto Maple Leafs being cemented at the bottom of the NHL's Eastern Conference. Tiger Woods drops to second in the world, and if he isn't careful, he could be declining further and faster. Martin Kaymer is third. You might think, who the heck is Martin Kaymer? He has also had some very steady play all year. With six Europeans in the top ten, this is a great time for European golf.

         This year wasn't one to remember for Canadian golf fans. Mike Weir had tendonitis in his elbow and has to resort to his all-time PGA earnings to remain on tour next year. However, Graham DeLaet had a stellar rookie season, faring close in some tournaments. The fate of Canadian golf may be in the future. Folks, you may want to keep track of Albin Choi in the coming years. The 18-year-old Toronto native won the Canadian Amateur Championship in August. He has already been victorious in two tournaments as a freshman at NC State. Fellow NC State graduate Matt Hill's steady development also continues.

         Tiger Woods radically changed the world of golf when he obliterated the field by 12 shots at the 1997 Masters, and he changed the game again when his infidelities became public. Instead of the field playing for second place, a slew of players have a legitimate shot to contend each week.

         There’s really only one word I can say to summarize the 2010 golf season. WOW! Thank you Tiger for making professional golf exciting again to watch and I can’t wait until the 2011 golf season.

Dissecting the Phil Kessel Trade

               When Brian Burke was first hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 29, 2008, he claimed that he had a plan for the club to immediately be competitive. His first major move was when he traded three draft picks for Boston Bruins winger Phil Kessel. There has been a lot of press about the deal, and below I will give my ‘two cents’ about it.

            In my opinion, this has to go down as one of the most lop-sided trades in the recent history of the NHL.  When the deal actually occurred, fans were excited because the Leafs had acquired a perennial sniper in Phil Kessel.  First off, Kessel missed his first month of the season rehabilitating a shoulder injury. Kessel has had a history of injuries, especially in the shoulder region. This alone is a huge risk for any person, especially for a 23 year old NHL player.

            Brian Burke essentially traded an important piece of the Maple Leafs future in this trade. Toronto hasn’t made the playoffs in the post-lockout era, and this trade was supposed to turn things around for the Buds. The complete opposite happened, and as we all know, the Leafs finished second last in the NHL last season.  This all meant that Boston would use the Leafs pick to choose second in the upcoming draft.

            Many thought that the Bruins would falter when they gave up Kessel and didn’t receive any immediate NHL talent, but they did make it to the second round of the playoffs.  Boston used the pick to draft Toronto native Tyler Seguin, who was the OHL player of the year.

            Many people only look at this deal comparing the results of Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin.  In essence, there is actually so much more to this deal.  Boston used its second draft pick from Toronto to choose Jared Knight from London in the OHL.  The Michigan native scored 36 goals in 63 games last season.  Who knows how the Leafs will finish this season.  In any case, Boston is likely to get another top-15 prospect in this year’s draft.  But that’s not all they acquired from Toronto.

            On draft day 2010, Boston acquired Nathan Horton from the Florida Panthers for Dennis Wideman and their own first round pick.  In actuality, the Maple Leafs allowed the Bruins to make this deal.  Since Toronto gave Boston their second overall pick, the Bruins had the leverage to trade their own first round pick, which was the 15^th overall pick for NHL talent.

            Horton, who was the third overall pick in the 2003 draft, has scored 20 or more goals in his past five seasons, and is well on his way for a banner year this year in Beantown.

            In Leafland, we have seen many similar trades go down.  Toronto has repeatedly tried to impress their fan base by trading their young prospects for supposedly good players. Remember Tuukka Rask?  The Leafs traded Rask, their first round pick in the 2005 draft for Andrew Raycroft.  I don’t need to explain how bad this trade worked out for Toronto, but let’s just say if they still had Rask, Boston wouldn’t have been able to draft Tyler Seguin.

            From all of these points, it could basically be argued that the Leafs traded Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight, a top 15 2011 prospect and Nathan Horton (well kind of, but it really gave the Bruins a chance to acquire him) for Phil Kessel.  Or in other words, the Leafs acquired Kessel, a former first rounder, for three first round picks and a second round pick. 

Does this seem even?  To quote Borat, “Not so much!”

Are the Leafs for Real?

           Heading into the 2010-2011 season, fans were excited to see the new-look Toronto Maple Leafs in action.  With four games in the books, Toronto is on top of the NHL and the team is the talk of the town.  The new summer acquisitions have been solid and contributing well for the Leafs.  But can they keep up this style of play for the entire season?  I don’t think so.

            Through the first four games of the season, new Leaf Clarke MacArthur has come out of nowhere and is leading the squad with five tallies.  I don’t think anyone could have predicted that and fans are extremely excited.  Toronto, take a deep breath.  MacArthur got off to a similarly torrid start last year with Buffalo, but by the end of the season, his new Atlanta Thrashers didn’t want him anymore and he only finished with 17 goals.  Sure, MacArthur did play on the Canadian World Junior team in 2005 so he does have some potential, but I think his start is just a case of trying to impress his new team and city early.

            When Brian Burke essentially changed the entire Toronto Maple Leafs team dynamic in late January, one of his main acquisitions was proven goaltender J.S. Giguere.  Burke and Giguere have a history, as Giguere was Anaheim’s starting goalie when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007, when Burke was the General Manager.  One of the main reasons that Giguere was so keen on dismantling his no-trade clause with the Ducks and joining Toronto was because of Leafs goalie coach Francois Allaire.  It was Allaire who worked with Giguere through the early stages of his career and turned him into a number one goaltender in the NHL.  Leaf nation believes that Giguere is their answer in net, but this season we’ve already seen that he can be very streaky in terms of his performance.  In the first game of the season, he made two game-saving toe saves to preserve the victory.  But already his performance has quivered.  In the Leafs 4-3 overtime win over the Rangers on Friday, Giguere looked absolutely helpless and even lost in the net in the third period.  Teams need consistent goaltenders to be good teams and I don’t think Toronto has that with the tandem of Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson.

            When Ron Wilson was hired before the 2008-2009 season, he said that he had a plan to make the Leafs better down the road.  In his first two seasons at the helm, the Leafs have finished in the basement of the Northeast division.  I don’t think Ron Wilson is the man for the Maple Leafs to succeed.  I think Toronto should hire a more defensive-oriented coach because the strength of their team (at least on paper) is their defense.  Some examples of coaches that implement good defensive systems would be either Jacques Lemaire or Ken Hitchcock.  Both have proven track records and were apart of Canada’s Gold Medal winning team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  If the Leafs had a more defensive-minded head coach who would be willing to play a more ‘boring’ style of game, I think they could be a good team.  The defense would limit the opposing team’s chances to the outside, which would make life easier on Giguere and Gustavsson.

            Even though the Toronto Maple Leafs are undefeated and on top of the NHL, I believe that they currently have too many holes in their lineup and therefore aren’t for real.

Ryder Cup Recap

           The Europeans withstood a late push from the Americans to secure the 38th Ryder Cup by a narrow score of 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.  It was Europe's fourth straight victory on home soil.  After American Hunter Mahan lagged a par putt short on the 17th hole, he conceded the match to Graeme McDowell, which turned out to be the difference.  It was the first time that the Ryder Cup was decided in the final match since 1991 at Kiawah Island.

            Midway through Sunday's singles matches, it appeared that the Europeans were going to run away with the title, but the Americans would have none of that.  Rookie Rickie Fowler started the comeback, winning his final three holes to halve his match against Edoardo Molinari.  Tiger Woods was two down through five holes against Francesco Molinari before kicking it up a notch.  Woods was nine-under in 15 holes, including holing out for eagle on the par four tenth hole to win 4&3.  Jeff Overton was trailing the majority of his match against Ross Fisher, but birdied four of his last five holes to win 3&2.  Other winners for the US included Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson.

           Rory McIlory and Stewart Cink played a very tight match.  Both players held leads at a variety of times throughout.  McIlory sunk a par putt on the 18th to halve the match.  Luke Donald had c ontrol of his match against FedEx Cup champion Jim Furyk, never trailing.  Donald avoided a late run by Furyk to take his match 1 up.  Ian Poulter Obliterated Matt Kuchar 5&4.  He was seven-under in the only 14 holes he played.  Miguel-Angel Jimenez was a 4&3 winner over long hitter Bubba Watson.

          The 2012 Ryder Cup will head across the ocean to the United States, where it will take place at Medinah Country Club just outside Chicago.