'The Rule Has To Change' - Credit Keegan Bradley For At Least Leading The Charge To Get Rid Of The Dumbest Rule In Sports, 'The Ryder Cup Envelope'
The Envelope Rule has been talked about nonstop for about the last 30 hours or so. It's arguably the dumbest rule in all of sports, tied closely to the fact that if the Ryder Cup ends in a tie the team who won it two years ago retains the cup. Not sure how that ever made sense when we could just do a playoff, but that's for another complaint. Anyways, we know what happened yesterday. Hovland hurt his neck, said he couldn't play, so the US had to bench a player (Harris English) and both teams get a half point.
It's bullshit. I don't care about 1991 when Steve Pate was in a car crash (slightly different) or 1993 when Lanny Wadkins volunteered to be in the envelope for the US when Sam Torrence was hurt. I know it didn't have the full impact on the final score since Europe got to 15, but that's not exactly the right way to look at it. The US had all the momentum, Lowry's putt on 18 wouldn't have guaranteed the cup at that point. It would have gotten them damn close, but we had 2 matches after that. Who is to say that the US don't win those if the Ryder Cup is still going on? Who is to say Harris English doesn't beat Hovland the way the day was going?
The point is you can't just give out a free half point for injuries. You either forfeit the point or have someone else play. Make a vice captain be the assistant on single days if someone can't go. You have a guy on the bench essentially, who can still help out like the rest of the vice captains. You have a guy that is on call to warm up and get out there and play, like every other sport. You don't get a tie in the NFL if a quarterback gets hurt and can't play, not exactly apples to apples, but you get the point.
Keegan's captaincy was damn close to a disaster until that comeback yesterday. But if he gets this rule changed it's at least a win there. Next up, stop letting ties happen. Tiebreaker should be each team sends out 1 player for a 3 hole match or something like that to start. Rules should be changed and this is the most obvious one.