“Not a matter of luck” - Brandel Chamblee challenges Patrick Cantlay’s gin analogy on Europe’s recent Ryder Cup dominance

Former pro golfer Brandel Chamblee has dropped his hot take on Europe’s Ryder Cup dominance. He believes that the Europeans have won the tournament so many times not out of sheer luck but out of the passion they have for the game.

In 2021, eight-time PGA Tour winner Patrick Cantlay used a gin analogy to describe why Europe has an edge over the USA in the biennial tournament. According to Cantlay, over a long stretch, small advantages add up, and in a contest like the Ryder Cup, luck can let the weaker side win, just like in gin.

Chamblee shared a tweet on X using a theoretical percentile calculation to disprove Cantlay’s gin analogy. He wrote that the US “statistically should have won 60.31% of the matches and Ryder Cups played since 1987.” However, that is not the case, meaning that the European team’s dominance goes beyond luck.

“60.31% of 18 is 11 and of 504 it is 304 and yet the USA has won just 6 Ryder Cups out [of] the last 18 and just 242.5 points out of a possible 504 points or matches. Clearly, this is not a matter of luck,” Chamblee wrote.

“Even a 3% better team over ‘many many many’ matches (and I think 504 matches, or hands of gin for that matter qualifies as ‘many many many’) would have won 267 points of the 504 and 10 or 11 of the Ryder Cups since 1987,” he added.

Brandel Chamblee

@chambleebrandel

Since the Ryder Cup is looming and many videos are resurfacing of past players trying to explain Europe’s edge in the event, I stumbled upon Patrick Cantlay using a gin analogy to describe the disparity in outcomes. When back in September of 2021 he was asked why Europe keeps

The sports commentator stated that the Ryder Cup focuses on “group dynamics and passion.” And while Team US is passionate about the game, Team Europe does a “better job of leaving their egos at the door.”

According to Brandel Chamblee, the Europeans are also more passionate about the tournament than the Americans. For his “case in point,” he wrote that Sergio Garcia paid substantial sums of money just to be eligible for the tournament, while Americans demanded to be paid to play in it. Thus, he further reinforced his argument that the Europeans care more about the game than the Americans.

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Brandel Chamblee analyzes components of a ‘great team’ ahead of The Ryder Cup

In Brandel Chamblee’s previously mentioned tweet on X, he further analyzed the components of a great Ryder Cup team. He wrote that playing well as a team is an integration of several details as opposed to one big thing.

“What makes a great player or a great team isn’t any one thing, it’s an assembly of small details, like in a mosaic, or perhaps more precisely the symbiosis of a symphony,” he wrote.

Brandel Chamblee likened a good team to a symphony, writing that beautiful music comes from the “harmonious integration of different elements.” He then concluded by reiterating that the Europeans have dominated in the biennial tournament for the better part of the last 40 years, and as such, “have produced better music than the Americans.”