Underdogs nothing new in annals of golf history

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Paul Azinger (left) knows his squad will have to play extremely well to beat an experienced European team at Valhalla next week.

Paul Azinger knew early-on the challenge his team faces at next week's Ryder Cup.

Soon after he was named the United States captain, Azinger made an observation concerning Europe's three-match winning streak entering the biennial competition at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. Europe has also won the Ryder Cup five times in six tries since 1995.

"They're coming in on a high horse," Azinger said. "That's for sure."

Nothing has happened in the 12 months since Azinger's comments to change that impression.

Europe, once a doormat, has turned the Ryder Cup upside-down. The reversal has been so dramatic that Seve Ballesteros said in May he wants the United States to win because Europe's domination is becoming redundant and boring.

Ouch.

Ballesteros, as a Ryder Cup player and Europe's captain in 1997 at Valderrama in his native Spain, was among the fiercest competitors in the 81-year history of the matches.

"They need to win badly," Ballesteros said of the Americans.

That much is certainly true but can they?

Azinger has argued time and again that the U.S. is the underdog, and he is absolutely right.

"It will be unique to be in America on our home soil as underdogs, but clearly, the European Team is strong," Azinger said last week after naming his four Captain's Picks. "I think it's one of the strongest teams I've ever seen them bring across here.

"We will be an underdog."

Europe has won the last two Ryder Cups by the same massive and embarrassing margin, 18 ½-9 ½. On both occasions, the Americans - at Oakland Hills Country Club in suburban Detroit and the K-Club in Ireland - were overwhelmed early and never recovered.

"Europe has a terrific match play record and team track record," Azinger said. "We are going to be underdogs in this event and I think it's okay to be the underdog. Somebody has to be the underdog and it's very rare that it's evenly matched or a pick 'em. And I don't think this is going to be a pick 'em."

Hard to argue with Azinger, who is going to need a superlative effort from his team. If the U.S. can pull it off and return the Ryder Cup to America - without Tiger Woods - it most likely will be remembered as one of golf's historic upsets.

Here is one man's list of the greatest upsets in golf history - and you are free to make up your own.

1. Francis Ouimet. The 20-year-old American caddy changed the image of golf in this country with his totally unexpected victory over English superstars Ted Ray and Harry Vardon at the 1913 U.S. Open.

For the first time, Americans cared about golf. Ouimet's triumph validated and popularized the game for the masses in this country. It also brought patriotism into the equation, the element that has transformed the Ryder Cup into the golf's most intense and riveting competition.

2. The unknown champion. Jack Fleck beat Ben Hogan in an 18-hole playoff to win the 1955 U.S. Open.

Fleck, an Iowan playing in his first full year on the pro circuit, made two birdies on the final four holes at The Olympic Club in San Francisco to finish 72 holes at 287 and tied with Hogan, the game's best player at the time.

The 18-hole playoff the next day was seen as little more than a coronation of Hogan but Fleck pulled off the stunning upset by shooting 69, three strokes better than Hogan.

Cannon/Getty Images

David Cannon's iconic image of Larry Mize, shot moments after the Georgia native chipped in for birdie to win the Masters in sudden death.

3. Mize's 140-footer. In April, 1987, Greg Norman was No. 1 in the Official Golf World Ranking and Seve Ballesteros was No. 3. When they found themselves in a three-man playoff at Augusta National with Larry Mize, the American was an afterthought. The sudden-death playoff to decide the Masters was supposed to be a battle between golf's titans, Norman and Ballesteros.

But it was Mize, ranked No. 36, who won the Green Jacket when his speeding 100-foot pitch and run across the expanse of the 11th green disappeared into the hole for birdie and the victory.

4. It was the year of upsets. Ben Curtis, a little-known Ohioan, won the 2003 British Open in a final round shoot-out that featured some of golf's biggest names. Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, Nick Faldo Kenny Perry, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia finished in the top 10 at Royal St. George's. Ernie Els, Tom Watson and Greg Norman were in the top 20.

At the U.S. Women's Open the same year, another unknown, Hillary Lunke, overcame a distance deficit on every hole to get into a playoff for the title against long-hitting Kelly Robbins and Angela Stanford. The threesome got a little help from Annika Sorenstam, the reigning diva of women's golf who made an inexplicable bogey 6 on the final hole when birdie would have won the title.

Lunke won the playoff at Pumpkin Ridge with a 1-under-par 70 which featured a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole.

Curtis or Lunke as the biggest upset of 2003? The nod goes to Lunke, who hasn't won again while Curtis has steadily advanced his career and is a member of this year's U.S. Ryder Cup team.

5. Billy's rally. It wasn't who won the 1966 U.S. Open that was an upset. Billy Casper was an accomplished champion and prolific winner long before he arrived at Olympic Club. It was how Casper won that belongs in the annals of upset history.

Astonishingly, Casper overcame a seven-shot deficit against Arnold Palmer with nine holes to play. The next day, Casper shot 69 to Palmer's 73 to snatch the national championship away from Palmer in a way that nobody could have envisioned or anticipated.

And before we leave our list of upsets, consider this final swing thought:

The legendary thoroughbred Man O'War raced 21 times and won 20 of those. The only defeat came at the Sanford Memorial against a horse that entered the starting gate, according to some newspaper accounts, as a 100-to-1 longshot.

The horse's name? Upset.

It wasn't until that occasion that "upset" was used to describe an unexpected defeat by an overwhelming favorite in a sporting event.

New PGATOUR.COM correspondent Vartan Kupelian spent 37 years as a columnist and sportswriter with The Detroit News, the last 15 as golf writer. The views of this columnist do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.