As of right this moment, Ben Curtis is playing better golf than any of the eight automatic qualifiers for the U.S. Ryder Cup team and it’s not even debatable. Five weeks ago, he posted a 7th place finish in the howling winds at Royal Birkdale in the Open Championship. Three weeks ago, he finished one stroke out of a playoff for the PGA Championship on the incredibly difficult set up at Oakland Hills. Then last week he once again ended his tournament one shot out of a playoff in the first round of the FedEx Cup. All three of these tournaments have been against the strongest fields in golf. Only one American has finished higher that Curtis in any of them.

Unfortunately, in a few weeks at the Ryder Cup, he will be without the services of his regular caddie, Englishman Andrew Sutton. It seems that Sutton is pulling so hard for the European team that he cannot bear to help his man against them. This caddie has been with Curtis ever since he won the Open in 2003. I confess to the lack of information on the inner workings of their relationship but it appears as though it has been somewhat important to Curtis’ success. So for Ryder Cup week, he will borrow Tony Navarro, who regularly loops for Adam Scott.

One has no way of knowing how it will work out but the lack of the familiar could prove disastrous for the quality of Curtis’ play. One thing most everyone agrees on is to not change a thing when all is going well. However, should he play as well as he has recently but with a stranger on the bag, and under the most intense of pressures, Mr. Sutton could well find himself out of a lucrative job.

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