Of the leading nine players in the USA Ryder Cups standings, only one has played competitively on the Gleneagles course that will host this year's event.
Jordan Spieth was just 17 when he represented the United States in the 2010 Junior Ryder Cup on the PGA Centenary course. Nearly four years on, Dallas-born Spieth is likely to make his Ryder Cup debut in Tom Watson's side after jumping 10 places to fourth overall on the list despite having falling away at Augusta on Sunday.
"I just loved playing at Gleneagles back in 2010, and the week before [when] we all were taken down to Celtic Manor for the Ryder Cup itself," he said. "It's a very interesting American-designed course. We played it in September when the Ryder Cup will also be played, but I remember we teed up one morning off the snow; it was freezing!
"It was a cool experience, though, and it's a cool track with some blind shots and quite a few carries over bunkers; [it's surprising] to find a course in Scotland [which] I think would play more to the Americans' [preference]. If I make the team, it is going to be a crazy, cool experience playing a Ryder Cup in Scotland."
Spieth reiterated, though, that he will not contest the Scottish Open in July at Royal Aberdeen, where he was a member of the beaten USA Walker Cup team in 2011.
Rain prevented Spieth and Tom Watson from playing a pre-Masters practice round together but the USA captain is looking forward to competing alongside a player 44 years his junior. "I like the way Jordan plays the game; he's got passion," said Watson. The pair will tee up alongside the 2012 USA captain Davis Love III in the opening two rounds of the RBC Heritage Classic.
There are three Scots, meanwhile, contesting a PGA Tour event after Stephen Gallacher accepted an invitation to join Russell Knox and Martin Laird. Knox is sporting a silver wedding ring and has found it less familiar than having a golf club in his hand. "It's long overdue as we [he and new wife Andrea] have been together for a long time," said Knox.
It had been a low-key ceremony in Jacksonville, Florida, with around 20 guests in attendance and Knox admitted to having had one eye on coverage of the Masters on the day. "I now can't wait to get a crack at this course," he added.
Knox will play the opening two rounds in the company of England's Paul Casey and the American Will MacKenzie. Gallacher is out with US pair Ben Crane and Brice Garnett, while Laird will tee-up with the former Open champion Ben Curtis and the former US Open winner Lucas Glover.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article