The Ryder Cup Hasn't Started Yet, But Brooks Koepka's Wife Jena Sims is Already Winning Points for Team USA

Getty Images.

The true beauty of the Ryder Cup is the unique way it brings the very best in the game together, not for their own individual glory, but for that elusive, hard to define, and yet much more valuable factor, National Pride. It's more than just 24 players plus team captains, against 24 players plus team captains. It's nation against continent. Culture against cultures. And more importantly, it's golf wives vs. golf wives. 

Sure, they socialize and mingle. Do funtivities together, probably include some sort of charitable endeavors, and of course cheer on their spouses. But when it comes right down to it, they're in a competition every bit as fierce, grueling, and tense as the Four-Balls, Foursomes, and Individual matches their husbands will be locked into. The only difference is a major one. For Ryder Cup wives, it's not a team sport. It's more like Highlander; there can be only one. 

And the leader before they've even left the clubhouse is Brooks Koepka's bride, Jena Sims. Having already made a name for herself at the PGA Championship:

… she is now taking Rome by storm. 

Goodness gracious. The last time Rome was sacked like this, it was King Alaric and his army of Visigoths in 410. And even then, The Eternal City was a shell of its former glory and the capital of the empire had been moved. 

As an American, I appreciate Jena Sims putting in the effort, staying focused, playing to win, refusing to concede a single point to the competition, and grinding on every shot. And this is after recently having had a baby, no less. This is how you represent your people, and we should all be proud.

But as a Catholic, I'm even more grateful to her for dialing it down a bit before visiting The Vatican:

Which is not to suggest she still isn't stunning. She obvious is. But if she brought the A-game she took to the Wives Outing or Formal Night, I'd be genuinely worried. The faithful are very much divided on Francis, with some calling for a return to more traditional values and some calling him The Cool Pope. But one thing we can all agree on is we don't want any pope to be so cool that he's cool with this:

So on behalf of the nation, thank you, Jena. Whatever else happens over the weekend, you've already made your country a winner.