"I’d say in rugby my main trait was my speed and getting past players and in the NFL everybody are athletes and that’s what drives you to that sport," Smillie explained. "You can be a good athlete in that sport. The 40-yard dash and stuff like that shows you how fast you are, as a running back you’ve got your own job and if you don’t do your job the team’s in trouble, I like that sort of challenge." Whistling Straits will be the longest Ryder Cup course in history, which should help the Americans considering eight of their team are in the top 50 for driving distance stats on the PGA Tour this year. Only three Europeans are. It's also expected that the rough will be shortened in a bid to help low scoring. Academy products Seydou Traore [Arkansas State], Darren Agu [Vanderbilt], George Reynolds [University of Ottawa] and Pelayo Martinez [Borregos Salvajes México ITESM] have already crossed the pond, while Freddie Pelling and Peter Clarke are among those to have received Division 1 college offers. Originally between the US and a team from Great Britain and Ireland, the tournament expanded in 1979 to allow players from continental Europe to take part. This year's contest was originally due to take place in September 2020, only to be pushed back 12 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.