Medinah missive

Compiled by PHILIP REID

Yanks for that: Feherty turns

David Feherty – who played for Europe in the 1991 Ryder Cup – has switched sides.

The Northern Irishman hosts a hit TV show – Feherty Live – on the Golf Channel and has unashamedly come out in support of Davis Love’s team.

Feherty, who took out US citizenship two years ago, is a big supporter of the US military and has made a number of trips to Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years.

Of backing the USA in the Ryder Cup, Feherty quipped:” I’ll take plenty of flak for it, but hey, Americans take flak. We take it pretty well.”

Feherty, who made his first trip to Iraq in 2006, started a foundation that raises money for wounded military personnel.

Heading east: Moynihan on way to Turkey after competing in Junior Ryder Cup

Dubliner Gavin Moynihan’s whirlwind visit to the Ryder Cup will have a rather premature end when he moves on – before a shot is struck in anger – to the world amateur championships in Turkey next week, where he is part of the three-man Ireland team competing in the Eisenhower Trophy.

The 18-year-old Dubliner – who plays out of The Island Golf Club and who has a string of titles, including the Irish Amateur Open and the Peter McEvoy Trophy to his credit this year – was in Chicago to compete in the Junior Ryder Cup, where he emerged as the top player on the losing European team with two and a half points from a possible three.

The Junior version was played off the back tees at Olympia Fields, where Jim Furyk won his US Open title in 2003. Moynihan’s singles win over Jim Liu by a 4 and 3 margin was particularly impressive, given Liu’s status as the new wunderkind of US golf. Two years ago, Liu became the youngest ever winner – at 15 – of the US Junior Amateur Open.

Moynihan – who got to meet members of the European Ryder Cup team – also had the opportunity to play 10 holes at Medinah yesterday as part of the Friendship match where players from Europe and the USA were mixed and matched. Whilst the rest of the European team remain on in Chicago to watch the big one, Moynihan now moves on to Turkey for his next engagement . . . and another few days off school for the Leaving Cert student at Malahide CS.

Funky cold Medinah: It's a European dance off

We don’t know whether they were waltzing or doing the rumba, the salsa or even the cha cha. Word has it Ian Poulter opted for break-dancing. What we know is that Team Europe were involved in a sort of Strictly Come Dancing competition in the team-room the other night, which was far removed from the goings-on in the Team USA room.

Not surprisingly, that stylish Spanish gent nicknamed The Mechanic, aka Miguel Angel Jimenez, stole away with the prize decided on by a panel of judges brought in for the evening.

As for the Americans, no such carry-on or swirling of limbs: it seems Davis Love’s men were involved in games of Jenga for a portion of the evening before reverting in type to game after game of table tennis (or ping-pong), where Matt Kuchar is apparently the wizard of the bat.

BY THE NUMBERS

Number of combined Ryder Cup appearances by all players (including this week): Europe 37 United States 38

Number of individual Major champions on each team: Europe 4 United States 7

Number of combined Major championship victories: Europe 5 United States 23

Total worldwide career wins: Europe 168 United States 234