Feature
A time for heroes to emerge from the shadows
It may have taken a long time to get here but the Ryder Cup in Ireland will be well worth the wait, writes Philip Reid. This will be the true stage for golfing combat
15/09/06: As a Scottish guy with a moustache once said, "out of the shadows come heroes." On that occasion, back at The Belfry in 2002, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance was referring to players like Phillip Price and Paul McGinley who somehow found the inspiration to produce the unlikeliest and greatest of deeds. But, in truth, all through the years of this biennial match, heroes have been common.
What is a hero? According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it is: "1. In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favoured by the gods. 2. A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life: soldiers and nurses who were heroes in an unpopular war."
It may seem far-fetched to apply such attributes to a mere golfer. But this is the Ryder Cup. This is different. In the Ryder Cup, players who have won major championships feel weak in their knees as they walk on to the first tee. In the Ryder Cup, there is glory and ecstasy, failure and agony. In the Ryder Cup, there is no place to hide. In the Ryder Cup, there is always a place for a hero, or two.
The enigma of the Ryder Cup is that there are always places for heroes. Like Price in 2002, when beating the world’s number two Phil Mickelson at a time that the Welshman was ranked 119th. In the Ryder Cup, in matchplay, the unforeseen can happen. In regular tournaments, the champion emerges after a 72-holes marathon. In the Ryder Cup, it is 18 holes of matchplay, with less margin for error and more room for the unexpected. In the Ryder Cup, for the first two days, it is about relying on someone else as much as yourself. The foursomes and fourballs format bring different demands.
It may have taken an aeon for the Ryder Cup to finally be staged in Ireland, whose first contribution to the match was to have Fred Daly make the trip for the 1947 encounter in Portland, Oregon; Ireland, a country which gave the competition Christy O’Connor Snr, who made (a then record) 10 appearances in the match; and a country which, through the years, has provided match-winning heroes such as Eamonn Darcy, Christy O’Connor Jnr, Philip Walton and McGinley.
But, now that it is here, to be staged over the Palmer Course at The K Club, ever second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year has been worth the wait.
Who’ll be the hero this time? Maybe an American? Perhaps Tiger Woods? Why not? For a player seemingly destined to be the greatest the world has known, the Ryder Cup has not been a favourite hunting ground.
In four matches, since making his debut at Valderrama in 1997, Woods has only been on the winning team once; at Brookline in 1999. In 2002 at The Belfry and again in 2004 at Oakland Hills, Woods tasted defeat. It is not something the great man savours.
This time, you sense that things are different. When US captain Tom Lehman organised his flying visit to The K Club in late-August, chartering a flight to take his team on a bonding session of golf and fly fishing and card playing to Straffan, Woods and Phil Mickelson changed long-made plans so that they could be part of the reconnaissance trip. The week previously, Woods took out the four ‘rookies’ on the American team – JJ Henry, Zach Jonhson, Brett Wetterich and Vaughn Taylor – for dinner in Akron, Ohio.
Woods’s record in the Ryder Cup - seven wins, 11 losses and two halved matches - is contrary to his dominance in individual tournaments, where his recent sequence of five straight strokeplay victories on the PGA tour, stretching from the British Open to the Deutsche Bank Championship, would indicate that he has raised the bar even higher for himself.
But what of the Ryder Cup? Lehman, for one, is dismissive of those who doubt that Woods brings the same commitment to team competitions.
"There is no one in the golfing world, possibly in the sporting world, more committed to winning than him, no matter what the situation. People who question that, don’t really understand him at all," says Lehman.
Or, how about Darren Clarke? An Irishman in Ireland? In terms of emotion, Clarke, who lost his wife Heather to cancer on August 13th, will generate much support from spectators outside the ropes. The Northern Irishman was given a ‘wild card’ pick by Europe’s captain Ian Woosnam, who made the observation that, "I think it’s going to be an emotional time for himself . . . (but) with all of the families and the players, it will be like one big family for him. I’m sure Darren is going to cope fine."
So, as the 36th Ryder Cup prepares to be staged at The K Club, the Americans enter the match in the unlikely position of underdogs. Europe, perhaps for the first time since the match was played in 1927 (originally as a team representing Britain, then expanded to one comprising British and Irish professionals before moving on to its current formation of European players in 1979), are the favourites. Short-priced favourites at that.
Much of the reasoning for Europe’s position as favourites is that they have won four of the last five matches, the most recent in 2004 at Oakland Hills, near Detroit, by a record margin of 18 ½ to 9 ½ points. People point to their greater team spirit. But, to be honest, you’ve got to wonder about that.
Certainly, in the build-up, the Americans under Lehman have seemed more together than the Europeans under Woosnam.
However, once the United States team settles into the West Wing of the five-star hotel at The K Club, to play their ping-pong and cards and whatever else goes on in the privacy of team rooms, and the Europeans settle into the East Wing, to suss out who plays with who and how to conquer the demands presented by the Palmer Course, you can bet your bottom Euro that all the advance happenings will mean little or nothing. The real bonding comes in the week of the event, and most pertinently out on the course itself.
Since its early days as effectively a gentlemen’s match between the professional golfers of Britain and the United States, to a stage in the 1960s and 1970s when the competition was a biennial confirmation of America’s golfing superiority, the Ryder Cup has grown and mushroomed into the biggest golfing extravaganza on the planet. To some, it is seen as a commercial cow, a licence to print money. To most, though, it is the true stage for golfing combat.
A time for heroes to emerge from the shadows.