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29th September 2016
01:53pm BST
In 1967, Billy Casper, playing in his fourth Ryder Cup, was asked to sum up what it feels like to hit that first tee-shot. He replied: "Have you ever tried to hit a golf shot without any oxygen in your system?’’
It’s a quote that has stood the test of time. When players tee-up on either side, they know that they are playing not just for themselves, but also for their team-mates and their nation. This added pressure can make a player crumble or thrive, something very rare in such an individualistic sport. This is nothing to do with money. It’s much more than that.
When golf fans think of the Ryder Cup, they think of the noise, they think of the emotional moments, and they think of the incredible battles we’ve been lucky enough to have witnessed over the years. It’s become so competitive between the two sides. It’s become so evenly matched. The best players in the world battling against each other for nothing more than pride, honour and love of the game.
Just think of the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012. It was possibly the single greatest comeback in the history of golf, and one of the finest performances ever seen in sport. Ian Poulter was like a man possessed rallying his team-mates and sinking every putt possible. Afterwards José Maria Olazabel broke down as he was so overcome with emotion. That day everyone watching knew they were witnessing something special. We were reminded never to give up hope.
Think of the ‘concession’ in 1969. In one of the most competitive Ryder Cups ever played, it came down to the final pairing of Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin. With Jacklin standing over a tricky three-footer on 18 to halve the match and the championship, Nicklaus quickly walked over and picked up his marker before he could place his ball, giving him the putt. It was sportsmanship at its best. A classy gesture that will never be forgotten.
Finally, just think of Ben Crenshaw’s ‘believer in fate’ speech in 1999, when the Americans trailed 10-6 going into Sunday's play. It was a deficit not previously overcome, but Crenshaw made clear that he had a ‘good feeling about things’. It turned out he was right, as the Americans stormed back to win 14 ½-13 ½. Justin Leonard sank a 45-foot putt to win that will forever haunt the dreams of European golf fans. Crenshaw kissed the green, and the entire place went nuts.
It's moments like these that make the Ryder Cup great. The battles. The atmosphere. The sportsmanship. You relish the highs, and despair in the lows. But isn’t that like every great sporting event? You become fully engaged in it. Even as a spectator your emotions depend on a single outcome.
The Ryder Cup. The greatest spectacle in golf.
Mikey Stafford says 'Bloated over-hyped nonsense'
Which are you going to watch? The dramatic denouement to the Ryder Cup's Saturday fourballs, or the build-up to the All-Ireland final replay?
If you answered the former then you are a golf fan. If you answered the latter you are in the majority.
The biennial continental grudge match gets underway on Friday in Chaska, Minnesota, somewhere in middle America. Football country. Based south of Hazeltine are the Iowa Hawkeyes, a Big Ten contender who go into Saturday afternoon's meeting with Northwestern having won three of their first four games.
College football is a big deal and the TV ratings from Chaska to Iowa City will demonstrate baldly which is a bigger deal - the Hawkeyes hosting Northwestern, or Justin Rose and Andy Sullivan versus Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker.
People who love golf and love the Ryder Cup will watch the Ryder Cup, not the All-Ireland final replay and not the gridiron, so what?
No problem at all, except to read the coverage and suffer the Sky Sports build-up to the Ryder Cup you could be forgiven for thinking this is three days of competition that no sports fan worth their salted peanuts could miss.
The Ryder Cup is one of the most missable sporting events on the calendar. One can appreciate that a decade ago it put Ireland and The Dubliner magazine on the map and over €150m in the national coffers, while also considering it ludicrous and flawed.
First and foremost, golf is not a team sport. Rory McIlroy won $11.5million by himself on Sunday night. His skill, his determination, his resilience made a multi-millionaire 27-year-old a lot richer. Is a young man who six years ago described the Ryder Cup as an 'exhibition' event going to be truly motivated to now play three days for nothing more than the glory of Europe?
Ah Europe, that continent we would all bleed blue for, once every two years, when we take on the United States in a competition that used to be the UK & Ireland versus the US until the Brits and Irish realised they needed Seve Ballesteros to stop getting whomped.
If the US can't stop a slump that has seen them win one in seven they might need to rope in Jason Day and the Aussies... but it is all about tradition.
https://twitter.com/me_stafford/status/781259649710448640
So Paul O'Connell will come and help Europe put the fear of god into the team Davis Love III described as "the best golf team maybe ever assembled”, Dynamo will do some magic tricks for a bunch of millionaires in matching anoraks and, with any luck, some hot head will brew up some mythical rivalry between continental golf teams assembled once every two years.
Thanks PJ Willett.
“For the Americans to stand a chance of winning, they need their baying mob of imbeciles to caress their egos every step of the way," wrote the Masters champion's brother.
It's all kicking off. Next thing someone will run across a putting line and Donald Trump will declare war on St Andrew's.
Yawn.
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