To understand the depth of the passion of the players in the Ryder Cup, and especially for the European team, there were two pivotal moments that completely transformed the event into one of the great sporting events in the world.
In 1969, when the event was played at Birkdale, it was a GB & Ireland team led by Tony Jacklin. Jack Nicklaus conceded a 3-foot putt to Tony on the last green of his match to make it a tie. The gesture, which became known as the ‘Concession’, was a measure of respect and goodwill for Tony, who pioneered the breakthrough of European players on the PGA Tour, winning the US Open in 1970. This paved the way for other Europeans to leave their mark on the PGA Tour, and none more so than Seve Ballesteros. It was Jack Nicklaus who suggested to Tony the idea of expanding the event to include Europe, with the emergence and influence of Seve and the impact he had made on the game.
Later, it was Jacklin’s genius to court and cajole Seve to not only join the team in 1979 but to become his gladiator and their leader.
Jacklin knew how hostile the PGA Tour was in those days to new players coming in from overseas to ‘steal their money’. He lived through it and beat them by moving to live there. He also knew that Seve had developed a particular dislike for the way they treated him when he first went to the USA. They called him ‘Steve’, which infuriated him and left him alone in his Holiday Inn with room service for weeks on end, trying to isolate him as they had done to many before him, such as Peter Oosterhuis and Peter Townsend. They didn’t realise that they were stoking the ‘Spanish Bull’ in this case and would live to regret it at the Masters in 1980 and at the Ryder Cup to this day.
To understand Seve better, when he played in the Masters in 1980, he went there as a Matador with 89 players to slay with his swords (clubs). As he made birdies and eagles, he envisioned blood on the greens from his slayed opponents and destroyed the field, winning by four shots. This is what Jacklin wanted to dial into, and he knew that Seve, with his passionate, domineering spirit and his powerful charisma, was the ONLY one capable of galvanising the team to believe they could beat the Americans.
I remember vividly attending the Opening Ceremony at the Ryder Cup at Muirfield in 1987, captained by Jacklin. He had flown his European team in on Concorde, doing a low and loud flyby over Muirfield to make a point. As he introduced his players—Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Jose Maria Olazabal, etc.—he purposely hesitated and delayed the last player … and said simply ‘and last but by no means least … SEVE’! I was watching the US team, and every set of eyes was transfixed on Seve. I remember phoning my father, who was a good friend of Tony, and saying ‘Pop, he has them … you could see it at the ceremony …’. He did have them, and who will forget the flamingo-style ceremonial dance of Jose Maria on the 18th green at the closing ceremony.
Jacklin never got the credit he deserves for single-handedly transforming the European team back in the late 80s and making the Ryder Cup one of the best events in golf and sports globally.
That was then, and this is now in a very different world. The consequence of LIV is the polarisation of the professional game of golf, where now only at the four Majors do all the top players compete against each other. The integrity of the game has also come under attack, with loud and raucous behaviour by spectators happening more frequently at certain events.
The days of the average club golfer attending the Belfry with his own step ladder to get to see anything are over. At US$750 a day ticket price, it will effectively become a corporate event, which could change the spirit of the event from the past, where the average golfer can afford to go, like at the Open in Portrush. The Cantlay ‘hatgate’ protest in Rome that led to the US players demanding US$500,000 each doesn’t help keep the ticket prices down. The recent US Open Tennis suffered a backlash from fans not able to afford the inflated ticket pricing due to corporate demand.
The Ryder Cup consists of long days from 7 am to 7 pm with only a short break in the middle for those who walk with the matches. The fear is that with such long days and the amount of liquor served at corporate hospitality, the intensity and the boisterous New York crowd could easily swing out of control. The powers that be must not let this happen. It would be massively damaging to our sport and the game of golf.
The European players must also play their part and not rise to the heckling and abuse that is likely to come their way. They have by far the superior backroom team behind them, with the experience of the smartest past captains—Paul McGinley, Jose Maria—to reinforce the Seve factor and the Molinari brothers to work out the stats and best pairings on paper for Luke Donald, who proved himself last time in Rome. They have primed the players for the abuse that’s coming their way by giving them VR equipment to simulate the sights and sounds and noise, including a volume control for noise levels you want to hear!!!
Rory has grown into the role of leadership within the European team, and his recent taunting public statement about winning at Bethpage will give Keegan Bradley the ammunition he needs to fire up his warriors.
It was fascinating to see Bradley play out his game on whether or not he would be a playing captain. Secretly, from a European point of view, I was hoping he would. Having managed Seve during his captaincy at Valderrama in 1997, I had a bird’s-eye view of the energy, stress, and management skills it takes to be a good captain. Seve was all over the place that week, fighting with his players, picking new partnerships, trying to tell them what shots to play, etc. It was chaotic, to say the least, but his passionate spirit and fierce desire to win were contagious, and he scraped over the line. I remember him calling me at 11 pm that Sunday night when I was sitting with an exhausted Monty to instruct me to tell Ken Schofield, the CEO of the European Tour, that he would never be captain again. He knew deep down he had been fortunate to get the win.
Bradley was smart not to pick himself. The biggest problem facing him is the cohesion within his diverse team and the fact that LIV has been much more polarising among the US players than in Europe. The Europeans represent their individual country as well as Europe when playing in the Ryder Cup. This helps, and the fact that it is virtually the same team as in Rome is another plus for Europe. Many of them are true friends.
But on the other side of the coin, Bradley says his team “is the closest team I have ever seen”. Now how he can know that with so little Ryder Cup experience is another question. He himself is a fiery individual, as was seen with the caddy altercation with Miguel Angel Jimenez and more recently with his loud celebration when beating Fleetwood at the Travelers event. His personality is ideal to ignite the loud and boisterous New York sports fans, and he has probably assembled the best back-room team to date, with an experienced old dog and past captain like Jim Furyk.
Donald and his backroom team will spend a lot of time working out how to keep the New York crowd silent with their golf and managing the barrage of heckling that is likely to occur. They will be well prepared, that is for sure, but the odds on paper are strongly against them winning. Of all the European teams in recent years, there is a great blend of youth and experience in this team, with Hovland, MacIntyre, and Aberg leading the young guns. In addition, many of the team have shown excellent form recently.
Bradley is gambling on a similar formula, adding rookies with seasoned campaigners. At least this time he has got the players together for a productive team bonding session in California. All this will help, but I don’t think anyone is really prepared for what is about to happen on Bethpage Black next week. It will be an extraordinary event with a passion, pride, pressure, and intensity that we may not have seen before in the game of golf.
The only thing I wish for is that everybody remembers the Ryder Cup’s ideology centres around national pride & patriotism, sportsmanship, legacy, and integrity. It’s an important moment for golf to see if its core values can hold up. I sincerely hope so.
May the best team win!
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