‘I CLOSED MY EYES, SWALLOWED MY PUKE, AND HIT THE PUTT.’
2004 U. S. CAPTAINCY
First, Europe’s Danny Willett apologized for his brother’s excoriation of loudmouth American golf fans in advance of the Ryder Cup.
Then U.S. stalwart Phil Mickelson apologized for using Hal Sutton’s 2004 captain cy as an example of bad decision making. That’s one mea culpa each. “The matches are all square,” quipped Golfweek’s Jim McCabe, the one-time Boston Globe hockey writer. PHIL BEING PHIL: Mickelson probably had the most to be sorry for. He wasn’t wrong to say that Sutton’s decision to pair him with Tiger Woods, twice, on the first day of the 2004 matches was a stroke of … well, the opposite of genius, given each player’s disdain for the other.
But considering that Mickelson had just changed his driver and golf ball from Titleist to Callaway two weeks before the 2004 matches — he shot 75- 69-79- 68 and finished 57 th in the RBC Canadian Open the previous week, in his only competitive test of the new equipment — his complaint about having to learn how to hit Woods’s Nike ball on two days’ notice rang just a little hollow.
“He wasn’t even prepared with the ball that he brought to the tournament, much less Tiger’s,” said Sutton, who is among several former captains invited to hang out in the American team room here. “So, I think he needs to search his own soul a little bit.”
NOTHING TO IT: A fan was heckling Europe’s Rory McIlroy and Andy Sullivan after both missed a 12- foot putt during Thursday’s practice round, so Henrik Stenson hauled the man out of the gallery and challenged him to try it. Justin Rose took out a US$100 bill and laid it down beside the ball.
The fan, David Johnson, rammed the putt into the centre of the hole. It might have gone six feet past if the cup hadn’t stopped it, but it went in. McIlroy ran over and hugged him, and even posted a video clip of it, with Johnson celebrating and the crowd roaring, with the caption “Has the Ryder Cup started already?”
“I razzed them a little bit, and they heard me, which was insane,” Johnson told reporters. “They brought me out, which is more insane. I haven’t fully realized what just happened, but overall that was a pretty cool experience.
“I closed my eyes, swallowed my puke, and hit the putt,” he joked. “It happened to go in.”