Ryder Cup had Moliwood, we give you Gaul

Dear fans of the Ryder Cup

How awesome was that? Not the fact that the Europeans thumped the Yanks – as much as that warmed the cockles of my heart – but rather the celebrations after the event.

It reminded me why I love the game of golf so much, and particularly when it is played in a team format.

Playing as an individual is cool, but there is something about the team game that helps one focus far better. When there is someone relying on you to do the business, the levels of concentration and ap- plication are usually heightened.

Watching Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood – or “Moliwood” as one of the sharp commentators referred to the pairing – in action last weekend hammered that point home. They cajoled one another to produce their best and produce they did!

I have obviously played many, many rounds of golf as an individual. But it is when I have been part of a team that I have invariably upped my game.

Sure, there is added pressure to perform because you don’t want to let your partner or partners down, but that is what makes it so special. But that is not always the case.

Guy Hawthorne

I let my partner Paul down last weekend in our weekly skins game at Huddle Park. Up against Wickus and Janneman, things were tight as we reached the final hole, with our opponents up by two skins and four riding on the par-five hole after a few carry-overs.

Janneman was quickly out of the hole after an awful drive and Paul also made a pig’s ear of things. Wickus was also battling, so when I was about 20m short of the green for two, I thought we had it wrapped up.

I played a tidy enough chip and left myself with a slippery downhill putt of about five metres for birdie.

Wickus played a nightmare of a bunker shot – hitting the ball thin – and was way off the green for four, but he bumped the ball down to within 10m of the pin to be lying five.

He stalked the putt as if his life depended on it and read it perfectly, dropping it for a six.

My birdie putt slipped just beyond the hole and I had a short one to wrap up the match, but I totally misread it and it slipped past the left edge. We halved the hole and Wickus and Janneman took the match.

I actually had quite a good day and hit some wonderful shots, but when I arrived home later and the missus asked me how things went, all I could talk about was that missed putt on the 18th and how I had let Paul down.

And that, to me, sums things up. The day wasn’t about how I had performed as an individual but rather about how Paul and I – or “Gaul” as we will be known in future – had done.

Oh well, there is always a next time ...