SKIPPER RECALLS HOW EUROPE’S HERO
HARD though it is to imagine in the afterglow of Open champion Francesco Molinari’s starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup win, there was a point in the summer when Thomas Bjorn was worried he may not be able to call on him against the United States.
Europe’s captain had in his head the wild cards that turned out to be such trump cards even at that point, but he felt he needed Molinari as part of a very specific puzzle for Le Golf National.
When the Italian announced he was going to play in the John Deere Classic in the United States the week before the Open Championship with his PGA Tour card in mind, Bjorn was concerned he was in danger of blowing his qualification.
“I spoke to him about it and asked him if it was the right move. I said to him, ‘I’m a little bit worried about it’, because I really wanted him to be on this IN VERSAILLES team. This golf course, I thought, suited him perfectly,” said Bjorn.
“I had the conversation with him but he said, ‘For me, I have to do this but I promise you I will make the team’.
“I got a message on the Sunday night after he had won the Open saying, ‘Is this good enough?’”
Molinari’s place in the team was secure and the train was in motion towards his spot in Ryder Cup folklore as the first European to record a maximum five points.
With four of them coming in tandem with Tommy Fleetwood, the European Tour put out an amusing spoof video of them waking up in a double bed together with the cup between them yesterday. The pair, close enough before the event to have gone on holiday with their families to the Bahamas after the USPGA, are now apparently inseparable. The victory party, with Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw – a friend of Fleetwood – in charge of the tunes, had been in keeping with the scale of Europe’s 17d-10d win.
Rory McIlroy had pulled a calf muscle chasing Tyrrell Hatton around with a bottle of champagne but, apart from that, everyone had emerged intact.
Bjorn has a dishevelled, seadog look at the best of times with his stubbly outcrop, so his brief appearance the morning after the night before, back at his field of dreams, was par for the course. But he was basking in the satisfaction of an extraordinary seven-point victory.
“If you sit at home and come up with that score it would be borderline arrogant against that US team,” said Bjorn. “You couldn’t come up with this scoreline if you tried.”
Job well done, the Dane was able to relax and bask in the thought that his every waking hour would no longer be dedicated to winning back the cup.
His players had, frankly, been a little tired of too much Thomas THE USA moved into meltdown mode yesterday with Patrick Reed turning on captain Jim Furyk. Reed criticised Furyk for splitting up his proven partnership with Jordan Spieth and leaving him out for two matches. Of the three he played, a capeless Captain America lost two alongside Tiger Woods. “For somebody as months out from the Ryder Cup with calls on this and that, but the meticulous planning, which involved illness-prevention plans from the start of the summer, served its purpose in the week itself.
“We didn’t drop our guard all week long. We stayed on point as a group and the discipline that we showed got us to this point,” said Justin Rose.
“This team was relentless in its pursuit of excellence.
“We ticked every box we could control all week long, whether it be recovery, nutrition or our practice rounds. Our focus was unbelievable.” Bjorn’s too. He showed the resolve to stick with the pairings plans he had shared with his team even when Europe went 3-1 down in the first session, but also the flexibility to seize the moment when his players were on a high from their successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice,” said Reed who, along with Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, left their American team-mates to join the European victory party in the early hours.
The Texan, who beat Tyrrell Hatton in a dead-rubber singles match on Sunday, revealed he had told Furyk he wanted to line up with Spieth, with whom he had lost only one match in seven at the past two Ryder Cups. However, he said he was ignored afternoon whitewash and hold the night’s team meeting then and there in the locker room.
Asked what was the most significant impact he had on the team and he had no hesitation. “The picks,” he said. “They delivered.”
Bjorn had every angle covered. The tail-end players in his singles line-up on Sunday watched personalised videos from the likes of Paul McGinley, Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell – who had all brought home the cup – about their role on the last day.
In the end, such was the dominance of Europe’s middle order, they were not needed. The United States were crushed and Europe’s golfing band of brothers were raised to the Versailles skies, heroes one and all.
“It is the closest thing we get to being a rock star or a footballer scoring a goal in a World Cup final – that is what it feels like,” said Fleetwood.
“It is very cool.” because he fell outside the sphere of influence – or “buddy system” as he described it – that effectively ran the US team, with Furyk partnering Spieth with Justin Thomas instead.
“The issue is obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me,” said Reed. “I don’t have any issue with Jordan. I don’t care if I like the person I’m paired with or if the person likes me, as long as it works and it sets up the team for success.
“He and I know how to make each other better. We know how