European Tour calls time on watch war
THE European Tour have thrown in the towel in their attempts to stop their Ryder Cup stars from wearing watches not provided by sponsors Rolex in official photographs.
This ‘ambush marketing’ is going ahead despite Rolex having such an integral partnership with the Ryder Cup that captain Thomas Bjorn presented each member of his side with an inscribed Rolex watch at Monday night’s dinner. But as the European Tour have turned a blind eye, Omega ambassadors Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia were not stopped from having their watches on show at yesterday’s team photo shoot.
Ryder Cup organisers changed their stance after last year’s picture shambles, when the non-Rolex players ignored requests from official photographer David Cannon to cover up their varied makes of watch.
Former captain Darren Clarke (above) telling Cannon to ‘f****** get on with it’ when he made his plea about the watches at Hazeltine in 2016 was one of the reasons Cannon gave up taking the team picture. Cannon’s successor Andrew Redington made no mention of watches when taking the team pictures at Le Golf National yesterday.
A European Tour spokesman said it was no longer worth the fuss and that Rolex had been told about the new policy. Rolex made no comment.
BBC Sport staff at the Ryder Cup are adhering to strict French employment law over working hours to the extent that they are filling in time sheets every day. And commentators including John Murray and Alistair Bruce-Ball didn’t come to the course on Monday so as to avoid racking up too many hours before the tournament. THE American contingent of Ryder Cup WAGs in France includes Dustin Johnson’s glamour girl partner Paulina Gretzky, daughter of ice hockey legend Wayne, despite recent reports of their relationship hitting the rocks. The speculation began after Paulina scrubbed all mentions of Dustin from her Instagram account. The couple have been together five years and have two sons.
Johnson issued a statement saying: ‘Every relationship goes through its ups and downs, but more importantly we love each other very much and are committed to being a family.’
EUROPEAN captain Thomas Bjorn gathered his players and caddies, plus every member of the backroom staff and European Tour support personnel, in the team room at their Trianon Palace Hotel in Versailles on Monday night. The Gareth Southgate-style message from Bjorn to his 80-strong audience was that they all had to be in it together as ‘one team’ for the Ryder Cup to be regained. However, Bjorn doesn’t credit England manager Southgate’s work at the World Cup in Russia for the team bonding tactics. The Dane joked at the wildcard announcement: ‘Gareth learned it from me.’