MICKELSON GETS 0 OUT OF 10
DEREK LAWRENSON’S RYDER CUP RATINGS:
Ian POULTER was prancing around dressed as a red pillar box. Tommy Fleetwood was being chaired from green to green.
Francesco Molinari stood drenched in beer yet still comically serious — and someone had made off with the 16th tee marker, so Tyrrell Hatton, still playing, had to guess where to put his ball on the par three.
Madness, obviously. But the real lunacy at Le Golf national was the claim the United States don’t care about the Ryder Cup. That it doesn’t matter 25 years have passed since they won in Europe.
Dustin Johnson goes down to Poulter, 34 places his inferior in golf ’s world rankings, and it’s because he wasn’t trying. He certainly looked as if he was having a go when he drained two monstrous putts on the back nine; and he cared enough to fight back from two down at the fourth to one up at the 11th.
If Poulter led the world no 1 on 12 of their 18 holes all told, it is because he is one of the greatest matchplay performers in the history of the sport, and this form of competition requires a mastery of game management that not all professionals, even major winners and world no 1s, can crack.
Padraig Harrington said that what made Colin Montgomerie such an effective singles player was that he loved the control of one-on-one. at strokeplay events, the opposition spreads across 18 holes, and maybe 12 hours of play. nobody knows or cares about your birdie on the 14th. Matchplay is different. Each shot, good or bad, impacts psychologically. and Poulter, who has never lost in singles, relishes the thrill of gladiatorial contest.
So when, on the 18th, trailing by just one hole, Johnson put his shot straight down the middle but had to ease up for fear of going long into the water. Poulter then took enormous delight in proceeding to outdrive one of the biggest hitters in the world by 35 yards.
and when Johnson, now unexpectedly playing his second shot first, missed the pin by some distance, that was the opportunity for a final turn of the screw.
The Postman, so called because he always delivers, put his second to within five feet. That is matchplay golf. It isn’t that Johnson lacked motivation; more that Poulter better understands the medium. Maybe that applies to Europe and team golf, too. Jim Furyk’s pairing of Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed looked magnificent on paper but it soon became apparent that being on his best behaviour and a support act negated Reed’s patriotic energy.
allowed to be himself in the singles, he was one of the few american successes, a 3&2 victor over Hatton. He placed a finger to his lips to hush the crowd when the match was won, but only in generous self-mockery. The cup was Europe’s by this stage.
as for Woods, he perhaps epitomises america’s desire to win, despite the worst Ryder Cup performance of his career. Four matches, four defeats, yet he was here, and ready to engage in four out of five sessions.
It would have been so easy to duck it, if he really wanted out, so easy to get a free pass. He could have said his back needed rest at the end of a miracle comeback season; he could have claimed he couldn’t play 36 holes and his captain needed fitter men. He could have waved through ambitious youth.
Everyone would have understood. Instead he fought like stink to get here, and to score so much as half a lousy point for his team. His second on the ninth yesterday was one of the shots of the day: the eagle it produced one of only two recorded. Woods wanted to play, and win, the Ryder Cup — and when he went down to Jon Rahm in the singles it was his first defeat on a Ryder Cup Sunday in 21 years.
Maybe america could engage more pre-tournament. Justin Thomas was the sole member of the team to play at Le Golf national in the French Open in June, and Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau and Bubba Watson the only ones who visited with Furyk to practise. Golf is an individual sport, and individuals manage it as they see fit.
Montgomerie said the difference between the tours in Europe and america could be found in hotel corridors. In Europe, he explained, players met socially. They might eat together, even drink. In america, returning from the course, all he would see is a line of used roomservice trays outside each room. The PGa Tour was a lonely place.
Maybe, as all sports strive for greater professionalism, some of the camaraderie has disappeared. Yet it certainly feels easier to form team bonds among the Europeans. The United States talk a very good game, without possessing the obvious simpatico of European partnerships. Take Moli-Wood. Half Lancastrian, half Piedmontese yet as comfortable as Bert and Ernie. Of course, it is easy to appear at ease when the scoreboard reads 17½ to 10½ but this was true even at 3-1 down Friday lunchtime. Europe are good at this and know a winning combination.
There is continuity in players
The European spirit comes from being written off
such as Poulter and Sergio Garcia and there was the spirit that comes from being written off, as this group had been for many weeks.
‘The captain’s picks weren’t bad, were they?’ said captain Thomas Bjorn, no doubt recalling that he had been accused of picking pals and favourites ahead of deserving rookies. Rory McIlroy was more direct. ‘We’ve only got one question: where’s Alan Shipnuck?’ he asked, a reference to the American golf writer who pronounced the Ryder Cup dead, so confident was he that America’s domination from 2016 would continue.
A European victory brought the now traditionally shambolic press conferences. Garcia asking Molinari how the 18th was playing, knowing not one of his five victorious rounds got there, was the wittiest joke before Justin Rose cut to the heart of the matter.
‘What you are seeing here is a bunch of guys who are elated,’ he said. ‘But what this team did not do was drop their guard for one minute, until this moment.
‘This team were relentless in pursuit of excellence. We ticked every box, whether it was practice, recovery, nutrition. Thomas didn’t fill our week with pointless team meetings. He trusted us to come together and be 12 individuals with a common goal. We stayed on point. The discipline we showed got us here.’
And that is why they won. Not because America don’t want it. They very much want it: they just don’t know how to get it. Not on this side of the water, anyway.
As a parent, these moments we get to spend with one another sometimes are few and far between Luke, but when moments like this come around I was not letting you down today... you lived every shot with us this week... love you buddy... Dreams do come true Ian Poulter on Twitter ‘When I get home to Florida I’m going to put it on and post some letters to my American neighbours’ - A mischievous Ian Poulter