NO EASY RYDER
Paul Lawrie quietly confident for Team Europe
LOOK away if you’re squeamish. The surgeon’s knife has been slicing and poking around in Paul Lawrie’s sair fit recently.
The tendon that was ruptured has been repaired, there’s been some work on a torn ligament and some bone spurs have been shaved away. Now all he needs to do is sit back and let it all heal.
“There’s been quite a lot done so I have a few weeks of sitting watching daytime TV which, if you’ve ever watched, is not the best,” he said. At least he can tether himself to coverage of the Ryder Cup for the next few days.
Lawrie, a two-time combatant on the frontline of golf’s greatest team battle, was drafted into the European set-up as one of Darren Clarke’s vice-captains at Hazeltine in 2016. It was an eye-opening experience and one particular instance highlighted the difficulties the captain and his backroom team face when it comes to deciding on pairings for each session.
During the Saturday foursomes two years ago, Spanish duo of Sergio Garcia and Rafa Cabrera Bello found themselves four down with six to play against Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed. The clock was ticking and Clarke had to get his afternoon pairings in.
“I was walking with Sergio and Rafa that day,” recalled Lawrie. “He asked me my opinions and I said that they hadn’t played poorly but the Americans had played very well. We decided then to leave Rafa out and change it a bit in the afternoon.”
And what happened? “Rafa and Sergio fought back to get a halved match,” added Lawrie. “But those names had to be in before the match had finished. That’s the frustrating part of it, that’s the thing people understand.”
Those kind of head-scratching decisions that are par for the course of being skipper are something Lawrie will not have to concern himself with now or in the future as he re-iterated the fact that he is resigned to not filling the captain’s role.
“It’s going to be pretty tough now,” he said. “The previous three captains have a vote and two of them didn’t see me as a vice-captain.
“So if they don’t see me as a vice-captain, I can’t see them voting for me as a captain. I’d love to be but if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen.” don’t