Pride, passion, pressure – get set for the ultimate in sporting drama
The theatre on show in Paris will have the whole planet transfixed – no other event comes close
There is nothing like the Ryder Cup. Not in golf. Not in all of sport. They say imitation is the best form of flattery and if that is true then the Ryder Cup can be very proud because so many other sports have tried to copy it.
But they have all failed even to
approach the passion and interest produced by this match. Europe does not come together like this in any other context. It is the only competition that pits one side of the Atlantic against the other.
When Jack Nicklaus suggested in the Seventies that the Great Britain and Ireland team be expanded to take in the whole continent just so America could be given a proper match, he could not have imagined what it would become.
It transcends the game, it crosses the boundaries. Every footballer will be watching, every cricketer, every rugby player. It is the
ultimate shop window for golf on the world stage.
I remember going down to Walton Heath with my brother in 1981 when I was 18. That United States team famously contained 11 major winners. It was the second time we had played under the Europe flag but Seve Ballesteros had been banned after a row about him receiving appearance money in regular events, so we never really had a prayer. To be honest, there was not a great deal of interest.
I recall there being this small merchandise tent and hardly anybody went in there. The crowds were OK but the atmosphere was pretty muted. Back then, the biggest events were the Open and the Masters. Look at it now. You get twice as many media at the Ryder Cup as any of the majors.
It has turned into this mammoth. How and why? Simple, it is because Europe started winning. Credit should go to Tony Jacklin for bringing that side together from
the rubble of that humbling defeat in ’81. He persuaded Seve to play and told the powers-that-be he would only do the job if the team were flown over by Concorde. Jacklin insisted on the best because he was being asked to be the best.
Europe came close in 1983 and won at The Belfry two years later, but to my mind the most significant was the victory in 1987 at Muirfield Village in Ohio. It was Nicklaus’s course and he was the US captain. Jacklin’s men prevailed at the ultimate American course with the ultimate American captain and the home crowd was stunned.
I made my debut in the 1991 competition at Kiawah Island and although we lost that week – by a point – the events of that notorious ‘War on the Shore’ week highlighted Europe’s main success. The US showed how much they suddenly cared about the Ryder Cup.
We continue to bat well above
ourselves in competing with the might of America. Our golfing GDP is about 10 per cent of that of America. In golf sales, in golf played, in golf generally, America is 10 to one against us, and that is why we do a hell of a job simply to keep up with them in the way we do.
Defeat has kept them interested and, after eight defeats in the last 11 matches, they are now more interested than ever. To think, in 1977 Tom Weiskopf turned down his place on the US team in favour of a bear-hunting expedition to Alaska. Now it is one of the biggest honours in the sport and the revenue it produces is huge.
The European Tour would not be anything like it is without this finance. I recall taking to George O’grady, the Tour’s former chief executive, when I was captain in 2010, and he informed me how vital it was. He made sure that I knew how important a home win was that year at Celtic Manor, in terms of
driving sponsorship, gaining new events and kind of thing.
I have no doubt Keith Pelley has told Thomas Bjorn the same, especially with so many of our top guys now basing themselves in the States. Thomas will be feeling pressure because we really do not want to go to Whistling Straits in 2020 having lost two in a row. A hat-trick of US triumphs would then loom large and all the talk would be about American dominance again.
But if you peer down the names in Jim Furyk’s team room it is difficult not to fancy them for their first win on Europe soil in 25 years, a remarkable statistic.
This is the best US team since 1986 – my head says they will win
With six members of the world’s top 10, this is the strongest US team since the rankings were introduced in 1986. And, of course, they include a resurgent Tiger Woods, the biggest figure golf has had.
It is being played on a great golf course, one of the best layouts on which the Ryder Cup has been contested. All the ingredients are there.
Europe are strong as well and Thomas will be praying that home advantage sways the final verdict. He has ensured the fairways are tight and the rough is up, and the game plan will be to frustrate the Americans.
It could just work but my head rules over my heart and tells me to expect a close US win. But I do believe we have an absolute cracker in store.
Colin Montgomerie is an ambassador of Aberdeen Standard Investments – proud Worldwide Partner of the Ryder Cup.