‘Dumpy, fat’ Sullivan determined to rack up
FROM stacking shelves at Asda to racking up points for Europe. When you know the story of Andy Sullivan perhaps it is not surprising that he cannot wait to get to Hazeltine and let his emotions go.
After all, surely you would want to shout about it if you had been at one end of that journey at 20 and somehow reached the other at 30? In the absence of Ian Poulter, perhaps it is another working-class Englishman with an equally remarkable rags-to-riches tale to tell who will breathe in the hostility and show off his passion.
‘Sure I’ve got the personality for the Ryder Cup,’ said Sullivan. ‘I know the crowd are going to call me a dumpy, fat Englishman and that sort of thing but I’m the sort of person who embraces that and thrives on it. I can’t wait to let myself go in that environment.’
The Ryder Cup qualifying process had barely begun when captain Darren Clarke earmarked Sullivan for a place. ‘I want you to make my team,’ Clarke told him, after he had pushed Rory McIlroy all the way at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last November.
‘I’d known Darren for a while and always got on well with him but when he told me that it did boost my confidence and make me want to repay his loyalty,’ said Sullivan.
Neither was Clarke the only Northern Irishman impressed. Sullivan and McIlroy had first met in Dubai six months earlier and formed a bond. When it came to letting Darren know who he would like to play with at Hazeltine, McIlroy mentioned Sully, as he is known to one and all — and expect to see them in fourballs action at some point.
‘The first time I played with Rory I shot seven under par and I think he admired my pluck,’ said Sullivan. ‘We just hit it off straight away. When you hear Rory wants to play with you it makes you feel like a million dollars.’
One match-up Sully would relish is against Jordan Spieth. At the 2011 Walker Cup they went at it hammer and tongs in the singles, with Sullivan hitting four birdies in a row to come back from four