torrance hails ryder course
Sam Torrance is predicting Le Golf National to be one of the stars of the show when the Ryder Cup arrives in France next year.
The course just outside Paris has staged the French Open for all but two years since 1991, and is known for high drama.
There is water to contend with, from the opening tee shot to the final green. So those with frayed nerves 12 months from now will be in for a challenging week.
Torrance was French Open Champion there in 1998, and believes it is a perfect fit for golf’s greatest occasion.
“The first time I played it, my first thought was, ‘ This is the best Ryder Cup course ever’, says Europe’s winning captain from The Belfry in 2002.
“It’s just built for the Ryder Cup, and the last five or six holes are phenomenal. They will be full of drama.
“But it’s a great course overall. The start is very intimidating, so the players are going to be tested at the beginning, the middle and the end.
“The weapon we have is that our guys will have played there many times before and the players know the course well.
“Thomas Bjorn will be able to set the course up to suit the European play. But there are not too many other advantages, apart from being at home.”
Preparations gathered pace last week with the two captains, Europe’s Thomas Bjorn and America’s Jim Furyk taking part in the year-to-go celebrations.
That included hitting balls off the Eiffel Tower, thus showing the French flavour that will be in evidence.
Anticipation of this Gallic gathering is already building – even a Ryder Cup veteran like Sam can’t wait.
Furyk will lead his band of young guns as they look for a first victory in Europe for 25 years. But Torrance isn’t worried if the Americans start as favourites.
“I think we’ve been favourites once in all the years of the Ryder Cup,” he jokes. “It doesn’t matter who are the favourites.
“Thomas will do a great job and both teams are building up fantastically.
“There is a changing of the guard on both sides, with the young players that are coming through. It’s looking like it will be a great contest.
“As for the crowds, the French are the French. We’ve been playing there our whole lives with the French Open and the old Lancome Trophy.
“They are certainly a different crowd. The Lancome was more like a fashion show than a golf tournament!
“But their golf fans are knowledgeable and this is the Ryder Cup. It doesn’t matter where they are playing it.
“The crowd won’t be predominantly French, it will be the fans who go to the Ryder Cup. We just need a name for them like we had with ‘Arnie’s Army’!”
Torrance is playing this weekend in the European Senior Masters at the Forest of Arden, but the popular Scot knows his time is running out.
At 64, and with 44 victories to his name across a long and distinguished career, Sam is almost certain that next year’s Senior Open, at St Andrews, will be his farewell to pro golf.
“It is certainly looking it will be my last event,” he says. “But I don’t know if I’ll get that far!
“But what a wonderful place that would be to stop. It is 45 years this year out on Tour, so it’s time to hang up my boots. The end is nigh, but I just can’t let go.
“It’s fantastic that the Senior Open is heading to St Andrews, as it’s one of my favourite courses.
“It’s an incredible venue. It will be amazing.”
Sam Torrance was speaking at the 2017 Farmfoods European Senior Masters.