Sam’s glad Ryder Cup decision is not down to him
Ryder Cup decision time is approaching, and former European skipper Sam Torrance doesn’t envy those who’ll make it.
As things stand, the Ryder Cup is scheduled to take place at Whistling Straits from September 25-27, but news is expected within days about how, or if, the event will take place.
A match with 50,000 spectators attending each day will not happen this year.
So it is whether it goes ahead behind closed doors or with a very-limited crowd number – or is simply postponed until next year.
Torrance was in charge of Europe in 2001 when the match at The Belfry was moved back 12 months following the atrocities of 9/11. But he recognises these are different circumstances.
“I didn’t even think about golf for about a week, 10 days after those horrific events,” Torrance told The Sunday Post. “The Ryder Cup was obviously never going to happen. It never entered my mind.
“There was almost no decision to be made. We had to postpone it for a year. “This time, we don’t know who’s making the decision. “There are contracts involved with television. And, if it was postponed, you’ve got the Olympics and the Presidents Cup next year, so it’s finding a place in the calendar.
“The whole thing is in the melting pot and you’re wondering what’s the right or wrong thing to do. It is not an easy call.”
Torrance has been watching sports like horse racing and football at home, and is slowly getting used to the different way things are having to be done behind closed doors. The noise, colour and partisan atmosphere that the spectators bring mark the Ryder Cup out as completely different from anything else in golf.
So three days without them at Whistling Straits would provide a completely new element to the game’s biggest occasion. However, the man who captained Europe’s winning team in 2002 and holed the winning putt in 1985, doesn’t have any doubts that the players would not still be inspired by the occasion. “Ifitwasacase of going ahead without spectators, what an opportunity that would be for Europe to play the Americans without their 13th man,” said the 66-yearold.
“It would be a huge television event.
“Who knows how the players would do? The crowd can pump you up, absolutely it can. But do the players need that?
“It could be Justin Rose against Tiger Woods in the singles, and they wouldn’t care who was outside the ropes. They would just want to beat each other. “When you don your European shirt and cap and all the other circumstances have been dealt with, it would be a case of ‘Let’s go’.
“The only sad thing is for players making their debut because your dreams of holing winning putts or winning tournaments always involve crowds of people watching.” After enjoying re-runs of some of golf’s mostfamous moments during lockdown, Torrance is delighted to have live action once again and it’s Bryson Dechambeau who has captured his attention. The American Ryder Cup player has added nearly two stones in muscle while golf was away and he has transformed himself into one of golf’s longest hitters.
The 26-year-old has divided opinion, but Torrance admires the dedication to improve. “What about Bryson?” enthused Sam. “I was watching him play with Rory Mcilroy and he flew it 40 yards past him.
“And to Rory’s credit, he was magnanimous about it. “Dechambeau is very much the Karsten Solheim (the genius founder of the Ping golf company) of the modern era. He does things his own way.
“He has a methodical brain and applies that to everything he does, the way he swings, and his grips and shafts are all the same.
“I guess we don’t know what all this is doing to his body, but it’s quite extraordinary.
“And believe me, it’ll be the talk of the locker room.
“But it seems to be having results as he finished one shot out at Colonial and was in the top-10 again at Hilton Head.
“It’s brought up all the old scenarios and conversations – the ball needs changing, the clubs need changing, courses need changing.
“But Bryson’s not changed any of those. He’s changed his body!”