There can be no hint of complacency from Bjorn’s boys
Europe
must beware any hint of complacency as they aim to finish the job to win back the Ryder Cup. We all know what happened at Medinah when we came back from 10-6 down on that final Sunday to steal the Cup from the Americans’ grasp. Four points is a great advantage, and one they would have settled for before a ball was struck. But it is not an unassailable lead. At Medinah and even at Oak Hill in 1995 when my team won, there was just a slight feeling from the US side that they would get the job done. My advice to the European players is to forget what is going on elsewhere. Focus solely on your match and winning your point. As Sir Alex Ferguson told the team in a pep talk ahead of the match at Gleneagles, complacency is a disease. And he’s right. The contest is going to be decided in the first four or five singles matches. If Europe have parity in those, they will regain the Ryder Cup. If America can get off to a flying start and build that all-important momentum, we could be in for a very nervous, and exciting, afternoon. Jim Furyk has had no alternative but to frontload his line-up. Justin Thomas has been their stand-out player, so that’s why he is out first. Rory McIlroy has not quite been on his game so far, and I’m not sure the course completely suits him, and he will have to up his game to beat Thomas. After their heroics over the first two days, dynamic duo Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari are also in key positions. At No. 5, Tommy will look to take care of Tony Finau and complete his remarkable debut. He doesn’t have a weakness in his game and his putting has been out of this world. Then if things do start to go badly, we have the insurance of Francesco coming in at No. 9. He is The Open Champion and he has played like it. On that form, you would expect him to beat Phil Mickelson. The difference off the tee between these two is like chalk and cheese. It has taken nearly two days, but there were signs in yesterday afternoon’s foursomes that some of the Americans were starting to get to grips with Le Golf National. Aside from his pairings, the set-up of the course has been the real masterstroke of European captain Thomas Bjorn. He was a vice-captain at both Medinah and Hazeltine, and I’m sure he was angry inside about how those courses were set up to favour the American bombers with little rough and super-fast greens. That threat has been negated here in Paris as Thomas has gone the opposite way. The fairways are tight, the rough is very thick and the greens are slowish. It has played much harder than it normally does for the French Open. That familiarity has played right into Europe’s hands. Then when the breeze has got up, the advantage has been even greater. Having built up this lead, it would be devastating to throw it away. I expect Europe to get the fourand-a-half points needed and the champagne to be flowing later. But perhaps after one or two scares along the way.