I’m tired of being told we haven’t won in a while...
SAYS JORDAN SPIETH
On the living room wall of his £6million mansion in Dallas, Texas, Jordan Spieth has a picture. It is a painting he had commissioned, the only substantial piece of personal memorabilia he displays at home.
In the basement garage with space for a dozen cars there is a mural of Augusta, but that is not his. He bought the property from another professional, Hunter Mahan, and the mural came, too. Spieth’s art is altogether more personal.
It shows him immediately after striking a three wood off the first tee at Gleneagles, in the 2014 Ryder Cup. America did not win the tournament, but the memory warms.
‘It was just that feeling,’ Spieth recalled. ‘You heard the echo of the crowd chanting through the Scottish hills all the way back to the driving range, and you knew that you were about to walk into an away game.
‘I remember just a ton of people. You put the tee on the ground, your hand is shaking; you’re trying to get the ball on the tee. I was as nervous as I’ve been and that was probably the best three wood I’ve ever hit.
‘I actually asked for a painted picture of it. That’s the main piece of artwork in my house. A beautiful painting. I don’t have anything of myself except for that, because it’s so special to me. We didn’t win the Ryder Cup. I didn’t make a putt to win the match there. But I try to look at it every day and I take confidence every time I see it.’
He could have had the 2015 Masters, remember. He could have framed his US Open win in the spectacular surrounds of Chambers Bay.
There is a school of thought that Europe should almost make this Ryder Cup a gimme for the United States. That if the red corner does not win one soon, America will lose interest in team golf altogether as the event sinks into irrelevance.
Don’t believe a word of that. America’s golfing elite have not shown the least indication of resentment or fatigue this week. They are hurt by failure, yes. They are puzzled by it often, too. And they are respectful of European team golf and perhaps even a little intimidated by it.
But they are in no mood to quit. And they would be insulted, rightly, at the thought of the opposition going soft or taking pity on them, particularly at home.
‘If there’s anything that’s kind of left on the docket,’ said Zach Johnson (right), ‘it’s the fact that I have not been on a winning Ryder Cup team yet. You know, I’m not sug- gesting it’s going to be this week, because that’s not the right thing to say or it’s not realistic, but I like the opportunity and I’m excited to get out there and compete.’
not realistic? It shows the knock to American confidence that a team able to leave out Bubba Watson, currently ranked seventh in the world, should not feel bullish about its chances on home soil.
Hazeltine is another course built for big hitters, of which America has plenty. They also have just two rookies in the 12 — Brooks Koepka and Ryan Moore — compared to Europe’s six.
Arriving in Minnesota, European captain Darren Clarke knew that on the first morning, no matter the permutations, two of his players would never have experienced the Ryder Cup before. Overcoming the pairing conundrums alone would make Clarke one of Europe’s finest captains if he could win here, by any margin. So much favours the hosts.
Yet eight out of the last 10 times, Europe have emerged triumphant, including on their last visit to Medinah in 2012. Davis Love III was home captain on that occasion, too, and it seemed to sum up America’s malaise that having announced a task force to investigate an increasingly dismal Ryder Cup record, the USPGA’s best idea was to return to a leader who had already lost. Unfair, according to Spieth. The way he saw it, as a 19-year- old sophomore at the University of Texas, still some months from turning professional, captain Love did everything right. The captain’s shift pretty much ends on Saturday night when the last pair come in, Spieth explained, and at that point America led 10-6. ‘The Americans did the job that Davis Love put out,’ said Spieth. ‘The job of the captain is to create a lead going into the singles, and that creates the opportunity for the players to go out and play their own game.’ America lost the singles by five points, and the event by one. The Miracle of Medinah, it was called. So if there is an American failing it is not that they don’t care, but that they care too much. They put one in the mind of England’s footballers. Think back to the Iceland game. When it did not unfold as planned, instead of keeping a cool head and clear focus, they panicked and froze. America’s recent history in the Ryder Cup echoes that.
In Medinah, having reached a commanding position, there was too much history, too many bad memories. As blue increasingly enveloped the board, the fear of another defeat consumed them.
The idea that American golf is contemptuous of team play looks increasingly historic, too. It is their overwhelming need to win, and their despair at the thought of further failure, that undermines them.
Throughout the week the yearning has been plain. Spieth: ‘We’re just tired of being told we haven’t won one in a while.’ Brandt Snedeker: ‘We need to get our butts in gear and get going — we’re tired of losing this thing.’
It was Tiger Woods who probably did most to create the impression that he would rather be playing his own game. In 2002, before the Belfry, he was asked whether he
They are hurt by failure but the USA are in no mood to quit
would rather win the american Express championship — first prize $1million — or the Ryder cup. He took the singles event. ‘It’s against the best in the world,’ he explained. Europe’s team that year included Phillip Price, ranked 119, and Pierre Fulke, ranked 88. Europe won.
Much has been made of Love’s move towards consultation and inclusion but making Woods a vice-captain may prove a stroke of genius.
He remains an awe-inspiring figure to many in the locker room, and to then see him reinvented as adviser, guru, storyteller and, on occasions, selfless servant to the team, epitomises the spirit it is hoped will bring america’s first victory since 2008.
Much has been made of the greatest golfer of the modern era, hurrying off to grab some rookie’s turkey sub between rounds — and if a few would balk at telling Woods to hold the mayo, many are at least revelling in a new relationship.
‘He called me two weeks ago and started talking to me, and we were on the phone for an hour and a half,’ marvelled Snedeker. ‘He’s called me several times since and, to say it would be unusual to get a call from Tiger previously, would be pretty accurate. I don’t get a lot of those calls. So he’s in, 100 per cent. He’s probably spent more time on this stuff in the last three weeks than all the other assistant captains put together. It’s infectious.’
Watson is also here, despite being cut from the team. He took the call from Love to say that he was going with Moore as his final pick and initially wondered — as any world no 7 would — what the heck? and then, later, he called Love back and asked if he could be part of the team.
‘He said, “Is there any way I can help this team out?”,’ Spieth added. ‘He said, “I don’t care if I’m there to go get water and I’m not a part of any team meeting. I don’t care if I’m just there as assistant captain or a fan. Is there anything I can do to help this team have a better chance to win?” ’
So, no, Team USa will not be asking for any favours this week, and Europe would be well advised not to offer.
This morning, boisterous crowds will be testament to america’s passion for the Ryder cup; although even if it was just 12 men and assorted water carriers, one imagines they would still be heard across the flatlands of Minnesota.