GOLF RYDER CUP 2010:DESPITE the weather – fog in the Usk Valley one day, rain the next – you can sense things heating up here at Celtic Manor. The temperature is rising, partly because of the Tiger Woods-Rory McIlroy diversion; but more likely due to the clock finally ticking down towards a start to this Ryder Cup tomorrow, when players can speak with their clubs rather than in hushed codes that are hard to decipher as they try not to reveal any team secrets.
At least it will be only golf clubs that players use, for the US team, in seeking a stimulus, has again brought a military connotation into the Ryder Cup as a motivational influence.
Corey Pavin, the US captain, has followed the lead of Ben Crenshaw – at Brookline in 1999 – who brought in future US President George W Bush on the night before the singles to recite the text of William Barret Travis’s letter from the Alamo. On this occasion, Pavin brought in an Air Force fighter pilot to pump up his men.
Major Dan Rooney, a decorated F-16 fighter pilot, whom Pavin described as “a patriot”, was brought into the US team room on Tuesday night to deliver a speech.
“I just thought it would be neat to have him come over . . . as I’ve said before, I want these guys to be accountable to each other and have each other’s backs. And basically that’s what happens in the military . . . it was pretty emotional actually, but a good kind of emotion. It was very quiet when he was talking, everybody was paying attention. Very alert.”
Indeed, US Masters champion Phil Mickelson – who toed the party line in refusing to divulge anything of what was actually said by Rooney in describing it as a “team moment” – remarked: “I’d rather not discuss what was said, but I will say that it was the quietest that I had ever seen an audience. It was fascinating.”
It seems that the Major talked of the night runs carried out by fighter pilots on missions and related stories of wartime action, all of which – in Pavin’s eyes – bonded his team together for what, after all, is only a golf match.
In marked contrast, the European captain Colin Montgomerie claimed he had no need for any motivation in his team room – “We don’t need to get motivated, the motivation came from the result two years ago” – and, instead, used a telephone link with Seve Ballesteros to bring extra “passion” into his team’s quest. “I was after passion and, by God, I got it,” said Montgomerie, referring to Ballesteros as “our legend”.
The decision to involve Ballesteros – Europe’s iconic golfer who played in eight Ryder Cups and captained the team at Valderrama – was first suggested to Montgomerie by Paul McGinley, one of his vice-captains. “It was a great idea. It definitely bonds a team, if it needed bonding, together, very close, when Seve, our legend, speaks to us within that context.”
Montgomerie said: “It was a very passionate speech, that he used to give to the team 13 years ago (in Valderrama). He was extremely open about our chances. We were just honoured to have him, to have his presence in the room.”
Each member of the European team spoke – on speakerphone – with Ballesteros, who was at home in Santander where he is battling brain cancer. “The whole team spoke to Seve for about 10 minutes. That was very motivational, very passionate, and also very sad to hear him the way he is. But, still, the passion is very, very strong within Seve . . . it was a very different form the team meeting took because of the passion that was engulfed in the room,” claimed Montgomerie, who also got former Wales rugby star Gareth Edwards to give a speech.
While the European players playing alongside Rory McIlroy donned black, curly wigs to lighten the atmosphere in their group after, according to Montgomerie, the player was “very upset” at how his comments regarding Woods had gotten, as the team captain put it, “out of hand,” there was a cooling down of any potential conflict from Phil Mickelson.
In giving his slant on the Woods-McIlroy matter, Mickelson remarked: “But that’s the feel that any player has. Any player wants to play the best and Tiger is ranked number one in the world. That’s the type of charisma Rory McIlroy has. He’s just like any other top player that wants to take on the best.”
And, asked if Woods had taken any umbrage at McIlroy’s comments, Mickelson retorted: “Are you kidding me? Rory is one of the nicest guys you can imagine, one of the classiest guys out on tour.”
Still and all, a Woods-McIlroy match-up – should that happen in the fourballs or foursomes tomorrow or Saturday or in the singles on Sunday – would add spice to the match.
Not that Pavin or Montgomerie will be conspiring to make that happen, instead relying on the luck of the draw to determine who shall face who.
Military undertones
1991 – Kiawah Island
Corey Pavin wore a military camouflage hat to show his support for troops involved in Desert Storm in the first Gulf war. The match, won by the US, became known as the "War on the Shore".
1999 – Brookline
Future US president George W Bush was brought in by Ben Crenshaw to recite the letter from the Alamo. "I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna," Travis wrote (and Bush repeated to the team). "I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Victory or death."
Team USA won 8.5 points in the following day's singles, to win the match 14.5 to 13.5.
2004 – Oakland Hills
US captain Hal Sutton came up with an unusual way to select the colour of his team's uniforms – he chose a colour from each branch of the US military. "We may not have won the Ryder Cup that year, but we wore our colours with honour," remarked Sutton.
– Philip Reid
