Well, that wasn't very exciting now, was it? Having climbed down off the emotional rollercoaster that was watching the Europeans overcome a considerable final day deficit to win the Ryder Cup, I thought I'd offer up my thoughts as to what we can take away from it
1) Ian Poulter is the man
The man is, quite simply, Mr Ryder Cup. He readily admits that he struggles to get as fired up for strokeplay events as he does for this competition (or matchplay in general) and he proved, yet again, his value & worth to the team. This can be measured not just in the 4/4 he delivered in points, but the inspiration and passion he generates in those around him. His putt at the death on Saturday, under an obscene amount of pressure, was phenomenal. His third shot from right of the 16th green on Sunday was timely in the extreme and swung the pressure firmly back on Webb Simpson. Hopefully, his 12-3-0 record across his four appearances (2004, 2008, 2010 & 2012) will finally put to bed any lingering questions about his reliance on wildcard picks and whether he should be involved. He ended the week top points scorer. Perfect.
2) Europe have more sartorial skill than the US
Luminous orange. Grey with Chicago sillouhette. Bright red. Spring green. Purple. Seve's blue & white. Olly's selections were a veritable kaleidoscope of colour and in stark contrast to the sartorial offerings from across the pond. Time & again the Americans looked like they had cobbled together their outfits from whatever happened to be in their lockers or the pro-shop.
3) Spending time on the range before your round is a waste of time
It has to be said that, whether the root cause was a broken alarm clock, miscalculating the local time or a late-night phone call with Wozza, Rory's McIlroy's mad dash through traffic arriving at Medinah just ahead of his allotted tee time was the stuff of monthly medals & society golf, not the Ryder Cup. Ah well, whatever. He proved that the well-documented professional method of a pre-round routine - x minutes serious stretching & flexing, x minutes hitting balls on the range with every club in a specific order followed by x minutes on the putting green - is a load of old bollocks. All you need to do is a) bowl up ten minutes before you are due to tee off b) slip your shoes on in the car park and tie up the laces on the tee c) grab the big dog and have a bit of a practice swing d) get it on. Granted, a lift in a police car is also helpful if the traffic is a tad heavy.
4) Tiger Woods doesn't care about team golf
Plenty has been written about whether or not Tiger Woods is back to his best and I wondered if this week could provide the answer. Historically, he's never given much of a shit about the Ryder Cup - seeming to tolerate it (& his team-mates) rather than every embracing it - preferring to concentrate on his own performances and achievements. The President's Cup last year saw a slight change to his approach, which coincided with his own putrid form on tour. This year, however, his personal performances have been pretty good by anyone's standards. To see him go winless at Medinah, failing to gel with Steve Stricker and look very much like an irritated bystander, made me think of the old Tiger.
So, by a slightly contrived route, I am declaring that Tiger is back.
5) Lessons were learnt from Brookline
There was a fair amount of speculation about the hostile nature of the partisan US crowds and how this would impact the performances of the European players. It's certainly true that vocal home support can help a team along - Celtic Manor, anyone? - but the memories of Brookline in 1999 were still relatively fresh, when the crowds definitely crossed a line and, unfortunately, swept some players up along the way. It was refreshing, therefore, to see and hear a strongly partisan, yet appreciative, home crowd - when things were going the way of the Americans, the support was loud & proud but when the Europeans fought back with golf of the very highest quality, the spectators were gracious and recognised what was happening. Was this down to examples being set by the players? Exhibit A in favour would be Phil Mickleson's reaction to Justin Rose holing an absolute bomb on #17 in the singles to draw level. In the past, an opponent would have walked to the last tee, probably muttering away about Rose being a lucky so-and-so (or something less family-friendly); Mickleson stood and applauded. Fair play to you, sir.
6) Performance under pressure
To put it quite simply, the Europeans had it; the Americans didn't. Going into Sunday's singles, the Europeans had nothing to lose. JMO front-loaded the draw to try and get out of the blocks quickly and get some blue on the board and, when the opportunities came to draw blood, the Americans blinked first.
There were two moments which stood out for me. Justin Rose produced golf of the absolute highest quality to defeat Phil Mickleson and his monster putt on #17 will long be remembered, but his putt for a half on #16 was far, FAR more important. Secondly, and vitally, Martin Kaymer. I was one of those who had wished that Nicolas Colsaerts had played a tiny bit better at Gleneagles to qualify by right, meaning JMO would have a chance to leave the woefully out-of-form German at home. When his birdie putt on #18 kept on going past the hole, he could easily have crumbled with the return effort, especially with Stricker putting the pressure on with a par. Brilliant performance in the circumstances and, to both Rose & Kaymer, we must salute the size of your cojones. Shiny, brass & absolutely massive.
I am the Part-Time Golfer
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