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September 2012 / Issue 214
AWAY THE LADS! Victories on foreign soil haven’t happened very often in the Ryder Cup, but Europe has a solid chance of upsetting the odds this time, says Nick Bayly Europe will be hoping to repeat the scenes from 2010 at Celtic Manor when they take on the US at Medinah
I’ve always thought that an ‘away win’ should count double when it comes to the Ryder Cup. There’s such a huge home advantage – 10 of the last 14 matches have been won by the home side – that winning one on foreign soil feels like it should count for more than one more measly point in the overall scheme of things. While recent history would have us believe that we own the Ryder Cup, since the GB&I team was amalgamated into Europe in 1979, the scores stand at played 16, won 8, lost 7, halved one. And, if you’re in the market for more stats, Europe has won only three of the last 38 matches on US soil. Despite José Maria Olazabal’s protestations that this year’s encounter has no clear favourite, the bookies think otherwise, with USA priced up at 8/11 on and Europe 11/8 against. The odds are merely reflecting the location of the matches, rather than the respective talents of the teams, and recent history shows us that there’s rarely much in it, regardless of the world rankings of the players. Despite winning at Valhalla in 2008, and bagging half of this season’s majors, there remains a slight feeling that Team USA is on the back foot when it comes to the world order golf, let alone the Ryder Cup, and they look only marginally less beatable than they did at Celtic Manor two years ago, when Uncle Sam really was in the doldrums. With many of the more established players, such as Mickelson, Furyk, and indeed Woods, not at their best, and four rookies in the squad, Davis Love’s team is beginning to look a little flakey around the edges.
Team USA is the bookies favourite to grab a home win
But there’s no getting away from the fact that a home match is by far the easier one to win for the non-travelling side. Standing on the first tee with upwards of 20,000 fans chanting your name, or your team’s name, it’s hard not to feel like you’re one up before you’ve hit a single shot. There’s also no doubting that it’s going to get ugly at Medinah, and no quarter will be given by the players, or the galleries. While the crowds at Celtic Manor were clearly partisan, they remained fair, and even sung songs for the US players to pass the time between downpours. On US turf, however, with a few beers in their bellies, a small, but vociferous section of American fans have a habit of getting out of hand. The repetitive chants of ‘U-S-A, U-S-A’ are, of
course, to be expected, but the ‘you’re not the man’-style heckling takes it to a more personal level, and can really get inside a player’s head. Sergio Garcia suffered a verbal onslaught when going up against Nick Watney during the Barclays Championship at Bethpage last month – which brought about the desired result – and that was a stroke play tournament, for heaven’s sake. History shows us that the only way to silence one-sided galleries is to win holes early, close out matches on the 14th hole, and cup your hands to your ears as you drain another 30-footer for birdie. Although a quarter of this year’s US team are rookies, and bare few psychological scars from past defeats, there’s a collective memory handed down through the generations of what it feels like to be on the losing side in this most brutal of non-contact sports. Love has been there, Freddie Couples has been there, and they’ll be telling their players that nothing comes close to the gut-wrenching feeling of letting down your teammates and your country – although, hopefully, they’ll relay that sentiment in a slightly more positive fashion. But perhaps this year, of all years, might appear to favour the away team. Since Europe’s defeat in 2008, the global map of golf has changed out of all recognition, blurring the edges of what might traditionally be called ‘home’ and ‘away’ legs. Virtually all of the European team now live, or have second homes, in the States, and many of them have cultivated strong fan bases on the PGA Tour, as well as extremely odd transatlantic accents. Elite European golfers are all used to travelling out of their comfort and time zones to ply their trade, and are as comfortable putting on Bermuda as they are on Rye. But then again, the Ryder Cup has never been a particularly level playing field. It’s one of the quirks of the event that the captain of the home team not only gets to choose how the course is set up, where the pins are placed, and how fast the greens are, but he also gets to decide the order of the formats played. This year, Love has decided to switch the foursomes and four balls around on the opening two days, with the four-ball matches off first, on the basis that America has traditionally fared better when there are two balls in play, rather than just the one, as there is in foursomes. Regardless of the formats, the pairings and the captain’s tactics, I have a nagging feeling that this is going to be one for the away team. So get out your bunting left over from the Jubilee and the Olympics, order in the beers and pizzas (or wine and crudités) – and prepare for another humdinger of a contest. It might not be a War on the Shore, as it was at Kiawah Island in 1991, but nothing would be finer than a victory at Medinah. Glory for Rory? The two-time Major winner will be hoping to rise to the occasion as he did two years ago