Ryder Cup underway

It is time to grip the old ‘Gentleman’s Persuader’ once again, as the Ryder Cup is underway in Valhalla. Europe has made a habit of dominating the opening exchanges in recent years and just now has eased ahead in two of the opening foursomes, the other pair remaining all square.

I expressed some concern about the captaincy of Nick Faldo in a previous post. He did little to inspire further confidence earlier in the week when his opening selections were photographed by a fortuitous zoom lens. The captain attempted to pass off his scribblings as a ‘lunch list’. Cunning stuff Nick, especially as the paper comprised exactly the pairings which took to the course a couple of hours ago.

Meanwhile the US captain, Paul Azinger, appeared to invite misbehaviour by the home crowd with an equivocal message, “We want to get them rockin … We don't want anybody out of hand, but of course there will be alcohol served and of course be some minor cases, but we are engaging the crowd”.

We should expect as high a standard of etiquette from the American galleries as normal then.

Team leaders aside, I like the Ryder Cup. I like the team spirit which it engenders. I like that Europe has its own cohesive identity when it comes to golf. Here’s hoping for another win.

Comments

Aidan said…
Pity about the result. Poulter did brilliantly in the end but Casey as a wild card pick was not such a great choice. I think that Darren Clarke would have done a whole lot better, here's to next time.
22 September 2008 at 07:23
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