Ryder Cup - The theatre of inflaming passions

Golf is considered the quintessential gentleman’s game (at least in theory) even though it has been played by a lot of dodgy characters and is environmentally, in its present form, the most destructive game even to be invented by mankind.

Yet, do not be surprised if all traces of gentlemanly behaviour on the part of the players and fans disappear when the biennial continental golfing contest between America and Europe in the avatar of the Ryder Cup gets underway at the Medinah Country Club near Chicago in Illinois, on Friday, Sept 27. Over three tension packed days, the players will square off in the traditional format of foursomes, fourballs and singles.

Of course, you may not see rival players swinging clubs or aiming them at each other as they do during a hockey or football game, but short of that there is no trick in the book that a side or its supporters would not use in their bid to come out trumps in this civilized war between two rival Western communities where “losing is worse than death”. So for winning the Ryder Cup, one has to beat the enemy at their own game or survive their beatings!

To most people, golf, with its staid traditions and lack of athletic action, is the most boring spectator sport, notwithstanding the high degree of skill and temperament required to be a successful practitioner of this antediluvian game. But if there is one golf event which serves up riveting action and is unmatched for its ability to conjure up sheer sporting theatre while also inflaming passions on both sides of the Atlantic, it is undoubtedly the Ryder Cup.

The competition does have its imitators in the Solheim Cup (Europe vs America battle for women), Presidents Cup (America versus the Rest of the World minus Europe) and the Royal Trophy (Europe vs Asia), the last two editions in Thailand which I was privileged to be present at. But when it comes to a ‘whole-in-one’ package, the Ryder Cup is indeed the king of golfing events where the game’s mega millionaires make it a point to turn up even without the lure of prize money.

In recent times, the teams have managed to keep tempers in check and play out the championship largely in the ‘spirit of the game’ and things may not boil over as they did at the infamous “Rowdy” Ryder Cup at Kiawah in 1991 which was dubbed as “The War by the Shore”, held as it was in the wake of the end of the Gulf War hostilities.

Despite tempers having substantially cooled down, the sniping has begun much before the first tee off with the Americans taking a swipe at Europe’s leading man Rory McIllroy in the tradition of the ‘mental disintegration’ tactics perfected by the all-conquering Aussie cricket team of a decade ago. Ex-captain Paul Azinger has come out with his guns blazing in his preview for the New York Daily on ‘How Team USA can shut down Rory McIllroy and take out the Euro Trash’. The trick, he explained, is to target McIllroy, the No 1 player in the world today, just as Tiger Woods was targeted when he was in his prime and succumbed to the pressure as a result.

US non-playing captain Davis Love III has already warned the visitors that they can expect no cheer from the Yankee galleries who will give them hell. “When we travel over there, it’s tough on us. When they travel over here, it’s tough on them,” the veteran of the ‘Battle of Brookline” in Massachussets (1999) said. “Chicago is an incredible sports town and the fans are going to be fired up. The first tee could be the loudest any of these guys have ever seen.”

However, the very experienced non playing captain for the defending champions, Jose-Maria Olazabal, is no spring chicken, having survived Kiawah Island and Brookline. He will not be cowed down by any intimidation tactics even though Colin Montgomerie, who led Europe to triumph at the Celtic Manor in Wales two years ago, expressed the “slight fear that it is going to be very difficult for us Europeans to perform to our potential in a very difficult place to be”.

One European who may get a lot of stick is the colourful Englishman Ian Poulter. Last time around ‘The Postman’ infuriated the Americans and Woods in particular when he said “I will deliver my point’ before his singles game against Matt Kuchar” and did so effortlessly by 5 & 4! Poulter provoked further outrage after the European victory by posting on his Twitter page a video of himself and his children eating breakfast from the Ryder Cup. He should expect many calls in his hotel room well before breakfast time in Medinah, reminding him to have his Cheerios and milk from the Ryder Cup again, as former Europe skipper Bernard Gallacher recounted how he and his mates used to be called up in the middle of the night by the disc jockey of a local radio station during a previous edition of the tournament in the US in a concerted rival campaign to ‘Wake the Enemy’.

Tiger Woods, who is yet to set the Ryder Cup on fire though his outings have not been a disaster either, once confessed in 2005 that the championship is not his favourite hunting ground as a lot of “gamesmanship” takes place. As the top American player in the field, he will have to get on top of the gamesmanship and lead from the front if the hosts are to wrest back the highly coveted trophy.

As for Europe, Montgomerie said he would prefer that the leadership role on the greens is thrust on the shoulders of the more experienced Lee Westwood as in 2010 even though McIllroy in the number one player in the world today.

In a match play competition it is not the best players in the world who come out on top but the players who know how to adjust in a team situation. In a Ryder Cup situation, knowing how to beat the skullduggery that goes on on the greens and outside also helps.