First, a story. Writing a preview of the Ryder Cup for The Times of London in 2002, I said that it was the fourth or fifth most-watched sports event on television in the world. I had some reasons for this claim, and they were based on figures I had read in some publication or other. I couldn’t remember which, and I admit that my motive was to be mischievous and prompt readers to see whether anyone would write in to disagree. Every journalist likes to start a correspondence. It proves that their copy is being read.
My sports editor, a man who always wore a sports jacket of indeterminate age and extreme comfort, was on the phone almost as soon as my piece had landed in the office. “Explain to me how this is so?” he asked genially but with a degree of anxiety. I said the Olympic Games, summer and winter combined, were undoubtedly the most-watched, soccer’s World Cup the second most-watched and the World Athletics Championships the third. Thereafter came the biennial match between Europe and the U.S. because of the huge footprint of the television coverage of it that was beamed around the world, to the Far East, to South Africa, South America and of course to the U.S. and Europe.
He hummed and hawed. “Erm, erm,” he seemed to be saying. I had to work quite hard to persuade him that I should be allowed to make this statement and we should then sit back and await developments. Perhaps he thought it was no more daft than some of the other things I had written as golf correspondent of The Times.
Of developments, there were none. What has happened since is that from time to time I see the Ryder Cup being referred to as the fourth or fifth most-watched TV sports event. And I think to myself: Hah! And in contemporary financial terms I am prepared to lay one of the currently rather battered pounds to a surging irrepressible dollar that this will crop up in the build-up to next year’s Ryder Cup. Any takers?
If you were in Rome at the start of last week, you’d have felt a frisson of anticipation at the thought of the famous match being staged at Marco Simone Golf Club a few miles outside the Eternal City from September 29 to October 1, 2023.
Indeed, you might have seen Luke Donald and Zach Johnson, respectively captains of Europe and the U.S., hitting golf balls in front of one of Rome’s most famous landmarks. “The backdrop of the Colosseum, certainly the Temple of Venus – it’s something that makes you pinch yourself,” Johnson said with awe in his voice. “Whether you are talking the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps or Marco Simone, I’ve had a taste of it all and on that note a lot of great food. It has been unbelievable.”
“I was slightly worried I might hit one thin and cause some damage to the Temple of Venus,” Donald said of his effort. “The Colosseum is iconic, built back in 80 AD. It is amazing they were able to do such amazing things so many years ago.”
Another surprise for Johnson was to discover how undulating Marco Simone is. “It’s hillier than Augusta National,” he said. “It’s going to be a physical test when you play four sessions in two days. I’ll just say this as a player: It’s hard. I can’t even imagine being a caddie and trying to walk potentially 72 holes in two days.”
The course was designed with spectators and the potential of staging a Ryder Cup in mind. “It’s going to be a great match-play course,” Donald said. “There’s a few drivable par-4s. 16, a pivotal moment in any match, is potentially a drivable par-4. 17, as we both found out yesterday, is not an easy par-3, with water in play and nowhere to miss it. And if the matches come down to 18, that is another spectacular par-5 down the hill and water by the green. I can’t wait to see this course packed with some passionate fans.”
An important part of the build-up to a Ryder Cup is the jaw-jaw in the weeks and days leading up to the event. This precedes the war-war of the three days’ competitive play. The jaw-jaw is psychological warfare, sort of, and each captain tries to get one over his opposite number.
Donald got in first this time claiming the more advantageous psychological position. “I fully expect us to be underdogs despite that home percentage of wins over the past 30 years,” the Englishman said. (The U.S. last won on European soil in 1993.) “We are going up against a very strong U.S. opponent. I think the U.S. Presidents Cup team was the strongest they have ever been on paper and world rankings. They have some phenomenal teams that seem tough to beat. Guys like [Xander] Schauffele and [Patrick] Cantlay, Justin [Thomas] and Jordan [Spieth], these guys have win records that are north of 80 percent. It is going to be a tough challenge.”
Hearing this, Johnson smiled quietly to himself. “They are not underdogs. They are on home soil. You hear the notion, ‘Well, on paper.’ I understand that, but ‘on paper’ can be subjective as well. I don’t think it’s all that objective, in my opinion. I understand that. But at the same, there’s something to be said about having confidence and momentum where you’re comfortable, and evidently they have been very comfortable over here for 30 years. So, I can give you a one-word answer [as to whether we are favourites]: No.”
Next year’s competition will be the 44th. It will be the 33rd I have either read about in newspapers, listened to on a small radio while standing on the touchline of a school rugby match, watched on television, attended, reported on in person, or covered from a distance because of COVID, as happened for the 2021 match at Whistling Straits. Europe’s victory at Muirfield Village in 1987 was unforgettable. So were the matches at Medinah in 2012, Valhalla in 2008 and Walton Heath in 1981, where 11 of the 12 Americans had won or would win a major championship. Brookline in 1999 was not so great, and not only because of the extraordinarily garish shirts the U.S. team wore, and 1991 was notable for being christened the “War on the Shore” by an American magazine and being played out on a fiercely demanding but beautiful Kiawah Island golf course.
Captains can make a Ryder Cup team, as Paul Azinger did with his pods of players at Valhalla in 2008 and Paul McGinley with meticulous research and attention to detail at Gleneagles in 2014.
Johnson and Donald are decent, quiet and thoughtful men who have made their names as extremely skilful golfers more by stealth than noise. And their teams will reflect a considerable amount of statistical research. This is going to be a Ryder Cup planned by brains even if it is executed by brawn. I can hardly wait. It is my favourite event in the whole of golf.
Top: 2023 Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald and Zach Johnson at the Year To Go Gala at Palazzo Colonna in Rome.
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