Should Europe beat the US and win the Ryder Cup in Rome this autumn, much will have been owed to the time spent at the Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi earlier this month. Nominally a three-day match-play event between 10-man teams from the UK and Ireland and the Continent of Europe, it was, to all intents and purposes, specifically designed to give match-play experience to as many European golfers who have not known the exceptional highs and depressing lows of a Ryder Cup. Luke Donald, Europe’s captain, described the event as “a Ryder Cup boot camp,†and that is exactly what it was.
Promising European golfers such as Adrian Meronk, 29, who, in 2022, became the first Polish player to win on the DP World Tour; Sepp Straka, 29, the first Austrian to win on the PGA Tour; Séamus Power, 35, the Irishman who has come to prominence in the US and had top-12 finishes in last year’s Masters and PGA Championship; and the Dane Nicolai Højgaard, 21, who with his twin brother Rasmus shows such promise. Others included Thomas Pieters, who won four points out of five in the 2016 Ryder Cup, Bob MacIntyre, Ewen Ferguson, Guido Migliozzi and Thomas Detry. Francesco Molinari captained the continental team and Tommy Fleetwood the GB&I team.
Also on hand to bring wisdom to the cause were Donald’s three vice captains, Nicolas Colsaerts, Edoardo Molinari, who is the team’s statistician, and Thomas Bjørn, the winning captain five years ago. José MarÃa Olazábal (2012) and Paul McGinley (2014), both former winning captains, also were in attendance. That represents a lot of brain power right there.
Just think what it must have been like to listen to Olazábal speak, to have Bjørn put his arm ’round a shoulder and give some words of encouragement, to be given an insight into McGinley’s tactics at Gleneagles nine years ago. “I heard a few guys saying they felt goosebumps when Olazábal was speaking and telling stories of him and Seve, and even thinking about it now, it was so inspiring,†Ferguson told The Scotsman. “So was Thomas Bjørn, and you want to do it for them. Thomas effectively said to us, ‘We’re done. Having taken this tour to where it is now, it’s your turn to take over the mantle.’ â€
There is no surprise at the lengths the DP World Tour went to in order to stage the Hero Cup. Embarrassment still lingers at Europe’s performance at Whistling Straits ...
If that wasn’t enough know-how, then Pádraig Harrington, captain in 2021, was in Abu Dhabi for the ABU Dhabi HSBC Championship a week later.
There is no surprise at the lengths the DP World Tour went to in order to stage the Hero Cup. Embarrassment still lingers at Europe’s performance at Whistling Straits, and postmortems began the moment the plane returning to Britain left the tarmac. How had Europe been beaten by 10 points, the biggest differential since golfers from the continent of Europe joined those from Great Britain and Ireland to make a European team in 1979? What could be done to make sure of victory in 2023? Europe had last lost at home in 1993. It must not happen again.
The mind went back to a meeting in a hotel room in the Middle East just after Europe had lost to Paul Azinger’s US team at Valhalla in 2008. Those present were to decide the captain for 2010 and were deadlocked. Three candidates were in the frame, and no clear decision was emerging.
Finally George O’Grady, then chief executive of the European Tour, spoke up. “Who is most likely to win us the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor?†he asked. Unsaid was the knowledge that the European Tour’s finances depended on a bumper home Ryder Cup, better yet a victorious home Ryder Cup. The answer to O’Grady’s question was Colin Montgomerie. The Scot was called in from the corridor where he had been waiting while his suitability to be captain was discussed to be informed that he was to lead Europe in Wales. And Montgomerie did indeed bring the Ryder Cup home to Europe.
In Abu Dhabi, Continental Europe defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 14½-10½. Days later, Victor Perez won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links, spectacularly holing a bunker shot on the 71st hole. Could the two events be connected? Being captain of the Continental Europe team may have speeded up Francesco Molinari’s return to form. How welcome that would be to those of European persuasion. The 2018 Open champion rounded out his year of years by winning all five of his matches in the Ryder Cup in Paris.
Lessons from the Hero Cup? You might see Molinari paired with Nicolai Højgaard in Rome. Why? Because Molinari, 40, gelled with Højgaard, 21, so well that they won both of their foursomes matches, halved their four-balls and each won in singles. In fact, Højgaard, Migliozzo and Perez were joint top scorers with Molinari.
“The Ryder Cup is unique,†Rory McIlroy said. “There is no other event like it. You are playing not for your club, your county or province, but your continent.†Donald said: “It’s a true sport. There is no money swapped.†Donald vividly remembers what Darren Clarke said to him on his debut in 2004: “Once you’ve played in one, you’ll never want to miss another.â€
Donald, his vice captains and the DP World Tour can be said to have been impressive in their preparations for the three-day event in Rome starting in late September. We must not allow LIV Golf and the attendant legal activities, considerable and costly as they are, to intrude into this column. Suffice to say that the Hero Cup went off with a flourish and, to repeat the words that opened this column, if Europe wins at Marco Simone on October 1, much of that success will be down to what went on in Abu Dhabi in January.
E-MAIL JOHN
Top: Hero Cup helps identify new blood for Europe such as Poland's Adrian Meronk (center).
oisin keniry, getty images
