As I’m sure you are aware, my opposite number Corey Pavin recently announced the four men who will be his assistant captains in Wales: Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Jeff Sluman and Paul Goydos.
I have been around the game long enough to understand why the media wanted me to comment on each and every one; ‘Why did Corey pick so and so?’ ‘What will so and so bring to the American team room?’ ‘Why did he pick so and so who hasn’t played in a Ryder Cup’ etc, etc – you get the drift.
However I said then, and I’ll reiterate here, I’m not going to do that out of respect for Corey and his team – who he has in his backroom staff is his business, not mine.
All I will say is that, as good friends of Corey’s, all four were natural choices because you want people around you that you are comfortable in the company of. I wish them all well.
Patience is a virtue…….
Of course, that leads me neatly into the subject of my own assistant captains, a topic I am continually quizzed on whenever a microphone is placed in front of my face and The Ryder Cup questions begin.
Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity here in my own blog to make it crystal clear, exactly what my position is.
First and foremost, I do not feel there is any rush at all to name my assistants. I have said publicly that I am hoping to select a younger generation of assistant captain and, because of that, I am going to leave the decision for a few months yet as the range of players I have in mind will all be trying to qualify for the team first and foremost. Therefore, I will be making NO decision on that, or naming ANY names, until at least after the conclusion of the Open Championship at St Andrews in July. At that time, there will be just over a month to go until the end of the official qualifying period and I feel that is a more realistic time to take stock of the overall qualification situation to see where we all stand. So let’s all have a little patience on this issue – I’ll name the names when the time is right.
An Eight-some Reel…..
Those of you who know me will know the number eight has played a central role in my professional golfing career. Not only does it represent the number of Harry Vardon Trophies I won as European Number One, it is also the number of Ryder Cups I have contested as a player.
Now, as we sit here in the middle of February, there are also eight months to go until The Ryder Cup kicks off at Celtic Manor and I wanted to use that countdown to look back over my eight Ryder Cup appearances, all of which were memorable and all of which I could write volumes about.
Therefore, to kick off the series, I am going to start with the year of my debut, 1991, at Kiawah Island.
1991: The Year I Made My ‘Mark’
As everyone knows, The 1991 Ryder Cup boiled down to Bernhard Langer’s putt against Hale Irwin. But the reason he had that opportunity was because of what happened prior to their game with the players out on the course beforehand. Of course, one of those matches was my own against Mark Calcavecchia.
Understandably, on the verge of making my Ryder Cup singles debut, I was a little nervous and I’ll never forget, before I went out, our captain Bernard Gallacher saying to me; ‘Colin, the one thing you don’t want to do against Mark Calcavecchia is let him get ahead. He’s a gritty player and a great front runner so, whatever you do, try to stay with him.’ Of course, I immediately forgot all that and was five down by the turn!
What was going through my mind? In all honesty, when I lost the eighth and ninth to go five down, I was thinking that if I lost the next three holes, I would lose 8 and 7 to equal the heaviest defeat that anyone had ever had in Ryder Cup singles – I really wanted to avoid that so I knew then that I had to do something about it!
However I was lucky in a way that the walk from the ninth green to the tenth tee at Kiawah Island was about half a mile so, during that time, I managed to get my head together and I managed to birdie the tenth and 11th to get back to three down which was pretty good. Unfortunately though, I made a mess of the 14th to hand Mark that hole which saw me four down with four to play.
It is then written in history what happened, but it’s fair to say that into a left to right wind over those closing holes, Mark struggled and I managed to win all four of the holes to square the match in the end. I must admit it really helped me feel part of the team having won half a point for Europe while at the same time taking a half point from the Americans – all of which helped Bernhard have the opportunity to come within inches of holing the putt that would have seen us retain the trophy.
Thinking back on it, I was playing those holes down the stretch, not for me, but for the half point gained for Europe. That is exactly what I will be saying to my Team at Celtic Manor. On that Sunday, wherever you play, that point counts incredibly towards the end of the day to give the opportunity to the guys coming behind you to win The Ryder Cup. No-one must ever forget that.
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