Golf Comment: Europe to strike fear into USA as Ryder Cup begins
WE always say the previous Ryder Cup tussle will never be beaten. And while all the tournaments over the years have been magnificent in some form you will have to go some way to surpass Medinah two years ago.
The triumph at Medinah was without doubt our greatest victory. To come from four points behind going into the singles away from home and still win was extraordinary. And it was particularly special in the way it was done and winning those final two matches on the Saturday night to ensure we were only trailing by the four points.
I don’t think that could ever be equalled but you never know with the Ryder Cup. That is the beauty and the magic of the competition. Literally anything can happen.
I do feel though the incidents of Medinah will still be fresh in the minds of the United States team, especially with so many of those players selected again this time around.
Having said that, it would be unwise to underestimate and to look at those 12 players negatively would be wrong. They are, however, missing some key factors. They are without Tiger Woods and Jason Dufner through injury as well as Dustin Johnson, while US captain Tom Watson has not picked Billy Horschel or Chris Kirk. I’m not saying he should have picked those two but perhaps with hindsight I’m sure he would have loved to given their most recent form in the FedEx Cup. But that is far from a slight on the opposition and, as a vice-captain, my view is the European team needs to go out there today with the mindset of facing the greatest ever American side
And so to that European team, which has won seven of the last nine Ryder Cup contests and not lost on home soil since 1993. We have four of the top six golfers in the world in our ranks so obviously we have the stronger side at the top and arguably we have the strength in depth also.
It is without doubt one of the strongest teams I have seen assembled by Europe. We have some great golfers in that team that can produce quality hole after hole, day after day. The only expectancy from the first tee shot this morning to the final putt on Sunday is to play great golf.
Sam Torrance OBE is a multiple Ryder Cup-winning golfer, a current vice-captain and a media commentator.