Pavin defends military build-up

DESCRIBING sporting contests as battles and rivals as enemies are regrettably easy metaphors to employ.

They are also troublesome, as Corey Pavin found out on his Ryder Cup debut as a player in 1991 at Kiawah Island, when he and playing partner Steve Pate donned “Operation Desert Storm” caps in support of American troops fighting in Kuwait in an event that became known as “The War on the Shore”.

Pavin was chastised then by many for bringing such imagery into a tournament environment and 19 years on, with US soldiers and military personnel from many countries under the European umbrella losing their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, he has once again drawn on a military motif to fire up his players.

The American team, he revealed yesterday, were on Tuesday given a speech by Major Dan Rooney, an F-16 fighter pilot, PGA professional and founder of Patriot Golf Day and the Folds of Honour Foundation, which benefits wounded veterans and the families of military personnel killed in the service of their country.

“It wasn’t so much a motivational speech, per se, but maybe a little more awareness of what’s happening around the world and what’s going on and how, in a military sense, in a team unit, how accountability to each other is very important,” Pavin explained.

“I want these guys to be accountable to each other. That’s what happens in the military. He just shared stories about that and how it relates in the military to what’s happened.”

Pavin rejected the idea that after Kiawah he’d be better served distancing himself from military connotations.

“No, I don’t think so,” he replied. “I think military awareness in the US is probably at an all-time high. And I think people, certainly in the States, and over here, appreciate the military and what they do for our freedoms. That’s what it was about at Kiawah, supporting the troops in Desert Storm; not only US troops, but the troops from around the world. I think what the military does is amazing; to put your life on the line for what you believe and freedoms of other people, it’s the ultimate sacrifice. I think it’s worthwhile to recognise that.”