Valhalla leaves us yearning for more
We are referring, of course, to the Ryder Cup, which didn’t even require the playing of yesterday’s 12 singles matches to reinforce the notion that it’s the greatest package of emotion, passion, and skill that golf delivers. That point was pounded through Saturday afternoon at Valhalla Golf Club, thanks to a four-ball session that required five hours, but left you wishing that it had lasted for five days.
Yes, it was that scintillating. At every turn of the head, drama unfolded.
Paul Casey’s 8-foot birdie putt at the par-5 18th that answered the one Steve Stricker delivered at the end of a clutch up-and-down earned a halve.
The five birdies made by Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell coming home to hold on for a 1-up win over Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk, who made five birdies on his own ball over those nine holes.
Robert Karlsson’s brilliant stretch — six birdies in seven holes — that enabled he and Henrik Stenson to match Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan at 9-under 62.
By day’s end, the Americans were in possession of a 9-7 lead, which set them up for a session of singles that would end a long drought in this Ryder Cup. Or, did it put the Europeans in position to match their 1995 heroics in singles to rally for victory? The fact is, it didn’t matter, because what had already been made final was this: Once again, the golf and the golfers had carried the spirit of the Ryder Cup to victory, overcoming the efforts of the team captains and PGA officials in the US and Europe to make this about them.
Shame to all of them, because it’s not, though it remains an impossible quest, I guess, to make them understand that what make these three days every-other-year so special are the men who put their professional reputations and golf skill on the line for nothing more than pride.
Unfortunately, at many times the storyline that sounded loudest regarding the 37th Ryder Cup matches was the relationship between America’s captain, Paul Azinger, and his European counterpart, Nick Faldo. Parlaying their roles into rich financial deals with Citi, Azinger and Faldo were, on so many fronts, over-the-top.
It was bad enough that they got involved with TV commercials that presumably bought them financial gain, but to get involved in a made-for-TV nonsense that had them going head-to-head in fishing, poker, and golf... good gracious, what were Azinger and Faldo thinking? Could you envision Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin doing such a thing? Or Ben Hogan and Henry Cotton? I doubt it.
OK, so it’s proof positive that The Golf Channel has far too much empty programming slots, and yes, the media is to blame for much of this Azinger-Faldo foolishness, but at some point shouldn’t they have dug deep into their soul to recall that this was about the golf and the golfers — not them.
The two of them played in a combined 15 Ryder Cups. When did they forget all they learned?
As disappointing as it was that Faldo became thin-skinned over criticism about his captain’s picks and changed protocol by announcing his Saturday lineup after he met the press, and thus wasn’t available to explain why Garcia and Westwood would not play, Azinger showing up at a Thursday pep rally, urging fans to cheer when Europeans missed putts was wrong.
Fortunately, the 37th Ryder Cup not only survived the captains’ silliness, but also the biennial marketing efforts of those PGA of America and European PGA officials who can’t wait to put up the merchandise tents, sell the corporate villages.
To his credit, Azinger did make one salient point during the week. He said, “European fans, they get it. The American fans, they don’t.”
For years when colleagues would tell me that the European golf fans embraced the Ryder Cup, I’d say, “and why shouldn’t they, what’s not to love about it?”
These three days at Valhalla only reinforced that.
