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.