Grudge match no one wants to lose

In the professional game, a player’s true status is determined, firstly, by the number of major championships and, secondly, the number of tournaments he has won throughout his career.

For 40 plus weeks each year these players follow their own agendas, their own routines.

They are accountable to no one except themselves and are paid handsomely for their efforts.

However, that all changes for a week every other year, when the two great golfing continents of the US and Europe come together to compete as teams against each other in the Ryder Cup. This week at Medinah we are promised some spectacular golf, especially as the 24 players competing for both teams are all in the top 36 of world rankings.

Where once the Ryder Cup was meant to be an exhibition of golfing talents, today it has become so much more. It has become a grudge match and no one wants to lose. Success will not be registered by any monetary gain either. Instead the winners will earn so much more, the bragging rights over their old enemy and national pride for a job well done.

In order to retain the Ryder Cup, the European team will need to earn at least 14 points or a halved match out of three days play, but, rest assured, both teams are here with the sole objective of winning come Sunday afternoon. Key to realising those ambitions will be the performances of the respective captains Davis Love III (US) and Jose Maria Olazabal (Europe). While both are experienced veterans of the Ryder Cup and major champions their sole role this week will be to lay down the correct platform for their team to excel.

Though acknowledging that they may well have different styles of management the communication of their message is all important in that it has to be delivered in a manner that both relaxes and inspires players, be it on the course in the team room or on well chosen one-on-one moments.

For Olazabal, he can learn a lot from the numerous captains he has player for over the years and most especially from last Ryder Cup in the US at Valhalla, where he was the sole vice-captain for Europe under the disastrous leadership of Nick Faldo where his captaincy was seen as hopeless.

This week Olazabal and his team will have to court the media and spectators alike. His opening speech needs to set the right tone and his demeanour on the course needs to be calm and reassuring. The stature he is afforded by virtually all of his fellow players is obvious and if he can correctly channel his passion, attitude and emotion into the team room then he can inspire his team to great things.

That said, he needs to prepare his team for every eventuality and in the process empower them to embrace whatever challenges are thrown their way throughout the week but there is nothing more important than a successful start on the opening day to keep things on track. There is also huge comfort in his experienced back room team of Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez all of whom will understand the vocal nature of the American crowds having already performed in numerous Ryder Cups in America.

As for Davis Love III, he has a team more than capable of winning back the Ryder Cup but it remains to be seen whether he can inspire his team to perform any way near their true potential. As usual, that means getting his players to park their egos at the door and commit themselves to playing a team game. Only then can they hope to achieve success.

Paul Azinger hit all the right tones in 2008 in Valhalla with his Navy Seal-inspired “pod system” but it was the personality of the leader that set the tone. Intuitive and fun, Azinger was the catalyst for the most tightly-knit U.S. team in memory. Love will not be as endearing to his team or the crowds this week but he will command respect. He came into the job vowing to lead a looser, more relaxed team and if he can manage to achieve that then he may well in fact stop the Europeans’ recent Ryder Cup dominance.

For both captains, preparation is everything. Their task is to convince their respective teams they know exactly what it takes to win, to motivate them to push each other on to deliver even greater results. They will quite gladly accept a different hero every day.