Love has taken a gamble on gentleman Jim

We’re not sure when the transformation came, but at some point in time, the Ryder Cup morphed into a national security endeavour.

Used to be a nice, little golf match that organisers on both sides of the pond felt honoured to share, but no more.

Maintaining a code of silence on the first-session pairings until early in the evening the day before things get under way? Seriously silly. But so is the way each side guards its captain’s picks as if they have the combination to the nuclear football.