Players all want to hit the toughest shot in golf

It is the most nerve-jangling, intimidating tee box in golf, the opening hole at a Ryder Cup. So why in the world was every golfer in this 39th Ryder Cup desperate to hit the first shot today?

Most Sunday-morning hackers quake at the very notion of even a man and his dog watching them begin a round but with thousands of spectators shouting, singing and roaring all around you from packed grandstands that seem to tower above the tee as you wait for the starter to call you to order, there were 24 players representing Europe and the USA who would happily fulfil the duties.

At Celtic Manor two years ago, European captain Colin Montgomerie placed the honour in the experienced hands of Lee Westwood and the Scot who led his side to reclaim the Ryder Trophy from the Americans explained what goes through a player’s mind when given the job of getting a team up and running on a Friday morning.

“He will know on Wednesday, Thursday that he’s going to hit the opening shot because it’s all been planned out that way and he’ll know his opening shot, he’ll know what’s happening and he will be reacting differently at dinner, at breakfast and at that opening tee shot when he goes to have it on Thursday in practice, it’ll feel different to him,” said Montgomerie, who will work as a Sky Sports analyst this weekend.

“I’ve done it twice, in 1995 and 2004, and it does take over your practice routine, that you are the guy that’s going to lead off the European challenge and it’s a big ask because everybody is going to watch that opening tee shot.

“There’s a lot of pressure on and it’s important that we get off to a good start, whoever it might be, that they get off to a good start by splitting the fairway, by saying, ‘Right, we’re here to compete, we’re here to get on with it’.

“It’s important, one, to choose the person to do it and two, once he’s been chosen to actually hit that first fairway.

“Who would I pick? I’d pick the same guy I picked and that’s Westwood.”

For Justin Rose, taking on that opening shot is a question of standing up and being counted.

“That’s part of the deal, that’s part of what you sign up for. You have to be prepared to do it. It’s not going to be easy, but you’re prepared to do it, absolutely,” Rose said.

Unlike Celtic Manor, where the grandstands formed a horseshoe around the first tee, the PGA of America have flanked Medinah No 3’s opening tee box on just two sides. Not that it will make the experience any less nerve-wracking. Just ask Rose about his involvement in an opening shot at the 1997 Walker Cup at Quaker Ridge near New York City.

“It’s a funny story,” the Englishman said. “I like it. I’d prefer to remember my first Ryder Cup tee shot which I striped down the middle, I’ll just hasten to add that.

“But I’ll go with a Walker Cup story. I hit it out of bounds, but the funny thing about hitting it out of bounds, I was a 17-year-old kid, my partner, don’t want to throw him under the bus here, but Michael Brooks, he was adamant that he did not want to hit the first tee shot, so the irony was I hit it out of bounds so he had to then step up and hit the provisional. So he was hitting off the first tee. I kind of enjoyed that.”