Dufner stays so cool in the zone

Jason Dufner has spent his entire career not getting excited and he does not see why that should change, now he’s made a Ryder Cup team.

The 35-year-old American rookie had plenty of reasons to shout from the rooftops of Medinah Country Club yesterday as he made his debut alongside former Masters champion Zach Johnson and came away with a point for Team USA with a 3&2 victory in foursomes over Francesco Molinari and Lee Westwood of Europe.

Yet while others around on both teams shouted, screamed, roared and high-fived, the Alabama-based rookie merely allowed himself an out-of-character fist pump.

“I feel like this is the way I’ve been since I’ve played professional golf,” Dufner said of his on-course demeanour. “Just because I am playing in the Ryder Cup I don’t feel it’s necessary to change. You see guys react to things differently.

“My approach this week is to be the same that I am on the PGA Tour: To go out there, play good golf, help my team-mate and make points for this team.

“You know, there will be certain situations, I had a couple of fist pumps which I generally never do on the PGA Tour out there because of just feeding off the crowd. I acknowledge the fans and I appreciate all their support.

“I’m in the moment. As soon as that birdie putt goes in, I’m on to the next shot. I’m thinking about strategy for the next hole. That’s how I’ve always approached the game, and I don’t see that changing just because we’re playing in the Ryder Cup.”

If anything, Dufner said the biennial dust-up with Europe made him feel even more relaxed than normal.

“I really like this format, this environment. For me, I feel like there’s a little bit less pressure. I’m not trying to post a score, I’m just trying to play golf and enjoy the day and be with a team-mate and try to get a point for the team. You know, I’m just caught up in each hole being a point and win points for the team, so that takes a lot of stress out for me.”

According to the pair, Johnson and Dufner was a partnership waiting to happen ever since they duelled for the victory on the PGA Tour earlier this year at the Colonial.

Johnson won that one, with Dufner having to settle for runner-up but serious talk of them playing together gathered momentum last month.

“We’ve played a lot of golf together, especially this year,” Dufner said. “We have very similar games, similar demeanours. I thought we could match up well, especially in the alternate shot format, and even in the best ball format.

“I think we’re just a good match. Games are similar. One good thing is we play a golf ball that’s very similar, not the exact golf ball, but for alternate shot it’s not an issue for either one of us to use the other’s golf ball out there. That could be a bit of a factor.

“I just felt comfortable pairing up in these matches with Zach. Like he said, we played practice rounds together all of this week, and we’d been playing together a lot lately. So we kind of know where each other’s games are, what we do well, what we need to stay away from, stuff like that. So it’s been a good pairing for these matches so far.”