Ryder Cup: Talking over as real games now begin

So now the games can finally begin. 

It has been the strangest of Ryder Cup weeks, beginning under a cloud with the death of Arnold Palmer and moving swiftly on to Americans being rude about Europe’s chances, Phil Mickelson dismantling another former captain’s reputation and Danny Willett’s brother offending everybody.

Thank goodness there is some golf coming our way at last, the moment’s silence for Palmer at last night’s opening ceremony serving as a poignant symbol that the time to stop talking had arrived. Rory McIlroy, for one, is relishing the opportunity of standing on that first tee.