GOLF:Caddie and Irish Timescolumnist COLIN BYRNEgives an inside view of the attention to detail and desire which helped Colin Montgomerie's team record a famous triumph over the USA
I WAS RELIABLY informed by those caddies who have worked in both the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup that the events are incomparable. Primarily, they said, from the competitive perspective but also for the level of crowd participation. So I knew that I was about to experience something new in golf – even though I have seen more than 10 Ryder Cups while I’ve been in the professional bag-toting game, I’d never been directly involved in one.
We assembled in the Celtic Manor Resort near Newport early last week. It is not the most exotic location, but what it lacks in glamour is made up for with the warmth and genuine hospitality of the locals. Service and good-nature are more important ingredients for lasting memories than a stunning setting. Even though there was obviously a special effort been made to leave an enduring impression at the Manor, there was a sense of welcome that I have felt in very few other locations around the world.
The European team were gathered in the hotel team room early on Monday night for a formal welcome to Captain Montgomerie’s first major mission as a leader of players rather than the leading player role he had become so accustomed to in the prime of his career.
Those of us who have been around the tour for a while know there is nobody more charming than Monty and contrarily nobody more obviously disgusted with the life of a top golfer when things don’t go so well. The first concern was that Monty, the dissatisfied golfer, would rear his emotional head as leader if things didn’t go Europe’s way last weekend. Our leader remained chipper and calm for the week despite the difficulties presented to him during the unpredictable inclement weather delays. He spoke and acted at all visible times like an inspirational leader.
I had had a sneak preview of Monty the leader earlier this year in Thailand when he headed the European team in the Royal Trophy event against Asia. He came across then as a man with an eye for relevant detail and strategy. He was open to all suggestions from players, caddies or anyone else he could draw on for information that would lead to ultimate success. He was an engaging speaker and, above all, in that particular event he led by example in the final singles matches by holing vital putts in the closing holes to seal his contributing point to the team’s one-point victory.
He led by example and the team looked up to him for doing so.
So it was with Celtic Manor, minor details were addressed in order to fuel the ultimate goal of victory. Speed bumps were removed on the internal road from the hotel to the clubhouse, because they irritated the captain and he felt his team would be equally inconvenienced by the intermittent jolts on their short journey to the 2010 course each morning. The lockerroom doors were potential hazards as they could have led to injury if a player was accidentally hit by one of them as they swung open. Glass panels were inserted to avoid any possible collisions.
These were some of the details that were apparent, there were of course numerous more including the design of the rain-suits and golf bags and uniforms and everything else that was going to be different for his warriors going to fight his biggest battle yet in unfamiliar fatigues. Everything had to be just right. Even down to the request in a meeting with the caddies on the eve of the final showdown for specially-made sandwiches to be left on the 11th tee for us bagmen to snack on halfway round our singles matches. If there was a valid request, the captain made sure it was catered for.
So Monty addressed us all and opened with the image of Corey Pavin arriving in Cardiff airport carrying the Ryder Cup down the steps of the plane. It was a powerful image for Monty and almost childlike, as if someone had stolen his favourite toy. He said he wanted us to get the cup back.
There was an emotive video shown of the 12 players in victorious mode over the past two years, showing their passion having attained the ultimate goal in golf; finishing at least one shot less than their fellow competitors. This divide is what Monty recognised in all his victories. It came from being attentive to details in preparation. Detail and desire produce subtle margins that separate winners from losers.
I watched the video in the darkness with Sergio Garcia leaning on my shoulder and the hair-raising throb of each team member’s winning moment charged up my spine. Captain Montgomerie wanted Samuel Ryder’s Cup back. Getting on the team was one thing but now we had to get that cup back, was the clear message on the opening night from the captain.
On completion of the short, sharp and rousing video, Monty read out a brief letter from Seve Ballesteros wishing him and his team the best of luck and explaining how he was looking forward to watching us bring the cup back to Europe. It was suggested that we should do it for the ailing Seve who was unable to travel due to illness, his letter alone filled the room with a powerful and inspirational emotion.
Everyone in the room was made feel welcome and, more importantly, feel very special for having made the 38th European Ryder Cup team. It was a theme of the week that each and every one of the player/caddie duos was made feel very important and that our every need should be catered for. It was, after all, only us who could recapture the coveted cup that Corey Pavin had flown over the Atlantic with.
Given that the players had earned their rightful places in the European team by their own selfish endeavours there was suddenly a new dynamic thrown into the equation; now the players became starkly aware that they were playing for their 11 team-mates and their captain. In fact, Graeme McDowell did suggest, after his win clinched the cup for us, that he was thinking of his team-mates and their caddies in doing so. Such was the camaraderie that was generated throughout the team-building week in Celtic Manor.
Monty had chosen his vice-captains, Clarke, Bjorn, McGinley and Garcia carefully with experience in mind. With six rookies on the team, Monty’s wise messengers recounted past experiences and in particular sensations that the ‘new boys’ were likely to encounter. The noise levels from the partisan European crowd was pretty obvious; given the talent of the opposition, expect them to do the impossible. A sheet of paper hung over our lockerroom inside door which read “They will come out fast, but we will come out faster”. There is a delicate balance of deference and superiority in such head-to-head battles; you need to feel confident but you must also be aware of the capabilities of the opposition.
We were all feeling very comfortable with the idea of company on the course by the time Friday came. We had played in fourballs, accompanied by vice-captains with intermittent visits from the captain. The synergy of a strong team spirit was evident. From a caddie’s perspective the fact that we wore virtually the same uniforms as the players each day had a binding affect on us.
We had two caddie-assistants on 24-hour call to make sure that we had everything we needed to make our jobs easier. We had the use of the tour physiotherapist and chiropractors if we had any ailments. Our plush accommodation was in a secluded part of the hotel.
There is no doubt that the event reaches out to viewers and spectators who maybe wouldn’t always have golf as a priority in their sporting interests. This was reflected in the noise level that was reached as the Europeans hit good shots or holed putts. When Francesco Molinari hit an eight iron to three feet at the eight hole in our fourball match we all thought that he had holed it, the crowd’s response was so loud. Good shots were greeted by the enthusiastic spectators like a hole-in- one at a normal event.
When matches ahead of us ended early, team members from both sides gathered round the continuing matches. At one stage of the Molinaris’ fourball game against Matt Kuchar and Stuart Cink we became aware Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods were standing close to us. No matter what you are doing or who you are as a player, there is a certain amount of intimidation involved when Tiger Woods casts his critical eye on your efforts from such close range.
Jose Maria Olazabal was drafted in as the fifth vice captain when the rain delay altered the amount of matches that would be played on Saturday and Sunday. There were six matches, both fourballs and foursomes on the course instead of the usual four. Jose proved invaluable to the Molinaris and in particular to Edoardo in his singles match. There is a powerful aura that the Spanish Ryder Cup veteran exudes that I know I fed off in the tighter moments of our matches and, more importantly, my boss did too.
There were subliminal photos of past Ryder Cup glories in the lockerroom and other team rooms. We were enveloped by images of former European Ryder Cup glories. A life-sized black and white montage of Seve and Jose-Maria screamed at us when we entered the lockerroom each day.
On the Monday before the singles matches I noticed Jose-Maria looking at the photo in a deep emotional way, Seve’s presence and illness were very much in mind.
Past captains rambled into the lockerroom at various stages with some sage advice and encouraging words. We were drawing on inspiration from wherever it came.
You can prepare yourself for most eventualities as a diligent and astute professional. But when you are dormie three up and it looks increasingly like your match could be the pivotal one you become acutely aware of the millions of pairs of eyes honing in on you as you try to steer your lead into victory. So it was with Edoardo’s match and the emptiness that both of us felt as we only got a half point from our singles match, with the dynamic but respectful young Ricky Fowler holing two great putts on the final two holes to salvage a half point for the Americans out of a match that looked like it was ours.
It was an instant low, a feeling of total disaster without really making a mistake. Golfers at this level are capable of the most outrageous feats when they are pushed to the limit.
The eyes of the golfing world turned to Graeme McDowell, Monty and Europe’s anchorman. We charged back up to the 17th to refocus our efforts to support him. Monty’s trust in him as a stalwart was justified.
The elation of the victory and the spontaneous decadent celebration directly after it is something that I have never experienced in golf before. The scenes on the balcony of the 2010 clubhouse with the 24-man European team drowning each other and the crowd below with countless bottles of Moet and Chandon was fitting for the momentous occasion and certainly surpassed any President’s Cup celebrations that I had enjoyed in the past.
They were right, the Ryder Cup is truly different and in the end Monty got the Ryder Cup back from Corey Pavin.
The team spirit lasted well into the night, I have never embraced so many golfers in all my years of caddying. The camaraderie that is generated by such an occasion is a welcome diversion from the otherwise isolated nature of the modern game of professional golf.
