The Cup of Dreams

Memories of a Legendary Ryder Cup

The 2012 winning European Team

Pretty much everything that could conceivably be written has been done before , during and after that incredible Ryder Cup at Medinah. Adding my humble words would just like adding a dollop of sugar over the perfectly iced cake. However, I cannot - not write at least something before the emotions wear down. So here goes – my memoires of not just the greatest Ryder cups yet –but one of the more compelling sporting occasions I have ever witnessed.

From the opening tee on Friday till Tiger’s (eventually immaterial) missed four footer in the shadows of Sunday ,  a encyclopaedia could possibly be compiled on the variety of facial expressions. Ian Poulter, of course, would hog a good few chapters in this. I don’t know if it was Arsenal’s defeat against Chelsea that inspired this ardent Gunners fan, or the Sevie spirit ‘in the sky’ message or just the genes that he’s been born with. One of the early comments I heard on Friday was the the Europeans have 4 world number ones in their squad – Rory McIlroy who’s the current No. 1 , Luke Donald and Lee Westwood , the past number ones and Ian Poulter , who always feels that he should be number one. On the evidence of his Saturday and Sunday play , who would disagree? It’s a bit too much to attempt to decipher his single greatest contribution to the event was, but I’ll settle on that remarkable serial birdie finish on the Saturday fourballs – a spectacle which gave his teammates hope and planted that seed of doubt in the till then dominant and supremely confident Americans’ minds. Westwood summed it up perfectly – “For 2014 , the European qualifying for the Ryder Cup will be different – 9 automatic spots , 2 captain’s picks and Poults.” I've never seen Sevie play this event - even his genius and passion could not have been too far ahead of the fiery Englishman.

Poulter: The Look that Killed

The precocious McIlroy wasn’t in the best of form over the first  days , but perhaps all he needed was a miscalculation of his tee time – arrive 8 minutes before – hit a few practice putts , munch a roll –and a few hours later pocket a point for Europe ....easy as you please. Justin Rose- that putt on the 17^th deserves a place in golfing immortality....Martin Kaymer – where have you been for the past 2 years lad ? Paul Lawrie , making mincemeat out of the hottest player on the circuit , Fed Ex Champ, Snedekar – who writes these scripts ??

Oh you poor Americans....what were you thinking on Saturday...actually , Mr Love....what were you thinking Saturday afternoon by benching the ‘jalapeno’ partnership of Phil-Bradley. Sure – Bubba was a great choice for one of the early matches...but surely even an inconsistent Tiger Woods should have been one of the early tee-offs. The aura of Tiger is not yet lost ....and he is still a fearsome beast in one-on-one golf. The best putter in America (Stricker) faltered horribly...while Mr “Nice Guy” Furyk maintained his unblemished record of choking over the home-stretch in events in 2012.

The Iconic Message in the Sky

Sport ,in most cases, follows the expected script – occasionally , the unexpected makes for great viewing – and once in every few years , the seemingly unthinkable and all but mathematically impossible happens : Boston 2004 – Headingly 1981 – Kolkata 2001 – Istanbul 2005 – Miracle on Ice “Lake Placid” . The 2012 Ryder Cup belongs right up there – an absolute privilege to have witnessed a rare iconic moment in sport written in front of you. Is there anything left to view this year in sport that would match this emotion – well – the baseball post season is starting , and the St Louis Cardinals and David Freese look like they might be able to secure another backdoor birth...hmm.

P.S. : In the midst of this historic weekend - I heard that India had beaten Pakistan in a T-20 match somewhere. 

A Back 9 for the Ages : Scott's Collapse vs Enigmatic Ernie

Sunday evening quite simply took my breath away. Sentimentally of course, Ernie Els is the one golfer I’ve been following and supporting blindly ever since the sport enchanted me back in the mid 90s. From his 2^nd US Open triumph, it has been a steady case of near misses, failure to turn up altogether, injuries and of course, domination by a certain striped jungle cat. I missed his Open triumph at Muirfield in 2002 and this Open success was as sweet for me as any success for a sports fan. However this post is not by Ernie’s fan, but more about by a student of the game.

Going through the innumerable articles and reactions since the unbelievable Sunday back 9 at Lytham, it bothered me that all the attention was focussed on Adam Scott and how he choked over the final 4 holes. Comparisons with Greg Norman at the Masters and Jean Van de Velde from Carnoustie in ’99 were painfully common. One writer went to the extent of saying that Ernie had been gifted the Open due to no great play by him but merely by the massive collapse of the Aussie Scott’s game.

                                                  Els and Scott : Contrasting Emotions

True , Scott choked and badly at that. Standing on the 15^th tee leading by 4 strokes, there was no way he should have let Ernie back into contention. But his demise should not in any way undermine a phenomenal back nine of golf by the Big Easy. On a Sunday afternoon , when the slumbering course finally woke up and terrorised pretty much all competitors especially the later groups , Els’ mastery of the windy links was as contributory to his win as was Adam’s disintegration. Consider the following stats – of the 6 players in the final 3 groups with a genuine shot at the title on Sunday ,  Scott , Graeme McDowell and Brandt Snedekar all shot 5 over par rounds of 75 , while Tiger Woods and Zach Johnson shot 3 and 4 over par respectively. Under such brutal scoring conditions, Els’ 2 under 68, should be equated with rounds of 65 or below on normal courses. Consider the tough back 9 where pretty much everyone dropped at least 2 shots – Els played it 4 under par.

While it is easy to say that he could have shot lower had he not left a number of putts agonisingly short of the hole, the great tee-to-green golf played by Ernie to get to those potential birdie opportunities should not be forgotten. In the home stretch, he took on the task of challenging Scott by hitting driver of pretty much every tee. Even on the 15^th and 16^th where he found the thick stuff, some immaculate scrambling and pressure putting ensured he didn’t not drop a shot (as vital as gaining strokes)

His clutch birdie putt on the 18^th is destined to become part of Open folklore, not only because it gained a vital stroke which won him the championship outright, but it can be argued that it was this birdie which made Scott hit a 3 wood on the 18^th tee, which ultimately found the fairway bunker and sealed his Open fate. So essentially that putt on 18 becomes a 2 shot gain for Els, the difference between winning or losing by a single stroke.

So while we gawk astonished at Adam Scott’s meltdown , it would not be fair to deprive Els of the praise worthy of a back 9 of golf that merits consideration among the tournaments great ones.