- 4 months ago
Martin Dempster joins Mark Atkinson to discuss covering ten Ryder Cups ahead of this year's event at Bethpage Black.
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00:00Hello and welcome to this episode of the Scotsman Golf Show. I'm Mark Atkinson, Sports Editor,
00:08and today I'm joined by our golf correspondent, Martin Dempster. We're here today to talk
00:13about the Ryder Cup. This time next week, it'll be really close to the latest edition
00:18at Bethpage Black, and Martin's heading over there for another edition of this great tournament.
00:24I thought, Martin, today we would talk more about your memories of the Ryder Cup.
00:30I recently discovered that you've been covering golf for 40 years, which is almost as old
00:35as I am, which is a frightening prospect, Martin. But no better person to speak to about one
00:42of the greatest events, not just in golf, but in the sporting calendar. So yeah, let's take
00:49a trip down memory lane, shall we? How many Ryder Cups have you been at over the years,
00:56Martin?
00:57Well, yeah, I've been at 10. This one will be number 11, and I have to say it truly is
01:05a fantastic sporting spectacle. Team events are fantastic, no matter the sport. And obviously
01:14the majors in golf are not at the pinnacle for the players, but the Ryder Cup is something
01:21special. And in the time I've covered it, it's just got bigger and bigger, Mark.
01:27It has. There's no doubt about that. We often talk about the event that, the golfing event
01:35that gets juices flowing the most among, not just golf fans, but also just general sports
01:41fans. And some would argue the Masters is right up there. Some would argue the Open. But
01:46I feel the Ryder Cup is the one that really excites us. Maybe it's another two years and
01:51you don't have it on the calendar all the time. Would you agree with that? Is it the best
01:57golf event out there?
01:58Yeah, I can see why people constantly say the Ryder Cup's the one event that they're going
02:05to sit down on the Friday morning and hardly move until the Sunday night. And that's golfers,
02:12but even more significantly, non-golfers. Yeah, they might get excited by the Masters and the
02:19Open. But there's just something about the Ryder Cup, that rivalry between, it was obviously
02:24initially Great Britain and Ireland and America, and now it's Europe, just adds something special.
02:33The competitive edge in team sport is second to none. And obviously for golfers, they don't
02:41get much chance to do that. Lots of these players or some of these players played in the Walker
02:46Cup as amateurs. And they occasionally play together in a two-man team event on the PGA
02:53Tour. But the Ryder Cup really, really is something that gets the juices flowing for all the top
03:03players. Some might say Tiger Woods never really took to it. He was very much individual and didn't
03:11have a great record in the Ryder Cup. But for certainly the European players to get the chance
03:17to play in the Ryder Cup and where the blue and yellow of Europe means a heck of a lot to every
03:23single one of them.
03:25And you can tell that when you speak to them, when you read their words in print and hear them
03:30in videos, etc. But let's talk about you and the Ryder Cup, because I had a wee thought to myself
03:37about how many you've been at and also which one would be your favourite. And we'll come to that
03:41later. But let's start with the very first one you attended. Which one was that? What year and where
03:48was it?
03:49Yeah, well, it was at the Belfry. It was due to be 2001. And it was moved back 12 months
03:56because of 9-11. Obviously, that happened and it had an effect on the whole world, obviously.
04:04So the event that was due to take place in 21 at the Belfry was moved back 12 months. And
04:13that, of course, was the one that Sam Tornes was the captain at the Sutton Coldfield venue.
04:22Sam, of course, had history there. His iconic putt in the event as a player. And yeah, Sam
04:31was nervous to be captain. He got a professional speaker to help him with the speeches, which
04:39is a big part of the event, obviously, at the opening ceremony and the big closing ceremony.
04:45But Sam was wonderful as a captain. He had Monty in full flow in that match. Philip Price,
04:54an unheralded Welshman, beat Phil Mickelson in the singles. And to this day, when it's brought
05:01up, he'll always say to people, tell him who I beat. Tell him who I beat. No, so it just
05:06shows you what that meant to him. And yeah, that was my start. And I'll never forget standing
05:13close to the first tee and the atmosphere then just sent a shiver down the back of my
05:21neck. And I still recall that to this day.
05:23I bet. I bet. Wonderful first Ryder Cup. I said to you before we started that I was going
05:29to ask you a little bit of trivia on each Ryder Cup you've been to. Some easy questions,
05:34some hard questions. You mentioned in 2002 the European captain. Who was the American
05:40captain for that one?
05:42That one, Curtis Strange was the captain on that occasion.
05:46Yeah, one out of one. We'll see if they get harder before that. So you had your first taste
05:51of the Ryder Cup. That one was obviously on British soil. The next one was over in Michigan.
06:00Talk to me about 2004.
06:03Yeah, that was at Oakland Hills. And I was actually the editor of Bunker Golf Magazine at that time.
06:09I'd left the Scotsman group and I was the editor of Bunker. So I went over there and it was
06:16amazing because it was the days before the internet really. And I essentially went over
06:23there and watched golf for a week. I came back and wrote a piece, more than one piece obviously
06:29for the magazine when I came back. So that was a dream scenario for me, just going out
06:34and watching golf all the time. And my memory from that one, a couple of memories of that
06:40one was Hal Sutton was the US captain on that occasion. And then he came up with this wonderful
06:46idea to pair Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods together in the opening session. I think it
06:54was against Monty and Padraig Harrington, if I remember right. And it was a complete disaster.
06:59The top two players in the world at the time. And everyone sort of predicted this would be
07:03a disaster. And they just didn't gel. That's one of my memories. But the biggest memory for
07:10me was sitting at the back of the 18th green on the last day. And I was only maybe about
07:1712 feet away from Monty when he hold the putt that won that one. Just the look of joy on his
07:25face that the Ryder Cup meant everything to Monty. He just reveled in that atmosphere. And
07:30just to be that close to that great memory on that occasion is something that I always cherish.
07:37Brilliant, brilliant. And of course, it was a fairly substantial European victory, Martin.
07:44Your bit of trivia on this one is, can you remember the score?
07:47I can't. Honestly can't.
07:50I mean, I was looking at looking at this. I mean, it's a real beating 18 and a half to nine
07:56and a half. Right.
07:57Which, as you say, it kind of sums up the decision making that was made across both.
08:03I could have cheated there actually, because I had all the results on my laptop there ready.
08:08I'm just going to refer to them and my laptop's just shut down there. So the timing of that
08:13was unfortunate for me, or I could answer every question.
08:16Absolutely. But that's why we speak to IT before these things, so they can shut down your
08:20computer. So there is no cheating. I mean, of course, a lot has made Martin of home advantage
08:26at the Ryder Cup. But that result must have blown that myth out of the water, really.
08:31That scale of victory back then.
08:34Yeah, that was significant. And the European captain on that occasion was the one and only
08:39Bernard Langer. He's meticulous in everything that he's done in his golf career.
08:45And the Germans certainly masterminded a great victory. And I remember, one of the things
08:51I remember there was that in the practice rounds, the Europeans took every opportunity
08:57to sign flags for American fans. It was like a charm offensive in those practice rounds.
09:02And they certainly played some great golf. And yeah, I think that that was a result and
09:12a captaincy that subsequent captains have sort of used as a guide, a gauge of where they
09:20want their teams to be, especially in matches in the States where it's very, very difficult
09:25to win.
09:26Absolutely. We head back across the pond, 2006 K Club in Ireland, exactly the same score
09:36it was. Europe won 18 and a half to nine and a half. What was that like back on European
09:44soil? Had the Europeans been in view by what happened two years prior? And also, you mentioned
09:49Tiger Woods earlier. This was a poor event by his standards. Is that fair to say?
09:53Well, it was certainly an event that got off to a poor start for him because his opening
09:59tee shot went miles left into the water. I mean, I remember we're all standing there
10:03thinking, wow, this is Tiger Woods and he's hit a shot that I could hit easy into the water
10:10and thousands of others could. But this was the world number one. But that shows you nerves
10:15in golf. Even someone like Tiger Woods was affected. And maybe that's because the team
10:21environment was a wee bit alien to him. Yeah. I mean, Ian Woosnam was the European captain
10:27on that occasion. What I do remember about it is it was wet. The Irish were obviously very
10:36excited about hosting the Ryder Cup for the first time. And unfortunately, the weather got a bit miserable.
10:41And I remember one day going out the weekend and I think I had light colored trousers on and the
10:47mud was up to the knees by the time I came back in. It was like, oh, my God. But yeah,
10:53any golf event in Ireland is very special. I mean, the Irish are as passionate as the Scots
11:00when it comes to golf. And again, Monty was magnificent in that match.
11:06He was in his prime back then. And although it wasn't a great event for Tiger Woods,
11:12it certainly was for the Europeans.
11:14It absolutely was. You're a bit of trivia on this one.
11:18Who were the two joint top scorers for the Europeans at that Ryder Cup?
11:22Oh, that's a very good question as well. God, Mark, that's just testing me. Well, obviously,
11:30was Darren Clark one?
11:32I think Darren Clark was in the team, but no, he wasn't one of the top scorers.
11:36I'll give you another stab at that.
11:39Harrington one.
11:41No.
11:42Now, one was Lee Westwood, which didn't surprise me.
11:45Yeah, I should have got that.
11:46Yeah.
11:47The other was, I'm assuming, a very young Sergio Garcia.
11:49That would be one of his first pride of runs.
11:52Yeah, it would be.
11:53Yeah.
11:54So, yeah, two players at that time who were right at the top of their game.
11:58So, no surprise about that one.
12:00So, it just shows you how bad my memory can be at times.
12:03We are going back a long way.
12:05And unlike you, I do have the benefit of the internet.
12:08Let's go two years further.
12:11Not the same outcome this time around.
12:13What was so memorable about Valhalla for you?
12:17Yeah, Valhalla for me was just how bad Nick Faldo's captaincy was, to be perfectly blunt.
12:24Here we had the guy who was Britain's best performer in majors.
12:33A fantastic player.
12:36But from start to finish, really, it was just not the sort of polished captaincy that we've come to expect with Europeans.
12:46And, again, I was still bunkered at the time.
12:51And I remember being able to be out when the opening ceremony was taking place.
12:57And he made some terrible errors in his opening speech, including getting names wrong.
13:05And a couple of things that were just astonishing.
13:08And, you know, that really set the tone for a really poor week for the Europeans.
13:16While Eisinger captained that American team and he introduced a pod system for that one.
13:21And that worked really well for them.
13:24And, really, the Europeans were never at the races.
13:28And, certainly, Nick Faldo's captaincy was something that won't be remembered with much fondness by anyone.
13:37Yeah, a poor result.
13:40Six and a half to 11 and a half to the States.
13:43I was looking through the team, actually, that Faldo had and trying desperately to find some trivia for you.
13:48And I finally picked out one of them.
13:51Who was the only Danish player in that team?
13:54Soren Hansen.
13:56Oh, he's nailed it.
13:57Straight off the bat.
13:58Straight off the bat.
13:59Would you say that was a vintage European crop of players back then?
14:02Did Faldo have the tools to win that Ryder Cup and not manage them correctly?
14:06Or was it always going to be a tough ask?
14:09Yeah, I think on paper it probably was going to be a tough ask.
14:13I think Anthony Kim was one of the top American players at that time.
14:16He was really at the top of his game.
14:20I remember Boo Weakley played in that one.
14:24And he sort of infamously hit a shot off the first tee and sort of came down the first fairway as I was riding a horse, obviously, with Louisville being the home of the Kentucky Derby, etc.
14:35So he was quite a character.
14:37But yeah, again, another sort of away performance for Europe, unlike Oakland Hills four years earlier.
14:46That was not a good display from the Europeans on that occasion.
14:50It was not. Let's go forward two more years from Kentucky to Newport, Wales, where I'd say a very, very close rung Ryder Cup.
15:00I think it was one of the more exciting ones.
15:02You might not have enjoyed it because I remember it being exceptionally rainy.
15:06You talked about those trousers you wore.
15:07Hopefully you learned your lesson and were better equipped for Celtic Manor.
15:12Talk us through 2010.
15:13I probably didn't learn my lesson, but someone who, some group of people who weren't equipped were the Americans because it absolutely lashed down with rain on the opening morning and the Americans discovered that their waterproofs were leaking, which was a little bit, well, big bit embarrassing for them.
15:31And someone was sort of dispatched to the merchandise tent to buy new waterproofs for them.
15:37So that was not a good start.
15:39Corey Pavin was the American captain.
15:41And he, of course, was up against Colin Montgomery.
15:44The weather was so bad that it forced the organizers to come up with a rescheduled sort of format.
15:54It became a bit of a guddle, sort of finished on the Monday as well.
16:00And by the Monday, I mean, I've been on some muddy golf courses in my life, but oh my God, Celtic Manor was a sea of mud.
16:08It was like, it was incredible trying to just walk around the golf course.
16:12But of course, Monte got the win that he deserved, capped his Ryder Cup career.
16:19And of course, that's the one that Rory McIlroy played in his first Ryder Cup.
16:25He said in the build up infamously now that he felt the Ryder Cup was an exhibition.
16:31However, he quickly found out that was a load of rubbish.
16:35And he's the first to admit that now because it's definitely not an exhibition, Mark.
16:39No chance.
16:40It's amazing what you say when you're young and regret it.
16:42And you've annoyingly taken my trivia question.
16:44So I've had to quickly divert and go for the backup.
16:49The backup.
16:50So there was a 21 year old who made, I'm assuming his Ryder Cup debut this year in the American team.
16:57Who was it?
16:59Oh, so now we're talking about it.
17:02So that's 15 years ago.
17:06Yeah.
17:07Oh, 35 year old.
17:12No, I'm struggling with that one.
17:16I'm struggling.
17:17Ricky Fowler.
17:18Wow.
17:19Wow.
17:20Yeah.
17:21Yeah.
17:22Yeah.
17:23That's right.
17:24Ricky Fowler.
17:25Yeah.
17:26Time flies, doesn't it?
17:27Time flies.
17:28Indeed.
17:29Not even playing on this one.
17:30No.
17:31No, absolutely.
17:32But what about 2012?
17:33I think probably one of the Ryder Cups that lives longest in many people's memory.
17:39The miracle at Medina.
17:41You were lucky enough to be there.
17:42Talk us through it.
17:43Astonishing, really.
17:46Absolutely astonishing.
17:47Just the way that ended was just, in all my working life, I've never had a day like
17:55that.
17:56Back then I was back with the Scotsman group and the Scotsman had three editions back then.
18:01And they were all tight, obviously, with a five hour time difference.
18:05The first two editions, the sort of result was hanging in the balance.
18:10We didn't know what way it was going to go.
18:12And then we'd just got the result, the finish for the final edition.
18:19And I remember just letting out a sigh.
18:23It was one of the most fantastic nights of my life, but also one of the most stressful.
18:30I always remember Jock McVicker, who was the, he's no longer the worst.
18:34Jock was the Scottish Daily Express golf correspondent.
18:37He sat next to me.
18:38His deadlines had finished.
18:41He couldn't get the final result in.
18:43And at one point I was battering away at my laptop and I turned to him and said, Jock,
18:47can you get me a cup of coffee, please?
18:49And he always sort of reminded me of that.
18:52Just something to keep me going.
18:54But yeah, astonishing.
18:56I don't think we'll ever get anything like that, to be honest.
18:59Just the way it all panned out.
19:01José MarÃa Lázabal managed to inspire Europeans on the last day.
19:07Obviously, Seve.
19:09He used Seve, the European legend, to really inspire what happened on that last day.
19:16And yeah, that probably will go down as the most remarkable thing to be involved in,
19:24in a working capacity for me.
19:27I can quite imagine.
19:28I remember watching it and it was jaw-dropping stuff.
19:32Pretty strong European team at that Ryder Cup.
19:36One player in that European team was over the age of 40.
19:41Who was it?
19:45Over the age of 40.
19:47Yeah, 140 something in that team.
19:50The Americans had three.
19:53The Europeans only had one.
19:55Yeah.
19:56Now, that would be...
19:58Would it be...
20:00Wasn't it Peter Hanson, was it?
20:03It wasn't.
20:04He was one of the older players in that European team.
20:08Yeah.
20:09I mean, there weren't many Scots right at the forefront of this Ryder Cup.
20:13There was you, obviously, but there was also Paul Loric at the age of 40.
20:16Paul was...
20:17What age was Paul then?
20:1843.
20:19Oh, wow.
20:20God, I should have got that one.
20:21Apologies, Paul.
20:22Yeah.
20:23I know.
20:24He's a sort of man that might be tuning in to watch, but at the same time,
20:27you'll probably be pleased that you probably made him younger.
20:30That's one way to look at it.
20:32Let's look at the positive on that one.
20:34Absolutely.
20:35Absolutely.
20:36We move on to keep Scotland very much on our forefront.
20:39Glen Eagles, 2014.
20:41We both worked together on that, Martin.
20:44You were helping us out on the Ed and Reedy News as well.
20:47I was deputy sports editor at that point.
20:50And there was so much excitement about that Ryder Cup because it was back in Scotland.
20:54And we also had a Scot involved in the team, didn't we?
20:57Yeah.
20:58Talk us through Glen Eagles.
20:59Yeah.
21:00But obviously, I mean, we were all excited about Glen Eagles.
21:03And I remember going up on the Sunday before the match obviously started on the Friday.
21:09I went up on the Sunday and had a walk around.
21:12I remember writing a column for the Scotsman and it started off, Scotland has delivered
21:17because I walked around the course and the infrastructure out on the PGA Centenary course
21:24at Glen Eagles was absolutely stunning.
21:26You could tell that the event, again, as I said earlier, the event just seems to grow.
21:31It's better every two years and it was just fantastic.
21:34Everything looked absolutely amazing.
21:37So the event, you know, the stage was set.
21:40And then, of course, people used to always go on a Ryder Cup in Scotland in September.
21:46The weather will be awful.
21:48It'll be misty.
21:49It'll be this.
21:50It'll be that.
21:51And of course, about 20 minutes before the first match is due to tee off on the Friday morning,
21:56the sun came up above the Oakle Hills to the south of Glen Eagles and down it was Glendevon.
22:03And it was there for the rest of the week.
22:05It was an unbelievable week's weather.
22:08Incredible event.
22:09Everyone enjoyed it.
22:11And Paul McGinley just masterminded everything to a tee.
22:16Tom Watson, a popular figure in Scotland, of course, just turned out that he didn't have
22:23sort of the real connection with the players.
22:25He'd been away for the PGA Tour for a while.
22:27I mean, you maybe saw the reason behind his appointment.
22:31It sort of backfired.
22:33But at the same time, McGinley had, you know, Europe prepared perfectly, including getting
22:39Graham McDowell to spend some time in France with Victor Dubisson just to get him ready for a Ryder Cup.
22:48And, yeah, Steven Gallagher was part of that team, played on the opening morning.
22:53It wasn't a great success for him and Ian Poulter.
22:56And then, unfortunately, just the way it turned out he didn't play again until the singles
23:02and then came up against a Phil Mickelson who was fired up and said some comments afterwards
23:09about Tom Watson that probably shouldn't have been said in public.
23:13But just a tremendous event and everyone who was there will always look back on the 24 Ryder Cup
23:22with fond memories, that's for sure.
23:24They shall indeed.
23:25Now, you mentioned two of the three rookies who were in the European team.
23:30You mentioned Steven Gallagher and you mentioned Victor Dubisson.
23:33Who was the third Ryder Cup rookie in that?
23:37Jamie Donaldson.
23:38Jamie Donaldson who also clinched the win with a great shot that they put a plaque at the 15th hole.
23:4715th hole, yeah.
23:48Great guy.
23:49And I always remember watching Jamie Donaldson doing a Sky interview the next morning.
23:53He's the most drunk man I've ever seen on television.
23:56Well, after that event in Gleneagles, that was Europe on a three-batch winning streak.
24:05And you mentioned that the comments that were made afterwards for the American camp,
24:08they were obviously stung by what had happened.
24:11So we head to Hazeltide in 2016.
24:15Not one to put in the annals of European golf, shall we say.
24:21That was a big win for the States, wasn't it?
24:23It was.
24:24And they obviously had got a task force together after Gleneagles and got things sorted out a little bit,
24:32rather than we always used to sort of think they just did it on a whim and they weren't really interested in the Ryder Cup.
24:39And I don't think they are as interested in the Ryder Cup as the Europeans are, to be perfectly honest.
24:43But, yeah, I think that was always going to be a tough one for Darren Clark, who was the captain.
24:49He was up against Davis Love.
24:51Europe went into that one with, I think it was four rookies.
24:56Thomas Peters, who played well.
24:58Danny Willett, who was affected by his brother coming out at the start of the week
25:03and saying some things about the American fans that didn't help Danny when he got out on the golf course.
25:08And Chris Wood and Andy Sullivan.
25:11And I think it's a team that was quite a sort of, not as strong a team as you would like to go into an American Ryder Cup.
25:20And that was the first time that I really noticed inside the ropes that the American fans were getting a bit sort of fiery at times.
25:28I mean, I think being out on the course on the Saturday afternoon, they obviously had a few bud lights and were starting to get a bit noisy.
25:35And, you know, as we'll come round to later on, that's certainly going to be a factor at New York.
25:43But yeah, not a great Ryder Cup for Europe, that one.
25:46And the Americans certainly ran out, did deserve winners on that occasion.
25:53Yeah, it certainly was forgettable from a European perspective.
25:56Although one European player might remember it fondly because while the Americans were clearly the better team,
26:03the top point scorer for the tournament was actually European.
26:06Can you remember who that was?
26:09It wasn't Thomas Peters, no.
26:13It was. It was Thomas Peters.
26:15Yeah.
26:16Of course it was, which was fantastic on a debut, really.
26:18I mean, that was amazing.
26:20And obviously the Belgians are showing that he was a top player.
26:26But to handle that as well as he did was fantastic.
26:29Absolutely.
26:30Could not agree more.
26:31We head to somewhere quite close to Thomas Peters' homeland.
26:34Le Golfe National over in France for the 2018 Ryder Cup.
26:41That was an identical one for you, wasn't it, Martin?
26:43Yeah, it was in more ways than one, to be honest.
26:46I mean, I mentioned, aforementioned Jock McVicker earlier.
26:49Jock ended up in hospital just not long after we arrived in Paris and he didn't get to see any of that Ryder Cup.
26:59We went and visited him every night and brought him home.
27:04A couple of us had to go back to get him a couple of weeks after the Ryder Cup.
27:08So that's something that Ryder Cup was impacted by for me.
27:15But I would have to say the Golf National, probably one of the best Ryder Cup venues I've ever been at.
27:22It was just a fantastic stadium type layout.
27:26The fans were able to see the matches way better than they would at some venues.
27:31And a great golf course for match play.
27:35Water on some holes over the last few holes that really could swing matches one way or another.
27:43And captain by Thomas Bjorn, Europe won well that week.
27:50And that, of course, ended up with the Dane getting a tattoo on his backside after saying to the Europeans,
27:58if you win, I'll get that done. And they duly did it.
28:02So he's got the score from that match somewhere that he probably never sees much, but it's there.
28:10Hopefully not many people do see it, Martin.
28:13Trivia for this one.
28:15So the Americans are quite surprised to see this.
28:17When you see the score line, you think, well,
28:19maybe world rankings might have proven that the Europeans are the better team.
28:22But if you look at the top of the world rankings that year, the Americans had three of the top four in the world rankings at that point.
28:29Who was the only European in the top four of the world rankings going into that Ryder Cup?
28:36It would have to be Rory, would it not?
28:39No, it wasn't.
28:41John Ram?
28:42It was Justin Rose.
28:44Wow. Very good.
28:45He was ranked second in the world at that point in time.
28:48Wow.
28:49Yeah.
28:50Yeah.
28:51Phenomenal.
28:52And by the way, he's a good, he's a good Ryder Cup player.
28:55Oh, absolutely.
28:56I remember it was Glen Eagles.
28:57Glen Eagles, he was just amazed, amazing at Glen Eagles.
29:01And he just had that sort of passion for the event and just phenomenal.
29:07And it's fantastic that he missed one in 2021.
29:14He missed it and he's back playing another two.
29:16So, yeah.
29:17But yeah, I didn't realise that he was as high as that for that match in Paris.
29:22Yeah.
29:23Yeah, indeed.
29:24Now, we end your run a little bit, but we ended most of those runs, I suppose.
29:27Whistling Straits.
29:29I saw a strange Ryder Cup.
29:32It was delayed, obviously, because of COVID.
29:34Talk us through that one.
29:35But it's funny because in my role at the time as chairman of the Association of Golf Riders,
29:42I was invited to go over to Wisconsin for the year to go event for what was due to be the,
29:50I keep forgetting, so that would be, that was due to be the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.
29:58So I went over for the year to go event, which was great.
30:01We got to see the golf course.
30:03We got to, you know, a couple of events that the captains were at, Harrington and Steve Stricker,
30:10who was a local man in Wisconsin.
30:13So, yeah, I was, my appetite was well and truly wetted for that match.
30:18And, of course, along comes the COVID pandemic, which put paid to the match the following year.
30:28And then when it was held in 2021, COVID restrictions were in place.
30:36And I didn't get to go to that one, ended up watching on the television.
30:42And it was just a pretty miserable experience for the Europeans, to be honest.
30:48I think the players found it really hard to be playing out there.
30:52We were very few European fans.
30:54The Americans were boisterous.
30:56The Americans had a really good team, to be fair.
30:59We had a couple of players who were maybe just coming to the end of the Ryder Cup careers.
31:04And Rory didn't play as well.
31:06I think that was the first time he was ever dropped from a session.
31:09He ended up in tears because he felt they let the team down.
31:12But, boy, did that show what playing for Europe means for Rory McIlroy.
31:17But, yeah, not a great experience.
31:20It was a pity for Padraig Harrington.
31:23No, I don't think the pandemic helped him in terms of trying to get a result over there.
31:29But it was a record defeat for Europe and one that has led to things happening for subsequent matches that will hopefully prevent that from happening again.
31:41Indeed.
31:42You mentioned the record defeat, Martin.
31:44Can you remember the difference, the points difference?
31:4817-11?
31:50No, no.
31:51Much worse than that.
31:52Much worse than that.
31:53It was 19-9.
31:55Oh, right.
31:56Sorry.
31:57Yeah, 19-9.
31:58Yeah.
31:59Wow.
32:00Ten points.
32:01I mean, you look back to the history of the Ryder Cup.
32:02And even some of the biggest European wins don't get close to that.
32:06No.
32:07It really was a miserable event for anyone on this side of the globe.
32:13Will you move on?
32:14Yeah.
32:15It was a hammering.
32:16It was a hammering.
32:17It was a hammering.
32:18But the good thing is that probably put fire in the belly for the Italian job, let's call it that.
32:23Let's be really unoriginal.
32:25Firstly, I imagine covering a Ryder Cup in Italy must have felt quite unique at the Marco Simeone Golf Club.
32:31Yeah.
32:32It was fantastic, actually.
32:33I mean, no many better places in the world to be than Rome.
32:36It was quite a funny one.
32:38I remember we arrived, I think it was on the Sunday, and obviously the Ryder Cup being a Friday start,
32:45it means there's an extra day preview than you would have for the majors.
32:48So you've got four days of previews.
32:50So by the time the event comes round, you're ready for it to go.
32:53So I think on the Wednesday night, myself and a couple of colleagues, we were staying just on the outskirts of Rome.
32:59I said, well, let's go into Rome, get away from the golf for a night.
33:04I remember getting off the train at the Spanish Steps, and we came out and there was a big group of people at the bottom of the Spanish Steps.
33:11I was like, what's going on there?
33:13We went along, and of course, the two Ryder Cup teams were parading them, and they were going to their gala dinner.
33:18So our attempt to get away from the golf ended us up in the middle there, but it was fantastic to see.
33:24I mean, you had the players with their wives and their partners and their dinner suits and their ball gowns,
33:31and what a great city to have an experience like that.
33:37I must admit, Marco Salmoni was a great Ryder Cup golf course.
33:42It was quite hilly, but the fans loved it.
33:47And I must admit, I have never seen so many people on a golf course getting dressed up.
33:52People from different nationalities and their lederhosen and everything.
33:58It was such a good event.
34:01The Americans got a little bit stick at times, but in my opinion, it wasn't over the top.
34:08And Luke Donald, who wasn't due to be the European captain,
34:14he came in when Henrik Stenson went to live and had to give up the captaincy.
34:20Luke Donald was fantastic.
34:22Nailed it in his opening speech and got everything right thereafter.
34:27While in contrast, I don't think Zach Johnson was a great captain.
34:33But I would have to say, I think the margins between a winning and a losing captain in events like a Ryder Cup are very, very thin.
34:42And there's a couple that, in my opinion, could have gone the other way.
34:46Indeed. It did on that occasion. It was a pretty straightforward European win in the end.
34:51Easy question this. There was one Scott involved on the course.
34:54And who was that, Mark?
34:56One and only, Bob McIntyre.
34:58Yeah. And of course, he'll be there again.
35:01It's an interesting one with Bob as well at Rome.
35:05I mean, Luke Donald only really revealed recently that he couldn't consider Bob for the foursomes.
35:12You know, he didn't feel his game at that time could be relied on the foursome.
35:17And you totally get that. So he played them in the four balls with Justin Rose the first day.
35:23He was carried by Justin Rose. Bob would admit that himself.
35:26You know, the occasion was, I don't think he was playing great in practice by all accounts.
35:30And he struggled in the opening day. And it was Rose who, I think, got them a half in that match.
35:36Remember the one when he holed a putt and then turned around and pointed to his teammates?
35:39One of the great, great moments.
35:42So it was touch and go, actually, if Bob would play on the Saturday.
35:45But they kept him in, played with Rose again.
35:48He got better on the back nine. He got a bit of confidence for that.
35:51Then went out in what could have been a crucial singles match near the bottom of the order on the Sunday
35:56and beat Wyndham Clark, who was the U.S. Open champion at the time.
36:00And I think the confidence that Bob came away from Rome with has led to where he is now.
36:06World top ten player and playing in a second successive Ryder Cup as an automatic qualifier,
36:12having done finished second behind Rory McIlroy.
36:15And that tells you all about Bob McIntyre's game at the moment.
36:18Yeah, yeah, he's in a great place. There's no question about that, Martin.
36:22And that leads us to the event next week.
36:26The European team does look very strong.
36:28We've obviously got Bob in there.
36:31There'll be another trip across the pond for you.
36:34Do you go there with confidence that the Europeans will come back with the trophy?
36:39Quietly, I would say.
36:41I think the fact that 11 of the 12 from Rome are in the team again is a big help for Luke Donald.
36:47I mean, that's unheard of.
36:49And, of course, the one change is Rasmus Hojard coming in for his twin brother, Nikolai.
36:55So if Rasmus is playing poor in practice, they can just put Nikolai in and nobody would know.
37:00But, of course, that won't happen, of course.
37:02But, yeah.
37:03But, listen.
37:04Well, we've talked about two very heavy defeats for Europe at Whistling Straits.
37:11Hazeltine.
37:12I saw someone today that Paul McGinley, who's a strategic advisor, director for the European team, he's basically described them as being 4-0 defeats in football matches.
37:24Now, we know 4-0 defeats are hammering.
37:27So that's what Europe have got to turn around.
37:30And they're trying to do it in New York, Bethpage Black.
37:33I think we all know what's going to come there.
37:36It's going to be loud.
37:38And the one thing we've got to hope is that no one crosses the line.
37:42The team events create spirit.
37:48They create rivalry.
37:50But the one thing the Ryder Cup doesn't need is someone doing something silly that gets all the headlines.
37:57And, you know, it's a great event.
37:59And let's hope nothing happens that does something that's bad for golf and bad for the Ryder Cup.
38:08I could not agree more.
38:09When you've gone through all of those great events that you've been at, the ten that you've attended and the others that have come before it,
38:17it's such a tournament of rich tradition and built upon respect as well as competitiveness.
38:23And let's hope those ethoses are adhered to when the two teams do business next week.
38:30Martin, it's been a pleasure listening to all of your tales from the Ryder Cup.
38:34I could write a book on that.
38:36I'm getting old, Mark.
38:37That's just a sign of that.
38:39That's all it is.
38:40Well, yes.
38:41I won't let Paul Laurie remind you of your little faux pas on his age.
38:45No, it's a pleasure to hear all of those memories.
38:49And hopefully we'll be talking about some more.
38:52We're going to have loads of content ahead of the Ryder Cup.
38:54Martin, heading over to the States at the end of this week, we'll be doing plenty more videos.
38:59There'll be loads of stories on the website and in our print titles, the Scotsman and Scotland Sunday.
39:05And then as we build up to the event, which starts a week on Friday, there'll be a rich tapestry of different things that you can get your teeth into.
39:12We hope you can join us for all of those.
39:14But for now, Martin, I shall let you go.
39:16Thank you very much for joining me.
39:17We'll speak again soon.
39:18Bye for now.
39:20Bye for now.
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