Ryder Cup: a remarkable series of absurd events
Sport by its very nature is ridiculous. People are paid enormous amounts to kick a ball, swing a racket etc. As absurd, people pay enormous amounts of money to watch it.
They lose sleep before and afterwards over the performance of someone they have never met and never will. But rarely has sport thrown up something as preposterous as events at the Ryder Cup in Chicago.
1) The result. There is simply no way Europe should have won, and that’s not just because they were trailing by a massive 10 points to six going into the final day. The margin was only that narrow after European Ian Poulter reeled off five birdies in a row on Saturday evening.
The margin wasn’t the problem. The problem was Europe were playing badly, and the USA were inspired. There was no hint in the first two days of Europe being able to win a Sunday morning four ball at the local pitch and putt, let alone inflict the rout needed to win back the cup. No wonder the golf writer @lawrencedonegan wrote them off on Saturday night – a piece he has generously riposted on Twitter.
Seve Ballesteros
2) The spectre of Seve. It is hard to avoid descending into hocus-pocus when talking of the departed and sport. So and so’s spirit was with us etc… but even the most secular may struggle to deny the possibility that team Europe were helped by the late Seve Ballesteros. The European talisman of endless Ryder Cups died last year.
Someone paid for planes to paint his name in smoke above the course each during the competition. The players wore his name on their shirts. Captain Jose-Maria Olazabal broke down talking about him immediately after the winning putt was sunk. They all said they did it for Seve. Certainly the motivation of grief helps explain such a turnaround
3) Rory’s watch. Most absurdly of all the world number one, with an entourage the size of most people’s extended family, nearly missed his match. He claims his watch was set to the wrong time zone, resulting in a police escort being needed to get him to the course on time.
He arrived with minutes to spare, and went straight to the first without any practice whatsoever. And then he won against the form player of the US team, Keegan Bradley.
In short, ridiculous.