I’ve just been watching Europe defeat the USA in the 2006 Ryder Cup held at the K Club in Ireland and what a superb example of great golf coupled with passion and sportsmanship unrivalled in any Ryder cup I’ve certainly seen. A third consecutive team victory for Europe was always going to be overshadowed by the courage shown by Darren Clarke after losing his wife Heather to breast cancer.
In a way it was a shame Darren’s win wasn’t the win that sealed the well crafted team victory but it wasn’t meant to be. I also thought Tiger Woods showed us the true gentleman that he is, not once, not twice but three times, each time giving Darren a hug at the conclusion of his match. It was touching to watch and had me in tears at the end of the 16th hole.
Also funny to see was two holes in one especially considering none had been scored since 1995. Casey holed out yesterday to win the match and Verplank holed out to take the match dormie 4 against Harrington. Congratulations to the fans too and despite huge galleries, partisan crowds there were no stupid comments, no bad behaviour, just pure support for the great game.
Congratulations to Ian Woosnam (European captain) on the way he has held the team together especially after the pre tournament attack from Thomas Bjorn for not picking him! Tiger’s caddy almost falling in to water earlier in the round was comical, in the process losing Tiger’s 9 iron to the water Gods! All in all a great all round performance by everyone involved. The Americans played more like a team playing for each other than they have for a number of years and is surely the only way to go if they are to …
