Nervous..You Bet. It’s Ryder Cup Week

I love the fall! The leaves are changing colors, there is a crispness in the air and the sun seems somehow brighter. Footballs are flying, baseball races are tightening, soccer balls are bouncing and every other year at this time, the greatest spectacle in golf comes alive, The Ryder Cup.

Even if you are not a fan of golf…I dare you to watch this event and not get excited. The crowds cheer raucously for their home team with no reservations of being courteous to the visitors.  Players usually resigned to checking their emotions at the door, will pump fists and scream in joy like a 5 year old at Christmas.

This is the Ryder Cup…playing for your country and for pride. There is no prize money, no sponsor logos, just the stars and stripes vs. the blue and gold from Europe.  This is the golf equivalent of two brothers fighting over a girl…it’s personal!

This is the single greatest golf event in the world period! It brings all the great elements of competition together. It’s match play, mano-a-mano. It’s a team event and that adds to more pressure. Nobody wants to let a teammate down, AND, it’s for your country. What could be more motivating than that?

Bernhard Langer once said he couldn’t breathe as he stood over a putt to win a match. Lanny Wadkins remarked after sinking a clutch putt to gain a halve, “I almost wet myself”.  Jose Maria-Olazabal claimed that if you didn’t get a trembling in your legs, then you were dead.

Some Other famous/infamous comments-

Bobby Jones- “There are golfing nerves, major championship nerves, and then there are Ryder Cup nerves.”

Dave Stockton- “At a certain point it dawns on you, this is bigger than you. Now you’re playing for your country.”

Dave Marr- “Arnold [Palmer] and I were first off in alternate shot, and he would drive on the odd-number holes. That was fine; I wanted him to hit the first shot, because that’s a choking deal there! Then I chunked the approach and he asked me, ‘did you have a bad lie?’ I said, ‘Arnold, I can’t even get a breath here, I’m choking so bad.’ He started laughing and said, ‘welcome to the Ryder Cup!’”

Padraig Harrington- “I couldn’t see the golf ball. I was just so nervous, I couldn’t even see it.”

Paul Azinger-“In the end, the bottom line is, it’s just us 12 against those 12 over there. And you should look at the guy you’re playing and say to yourself on that first tee, ‘I just don’t want him to celebrate at my expense.’”

We weren’t intimidated, but we had a sort of inkling that they might be slightly better than us.” — Mark James, partnered by Tommy Horton, on facing Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson in the opening foursomes in 1977 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes

So the question begs…what’s the most nervous you’ve ever been on the golf course?

For me it was playing the last hole at Meadowwood in Spokane in their Amateur Championship  that is held every year. I had played well the day before and I was playing as well that day. I had a feeling in my gut that a par would win my flight. I also had a bag of cotton balls in my mouth and my hands were shaking so bad I could barely hold the club much less swing it. To make it all worse, we had to stand on the tee box and wait for about 5 minutes…it seemed like an hour.

Anyway I somehow managed to get it out there and get it down in par. I have to confess, I’ve never been that nervous before…and I loved every second of it.

The Ryder Cup begins this Friday in Wales. I dare you to watch!

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