Feature
When Irish eyes were smiling
Paul Gallagher looks back at the key roles played by Irishmen in previous Ryder Cups
15/09/06: What is it about the Irish and pivotal moments in the Ryder Cup? Paul McGinley seized his moment in 2002 to join an illustrious list of Irishmen including Eamonn Darcy, Christy O’Connor Jnr and Philip Walton, who all took their opportunity in the cauldron of pressure in this event, while Des Smyth’s time will come again when he flanks captain Woosnam at the K-Club.
Inevitably the Ryder Cup throws up moments of high drama and for some reason the names of Irishmen have formed integral parts of scripts down through the years. Darcy famously defeated a putterless Ben Crenshaw at Muirfield Village in 1987, O’Connor Jnr may have played the most famous two-iron in golf to deny the then world number one Fred Couples at the Belfry in 1989 and Walton somehow managed to hold his nerve to get over the line at Oak Hill against Jay Haas in 1995.
Such moments will always live long in the memory and after Walton’s 1995 appearance, Darren Clarke’s introduction at Valderrama in 1997 marked a new era – a new brigade to take over the Irish mantle. Padraig Harrington emerged in 1999 and was followed by McGinley in 2002 to complete the most recent Irish triumvirate.
“Was it coincidence, was it destiny or simply fate?” Darcy asks in reference to former Irish Cup glories. “When you think of all the wonderful players we played with, and against, in the Ryder Cup, they were world beaters. Don’t get me wrong, we (Irish) were good solid players, yet we were often the ones thrown into the hot seat and thankfully we came through.”
“When we won in America in 1995 Philip missed a little putt on 17 to close out the Ryder Cup, then it all came down to the last hole and we win it there instead. It was as if it was meant to happen that way. It was like when Crenshaw had that 12-footer up the hill at the 18th with his one-iron against me.
“If he had missed, my putt wouldn’t have been so important. I know Christy’s two-iron was a little different as they just retained the trophy in 1989, but it was such a wonderful shot and completely took the wind out of Couples’s sails. And then we had Paul holing the winning putt across the final green at the Belfry. It’s like the scripts were already written.”
When the individuals in question relive their time in the hot seat, the overriding weight of pressure and how they dealt with it is what made heroes out of men. However, beneath that thin veneer of calm was a frenzy of emotion, one that Walton, in particular, didn’t enjoy for one second.
“My fondest memory was getting on the flight home, to be honest with you,” is Walton’s recollection of his only Ryder Cup. “It wasn’t a good week for me, It wasn’t enjoyable at all.”
Not exactly the expected response for one who had reached the pinnacle of his career. Walton had holed the winning putt in a year when it was supposed to be a damage limitation exercise for Europe, who had been plagued by injury and poor form and were up against seven major winners on the American team.
“It was very nervewracking, especially when you’re standing on the first tee. I think Jay (Haas) was worse than me as I started bogey, par and was still two up, then we both settled down,” recalls Walton.
“The added pressure comes because it’s a team effort, you don’t want to let any of your team-mates down and that weighed on you heavily. For me, the added problem was that the crowds were very close at Oak Hill. They were so close you could touch them around the small tees,” adds the Dubliner, who wasn’t comfortable in such high-pressured, claustrophobic surrounds.
“I was three up with three to play and the match should have been over at the 16th. I was on the green 25 feet away and Jay was in the bunker. I rolled it close, then he holed from the bunker. It wasn’t even a good shot, it came out low and hard, hit the bottom of the flag and dropped in,” notes Walton, who went on to miss a short putt to lose 17 as well.
“I remember the difficulty in trying to get through the crowds between the 17th green and 18th tee. Then Sam Torrance comes up to me, slaps me on the bum and says, ‘Come on, you can do this.’ My thoughts on the tee were simple: ‘Don’t mess up, finish the job off.’ I remember just trying to breathe properly in that pressure, taking deep breaths right from the belly. When we got to the green I knew all I needed was a two-putt to win, I say that’s all but it wasn’t that straight forward.
“The whole experience didn’t have a positive effect on me. After that I didn’t want to know about the Ryder Cup. I think it was just a mental thing,” is Walton’s honest assessment. A somewhat unwilling hero.
Roll back to 1989 when O’Connor Jnr had his time in the spotlight and he will tell you he positively revelled in the situation.
“My win against Fred Couples was very special,” says O’Connor Jnr, who had returned to Ryder Cup action 14 years after his debut. “I’m convinced nobody, except myself, gave me a chance of beating him. However, I knew the course inside out and certainly wasn’t afraid of scoring. People said, ‘jaysus, he’s so much stronger and longer than you.’ That didn’t make any difference, he had to finish the course just as I did. In the end I had a putt that day for a 66, that would have been a hell of a score in any matchplay event.”
And what of the infamous two-iron over water at the 18th? “The first thing you rule out in your mind is that it isn’t necessarily a two-iron but just another club in your hand, just another swing. I would have hit that particular twoiron thousands of times all year,” adds O’Connor Jnr, who had 210 yards to the flag on a difficult, tiered green.
“The thing is, I’d already hit a superb two-iron at the previous hole and before that I hit it absolutely perfect at the parthree 12th, so I felt very confident with it. On the fairway at 18, both my caddy and I agreed two-iron was the right club selection and when that happens you’re not usually far wrong. I knew the shot was going to be good the moment it left the club face.”
The ball landed and rolled to within several feet of the flag to ensure the onehole win.
“There is no pressure quite like the Ryder Cup. You’re not only playing for yourself, you’re also playing for your family, your country and latterly Europe. An awful lot rides on it, there’s no money involved, it’s totally about pride and that should be enough to drive any man.”
And when Darcy made his first of four appearances in 1975, the now 54-year-old said his proudest moment was being paired alongside O’Connor Jnr in his first match in the afternoon fourballs at Laurel Valley in Pennsylvania. But he will surely be best remembered for his last showing at Muirfield Village in 1987 when beating Crenshaw to ensure the first European victory on American soil.
“That’s certainly the moment everybody remembers. I was in the hot seat for that one and the final putt counted,” recalls Darcy. “Basically I had the front nine all my own way. Seve and I shot the two lowest scores to go out in 32 and I was three up. By the 16th it had turned around and I was one down after a few loose shots, and in between Crenshaw had broken his putter.
“I hadn’t seen the putter break but was told the head came off after he hit a cone with it. It was one of those old fashioned blade putters and the head fell off so he used a oneiron for 12 holes.”
The fact is, Crenshaw snapped his putter through frustration and disgust.
“Everyone talks about the putt at 18 but I hit a magnificent approach over trees at the 17th to within three feet to get the match back to all-square. As you can imagine, the pressure was seriously on both of us at that point. The Americans were coming at us like a steam train when earlier in the day it looked like we couldn’t lose. Then our top guys, with the exception of Seve, got turned over.
“By the 18th green he (Crenshaw) holed up the hill from 12 feet, which left me needing the tricky sixfooter downhill. At the time Jack (Nicklaus, the American captain) had said to one of his colleagues, ‘this match isn’t over, that’s three-putt range’, which it was because if the ball hadn’t gone in who knows where it would have stopped.
“That last putt was the ultimate pressure, you had to stand up and be counted,” says Darcy. “I got my one chance and, thank God, it went in, a really special moment. Seve’s win was the crucial one but he insisted, ‘Darcy’s was the winning putt’, which was nice of him. I don’t know if I’d be up for that kind of pressure now.”
Darcy tells of how the greens were lost at Nicklaus’s Muirfield Village that year. “They cut them so tight for the Ryder Cup, thinking it would give them an advantage, but we putted better than them,” noted the Delgany man.
“I remember (Jose-Maria) Olazabal doing a victory dance on the green and an official came up and warned him. Then Nicklaus said it didn’t matter because they’d lost the greens anyway.” Smyth also had his time as a player in 1979, the first time the Ryder Cup was opened up to Europe instead of just Britain and Ireland, and again in 1981 at Walton Heath. It was at the Surrey venue where he and Spain’s Jose Maria Canizares lost 3 and 2 to the formidable partnership of Nicklaus and Tom Watson. And now 25 years later Smyth knows he is going to be very busy as vice-captain to Woosnam.
“I’ve been asking people who did this before me and was told: ‘You’re gonna be running about like a blue arse-fly!’ So, needless to say I’m preparing myself for a busy week,” says Smyth, delighted and honoured to play such an important role on home soil.
“Helping with team selection is certainly in my remit. We will walk with the players from the Monday onwards and feed Ian with information as to how the guys are playing. I know the rookies will be nervous so we’ll have to take care of them as best we can. Then hopefully you can rely on the more experienced guys who’ve already been there.
“There is a real buzz and that’s not just because we are Irish and it’s coming here, it’s the same in America. They want to win this badly and will be very determined. The soccer World Cup was a big deal for the rest of the world, but not so much in America. All eyes are set for the K-Club.”
Smyth’s reference to the Americans’ desire to win is something Darcy also alludes to. From what he has heard, an American win is not only desired but needed. And sooner rather than later for sake of the event’s future.
“I got the impression from speaking to some of the American guys at Turnberry (during the Senior British Open) that if America lose another couple of Ryder Cups some of their top guys might just think they’ve had enough of it. And that’s a serious point,” says Darcy, noting that Europe have won four of the last five encounters and seven of the last 10.
“Look how many times Europe has won in recent years. Another couple of times and you’re talking about some Americans going through a whole career without winning a Ryder Cup. They don’t want to simply come over and get beaten all the time, plus they have the Presidents’ Cup.
“It got to the stage where I think America were tired of playing in the Ryder Cup and winning it. And now it’s almost gone full circle and it’s very close to that stage again, this time Europe being the dominant side.”
Throw this notion into the mix and it should make for a very intense encounter next week.