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PGA TOUR: Pressure of the Ryder Cup unlike anywhere else in golf

/noticias.info/ By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

STRAFFAN, Ireland -- Think of a simmering pot. Think of paper crumpled into an ever tighter ball. Think of cookie dough gradually rolled flat as a pancake.

Think of a crumpled paper ball boiled in a pot then rolled flat as a pancake. That might give you some idea of the constantly building pressure that the 24 contestants endure as the start of the 36th Ryder Cup grows closer.

Practically anyone who has competed in the biennial match play competition between the United States and Europe can tell you that there is nothing like the Ryder Cup. Allow us to extrapolate on the wisdom of Bobby Jones, who once said, “There is golf … and there is championship golf, and they are not at all the same.” Yes, and there is Ryder Cup golf and it is unlike anything else.

The difference: pressure. There is a lot of it. And it builds throughout the week. Fred Couples once said that nothing can prepare you for the Ryder Cup and that the pressure is intense even during practice rounds.

“More than anything, the pressure of the Ryder Cup tends to turn your thinking around to where, instead of going out trying to win a golf tournament, you try to fight off the fear of losing,” Davis Love III, who is missing his first Ryder Cup since 1993, said. “I think we all fight it, especially our first time. It’s a hard feeling to describe. There really is nothing like it.”

It’s a pressure that never dissipates but probably reaches its most intense with the first tee balls of Friday morning’s scheduled matches.

“I don’t care who you are, how much success you have, we’re all going to be lowered down to being extremely nervous and trying to take that deep breath and hit that first shot in the fairway,” said David Toms, who is playing in his third Ryder Cup for the U.S. “Doesn’t matter if you’re Tiger Woods all the way down to our captain’s picks. Everybody on the tee is going to feel the same way.”

“It’s not easy, mainly at the beginning,” agreed Spain’s Sergio Garcia, playing in his fourth Ryder Cup on the European side. “First day, if you play, you hit your first shot and you feel quite nervous. But at the same time, you kind of get into it a little bit as the day goes on and start feeling more comfortable.”

Indeed, play is the best pressure valve. But until then, there is no release -- only constant buildup. There is a cloud hovering over both teams and it wasn’t a product of the inclement weather that slammed The K Club throughout the day Wednesday and limited the teams to nine-hole practice sessions.

“I think it tends to kind of build as the week goes on. The pressure does seem to build,” U.S. captain Tom Lehman said. “As the week goes by it increases, and that’s probably the one big challenge that we all face, both teams, is how to keep the pressure off.”

Lehman has been particularly focused on stress management leading up to the matches. He has tried to insert fun into the equation at every turn. Among the tactics this week was compelling each player to sing his college alma mater’s fight song. Whether the ploys prove beneficial won’t be known until the winning putt, but the effort Lehman has made has been appreciated by his charges.

“I like his approach. I think it’s the right way to do it,” said Scott Verplank, who considers his first Ryder Cup in 2002 one of the best experiences of his career. “All I know is whether you’re playing golf, writing an article or driving a bus, if you’re having fun doing it, you’re going to do a better job If you’re dreading doing it or uptight about doing it, got big-time butterflies and knots in your stomach, you’re probably not going to do as good and have as much fun. When you’re having fun doing something, the stress level is greatly reduced.” notas_de_prensa_archivo