So here’s a funny thing. I got home at around 12:30am last night, cracked open a beer in the warm glow of Ryder Cup celebration, and spent a little over an hour writing my Captain’s victory post. Go to proof read it and accidentally refresh the page, all gone! Oh how I laughed…
Sorry for what’s about to be quite a long post but you don’t have to read it! There will be a TLDR version straight after it. Along with the rest of Team Europe I have lived and breathed this thing for the last 3 and a half weeks. The most relieved person that it’s all over will probably be my wife who did not get it AT ALL! The ironic thing is we’re constantly telling our oldest daughter to stop watching people streaming games she owns herself. “No Jamie, this is NOT different!” I beg to differ, it really was. I do have the right perspective on where pixelated golf sits in the list of priorities in my life. Somewhere between picking up after the dog and shouting endlessly at my kids to brush their damn teeth! Jeez, why do they still have to be instructed to do this?! But as far as ‘unimportant’ things go, this has been one of the most joyous and rewarding things I have ever been a part of in my life. And although it would have stung, I would still have been saying that if we’d lost.
How good was that? So many twists and turns, both in individual matches and the event as a whole. Gripping viewing on the streams, better than anything on the telly. Nerves jangling when it was your turn to go, jangling almost as much when one of your team mates was going down to the wire. There is nothing like this event, I think some of our newer guys didn’t realise until they stepped up on that first tee! Of 31 matches, 10 were decided on the 18th green and a further 10 on the 17th.
We lost a couple of key players before the event even started and then lost the first 2 matches. Not to worry, the Taffodils are cruising at 3up until that match gets turned upside down, they’re teeing off on 18 1down and we’re staring 0-3 in the face. Cue
xcltaff1980 putting his Big Boy pants on and driving the green, we rescue half a point and we’re on the board. The first of 2 Super Sundays level things up at 2 and a half, now the sh%$ just got real! Then
bmells33 and
orang3aggie break our hearts, 3down with 7 to play before they reel off 5 holes in a row in an astonishing fightback. Week 1, USA 4.5 EUR 3.5.
The highlights continued in week 2.
xEB50x and
Demonondalinks being a royal pain in our arse by playing so damn well again, and yet even they were rooting for
ste814624 to hole a match saving putt on 18.
moneyman273 brilliantly pitching in on 15, only for
horusphoenix to break his heart and answer it with an unreal sliding chip in from the rough.
chinatown237 holing putts from everywhere to beat Euro talismans
BENNY6676 and
r0nrun 1up, one of the finest putting performances ever seen in the Ryder Cup. Me and
digsb having to return to the 17th tee at 1am the following night due to the Virgin Media meltdown, and his imperious shot in to 17 which helped turn 1down in to a 1up win. Who knows how that would have finished without Virgin Media’s input (or lack of)? USA 8 EUR 8.
And then the singles. We lose 2 more big players but this just served to give opportunities to 2 others. Europe jump out in to an early lead but we knew it wouldn’t be that easy. So many tight, tense matches including 3 that were halved. Then the USA win 4 in a row on Saturday and Sunday and they have their noses back in front, until old hand
thetaffman and rookie
bigbluestu78 hold their nerve late on Sunday night to put us one point away. So close we can taste it, and yet still so far! And then
Smijti, or Sir Marco as he is now known, cometh the hour, cometh the man. That final match has to go down as one of the best ever seen against an excellent opponent. The emotion in his voice at the end of the match said it all. Europe, for the first time, are Ryder Cup winners!
I’d Firstly like to thank
rhino4life, and I’m sure these sentiments will be echoed by everyone. We’d talked about putting on another Ryder Cup a few times, but it was Dave who got this thing off the ground and who did 95% of the legwork before we started. I was happy to jump on board but barring a little play testing I did very little else until we started getting our teams together. He has always been a top man and it was a pleasure to put a team up against him as opposing Captains. Without him, none of this drama and excitement would have happened, simple as that.
I’d also like to thank and congratulate the USA (+CAN) team on a hard fought and brilliantly played Cup. The amount of times we’d get ourselves in to a good position in a match and you’d find a way to come back and get something out of it, you just wouldn’t go away! We even talked about that in our team thread, we were doing well but we had to find a way of turning a match our way (thanks Virgin Media)! Every match was super competitive but also played in the spirit of friendship that epitomises this society. There were only 3 players on either team who scored a maximum 3 points and they were all American!
killahbeaz132 bmells33 Demonondalinks Take a bow! I’d like to particularly single out Todd there who I thought was magnificent in his singles match. We’re going to have to put something in place to try and combat the pairing of you and Rob in the next one. It takes two teams to make this event as great as it was and you guys more than played your part. You have shown true class in defeat and as Dave said, it really could have gone either way. If it’s any consolation there’s a few of us over here who know how it feels. X3!
And lastly to Team Europe (plus 2 special guests), I could not have asked for more from you. We had experienced Ryder Cup players and a good few rookies. EVERYONE completely bought in to the ethos of this event. The European support in each and every stream was incredible, as were the Xbox parties where we’d get together to watch the action. Everyone wanted to play but nobody moaned when they were left out and remained fully supportive. I’d particularly like to mention
xclgizman08 and
longpole who were both very unfortunate to only get one match. They did both win a point in that match though! Our top scorer was
grimbo with 2 and a half but to use a cricket term, we batted down to 11. So many contributions from so many players, when we really needed it there always seemed to be somebody on hand to step up and win a point. The way this team came together and had each other’s backs is what has made this so rewarding for me personally. I have loved every minute and I thank every one of you from the bottom of my heart. Winners! It feels good.
Finally, I would like to now step down as European Captain. I’ve always thought that win or lose this should be a one and done gig, and in a year’s time when we (hopefully) do this again someone else should give it a go. It’s been an honour and a privilege, and most of all an absolute blast! Thank you all.
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