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Living Golf
Ryder Cup Teams Prepare for a Tough Battle; How the Ryder Cup Rivalry Began at Gleneagles; Catching Up with Kaymer and Fowler; What Does it take to Win the Ryder Cup?
Aired September 04, 2014 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
SHANE O'DONOGHUE, CNN HOST (voice-over): Gleneagles, Scotland, the 2014 host to the biggest team event in golf, the biggest rivalry in the
game, Europe versus the USA.
Over 80 years of highs and lows, drama and discord, it can only mean one thing, the Ryder Cup is upon us. This month, LIVING GOLF goes
stateside to meet the captains charged with winning the cup.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Right now on paper we're (INAUDIBLE). But things can change.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): We dig deep into the event's history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Sammy was ultimately a business man. He saw an opportunity for Great Britain and the American players to play
more regularly.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): We catch up with two players crucial to their respective teams.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Being there in 2010 and coming up short, I want to be on the other side of that this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): From my point of view, they don't need to win ever again.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): And two ex-captains tell us where the Cup will be won or lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I am asked a lot about how do you handle the pressure. Well, you take a deep breath and sometimes you just
got to be a man.
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): First, to Louisville, Kentucky, and the recent PGA championship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): This is the media center at Valhalla Golf Club, the final major of the year is in full swing but already the 2014
Ryder Cup is making headlines. Plots and subplots, twists and turns. Press attention is now beginning to soar and the two men feeling the heat,
Europe's Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley and perhaps even more so his American counterpart, Tom Watson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Obviously Tom's going to do a great job as captain. I know that. And I'm under no illusions how big a task we
have ahead of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I got a text last night from one of the players who are not on the team and it said, "I am playing well. I got
a new driver. You -- and I'm going to make you pick me."
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): While McGinley's team is coming into form just at the right time, Watson's side is in trouble with an absent Dustin
Johnson and an injured Tiger Woods amongst the big players missing from the team.
Few in the golfing press give the United States much chance. We think Captain Watson is worried, think again.
TOM WATSON, TEAM USA CAPTAIN (voice-over): We go into the Ryder Cup on paper the Europeans look better. But there's an underlying American
spirit that we get the job done. That's the attitude that I have. That's the attitude I hope we project to the players.
ALAN SHIPNUCK, JOURNALIST (voice-over): It's interesting, because he's of a different generation than the players. He's so old school. I
think he sees himself as a Vince Lombardi type. He has to be remote and intimidating and almost just a disciplinarian and it sets up this dynamic
where the players have to please him. This is his team. They're going to do it his way. And if they're going to win, it's because he's going to
lead the cavalry. You know, he's not going to be a guy that blends into the background. This is kind of his last ride. He wants to be the star in
a lot of ways.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): After losing five of the last six Ryder Cups, few were surprised when Watson was asked to once again lead his
country. His Ryder Cup record as a player: won 10, lost four and halved one. His record as a captain: a win in 1993. Throw in eight majors, and
you have a born winner, a winner you can rely on.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
WATSON (voice-over): Under the high pressure situation in America, it's the highest pressure I think in all of golf. You know, there's
situations where the new -- you may get above your pressure level and since I've been there before, I can be a go-to guy, talk to the players about
that.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): In the time that has elapsed since you assumed the role and became captain again, have you learnt anything new
about Tom Watson, because the world has moved on?
WATSON (voice-over): Oh, yes, I've learned that it's very difficult to tweet. I can't get my fingers to do it fast enough and do I put the
right hashtag and this? So you know, it's hard to do stuff like that, yes. It's hard.
I mean, it boils down to the players playing against each other. It hasn't changed at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'DONOGHUE: Seeing that we're in the media center, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the moments that have made
the biggest headlines in Ryder Cup history. Here's our top five.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The concession: 1969, Jack Nicklaus concedes a very missable putt to Tony Jacklin on the 18th to tie the match
and the Cup, one of the most sporting gestures in the event's history.
European invasion: 1987. After an unbeaten record spanning 60 years, the U.S. team lose to Europe for the first time on home soil.
War on the shore: 1991. Fierce competition, even fiercer patriotism. Europe's Bernard Langer misses the final putt to give the U.S. victory.
Battle of Brookline: 1999; 10-6 down, heading into the final day, America's Justin Leonard's monster putt hews monster celebrations and a
severe breach in etiquette. The U.S. goes onto win by a point.
Miracle at Medinah: 2012; led by an inspired Ian Poulter, Europe come back from 10-6 down to cap a remarkable victory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Tom Watson's fine record makes it easy to overlook Paul McGinley. But check the history books and you'd find that
the Irish man has never been on a losing side in the Ryder Cup, either as a player or as a vice captain.
For him, camaraderie is key.
PAUL MCGINLEY, TEAM EUROPE CAPTAIN: I think it's the bonding that you form to different players on the team. I mean, that extra -- that extra
connection that you have with a player. I gravitate towards that. The sharing a common goal, all pulling in the same direction, team meetings,
all wearing the same uniform, all in it together. That passion, that emotion, all of those things combined just makes it incredibly exciting to
me.
KEVIN GARSIDE, JOURNALIST (voice-over): I see him as someone who works behind the scenes assiduously. He's a climber, is McGinley, and
surprisingly so. I think he's doing a very, very good job of not sticking his nose in it. Clearly, his counterpart, Tom Watson, commands all the
headlines. But I think (INAUDIBLE) McGinley, his temperament and his approach to this contest.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): What have you learned about yourself, Paul, now that you're two years into the role?
MCGINLEY: I've learned to be incredibly structured. It's not something that comes easy to me. I have to force myself to do that. But
you've got to be prepared for (INAUDIBLE) job. It's a big job (INAUDIBLE) huge down. So I've learned how to be structured and to fight against the
amount of instinct, which is a bit of the Irish way. I've had to be a right in the night and I can't take that chance.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): One thing's for sure, with Rory McIlroy in the form of his life, the European team head into Gleneagles with the man
every U.S. player will think twice about playing. I caught up with the Northern Irish man after his PGA championship win.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): I've been charting your progress and your golf for a long time since you were about 13 years of age. But this is
something different.
RORY MCILROY: I realize this year that we only have one goal with us and we only have a certain timespan. We have as a career in golf, there's
only a certain window. Every tournament you don't win is a missed opportunity and every tournament that slips through your fingers is one
that you could have won. And that's sort of my mindset at the minute.
I read progress. I rededicated myself and this is important to me. This is my career and I want to make the most of it.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): How do you take Rory McIlroy down?
WATSON (voice-over): One of the things I love about Rory is the way he plays the game. He plays the game a lot like I do. He's great for the
game of golf and he is a very formidable competitor.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): What plans does Watson have for Rory, McGinley and Europe? Time will tell. After the break, we catch up with
U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer and the player who ran McIlroy so close in Valhalla, Rickie Fowler.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): In many ways, the Ryder Cup is coming home here to Gleneagles. It may have officially started in 1927 at Worcester
Country Club in Massachusetts. But it was here six years earlier that Great Britain first took on the United States in a golf match. It was
called the International Challenge. The score: Britain 9, the United States 3 with three matches halved. The rivalry had begun.
ED HODGE, HISTORIAN (voice-over): Well, the Great Britain team was made up of some of the legends of the day. In fact, they had 20 major
championships between them at the time in James Braid's design, the course at Gleneagles came in the Queens (ph), James Taylor (ph), Halley Barden
(ph), George Duncan (ph), Ted Ray (ph) and an American had one of the biggest stars in golf at the time. And then Walter Hagen. So there really
was a stellar lineup of top names.
Some of the players who were in that American team in 1921 is very interesting because some of them are transplanted Scots, Scots who'd
(INAUDIBLE) fame and fortune at last the British Isles, even across to America. So you had people like Jock Hutchison from St. Andrews and
Frederick Daly from North Barret (ph) here. (INAUDIBLE) "The Stars and Stripes" from playing at the (INAUDIBLE) and the British team.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Five years later and a second match between the two teams took place in Wentworth, England. It was here that a certain
Samuel Ryder stood in the crowd watching when in first in visits to tournament between the two countries.
HODGE (voice-over): Samuel was ultimately a business man. He sold penny seed catalogs (ph) with his younger brother, James, in St Albans and
he's a workaholic. It was only when his sister (ph) said to him, you need to take a little stand back from the manner of what you're doing and get
into golf.
So he came into golf in his early 50s and became hooked on the sport from there.
He saw an opportunity for Great Britain and American players to play more regularly.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Ryder's brainchild has created one of sport's great rivalries. The USA leads with 25 wins to Great Britain and
Ireland's then Europe's 12. Other notables: youngest player in the event's history, Sergio Garcia. The oldest: Raymond Floyd. Most points
won: Nick Faldo. Most points won in a partnership: Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.
As winter is a short time before this year's contest, two players already on their respective teams, U.S. Open champion Germany's Martin
Kaymer and American Rickie Fowler with Top 5 finishes in all four majors this year, take part in the Berenberg Gary Player Invitational, a chance to
put rivalries aside for the day in the aid of a charitable cause.
MARTIN KAYMER, U.S. OPEN CHAMPION (voice-over): We earn a lot of money for what we do. And my life respected too much money. And I think
it's quite nice to give those things back in a very, very easy way, to play a round of golf in Wentworth, seeing (INAUDIBLE) and the athletes
(INAUDIBLE).
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Both men are keen to add to their Ryder Cup records. A loss of form and Kaymer could only play a minor role in 2012 at
Medinah after being a key part of the victorious 2010 team.
Then came the histrionics of the final day. It was the Germans' putt on the 18th that capped an incredible comeback and secured the Cup for
Europe.
KAYMER (voice-over): I was not that nervous. You're a little bit nervous of course but the excitement, the excitement was nice. There's
this -- it's fascinating being in this. And then only eyes are on you and it's all about you making this putt now. And it's not a difficult putt.
You know, and that's the key, is you don't think you need to make anything outstanding. You just need to deliver what you do day in, day out. And
fortunately I could -- I could deliver in this moment and make the putt.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Despite being on the losing side (INAUDIBLE), Rickie Fowler's impact was immediate. Four straight birdies
down the stretch on the final day secured a half point that almost turned the tide for the United States. Injured in 2012, he's as keen as anyone to
make his mark again this year.
RICKIE FOWLER: The team events are so much different than a week-to- week tournament in the Majors. You're playing for so much more than just yourself. It's just fun to have that little extra added pressure and to
play well and then feel the satisfaction that you did it for your teammates, the captains and then your country.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): If you play golf, you know your game is never the same from one day to the next. You might be flushing it on the
range but all of a sudden by hole 2 or 3, it's broken down. Nerves, pressure, call it what you will.
But just imagine what it must be like to feel the intensity of the Ryder Cup. And just consider what that can do to your game.
But for the likes of Germany's Martin Kaymer and American Rickie Fowler, this is what they live for.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
FOWLER (voice-over): Mainest thing is being able to be in the position where you can handle the pressure and the nerves. You know, when
you get nervous, but I think a lot of it is kind of a -- you get excited and the adrenaline's going, it's not like you're scared. You're excited to
be in that moment.
The best players in the world, I would say, are just going to get better and then maybe the amateurs that play on a regular basis, if they
get put under pressure, their swing gets worse.
KAYMER (voice-over): Usually I only like to play golf if it's not in a golf tournament, you know, because I don't play well. There's no
motivation. There's no adrenaline. I hit the ball shorter, usually, like a (INAUDIBLE). Usually I play over par.
FOWLER (voice-over): It is definitely different if you're in a situation like the Ryder Cup versus just playing for fun. Intensity is
definitely not there. I'm not going to hit it as far on a regular basis when I'm playing for fun as I will at a tournament.
KAYMER (voice-over): You know, when I play here today, it's (INAUDIBLE) Wentworth. It's really enjoyable; it's a nice walk and play
with nice people. It's not a part, you know, being in front of 200 yards to a foot or so, hitting high drops around trees. It's not so much about
that.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The Ryder Cup will give both of them all the pressure they need.
KAYMER (voice-over): From my point of view, they don't need to (INAUDIBLE). But I think it will be battling. I mean, it was very, very
tight the last couple times.
FOWLER (voice-over): This is one that we need to win. Gleneagles is a good venue for the U.S. And I feel like we're putting together a pretty
good team. So I'm excited to be on the team and being there in 2010 and coming up short, I want to be on the other side of that this year.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): After the break, we take an in-depth look at the Gleneagles course with the captains from the 2002 Ryder Cup.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The Ryder Cup: the biggest event in team golf is almost here. I've met the under-pressure captains. I've met a few
of the key players. Now to take an in-depth look at Gleneagles, the framework for so much drama come the end of September.
The PGA Centenary Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus and measuring over 7,200 yards, it has all the characteristics vital to a successful Ryder
Cup, risk and reward holes, great viewing areas, dramatic finishing stretch.
I'm here with the Gleneagles head pro Andrew Jowett to take a look at some of the key holes come the Cup and run first tee, Andrew, where I'm
sure the noise will be deafening, the atmosphere will be suffocating.
But what will the pros be facing on this opening hole from this tee?
ANDREW JOWETT, GLENEAGLES HEAD PRO (voice-over): Well, first of all, here on the PGA Centenary Course, and many may consider this to be a
relatively innocuous par 4, but certainly more of a premium on accuracy rather than distance from the tee. The time's going to be into a well
guarded green. It's a nice brush one up on the back left. They're really quite deep (INAUDIBLE) and there's some really exciting pinnable positions.
So what may be considered as quite an inviting first hole I'm sure with 45,000 people around here, that's where the tension will come from.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Yes, I've no doubt this is going to be an absolute cauldron. So while it's a bit quieter, let's go and try it out.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): To dig even deeper, a few weeks ago we reunited the 2002 Ryder Cup captains, Curtis Strange and Sam Torrance to
renew old rivalries but also to look at where this Ryder Cup can be won or lost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CURTIS STRANGE (voice-over): What are we going to do here on the first hole?
SAM TORRANCE (voice-over): It's driver.
Well, with this wind today, it's just off the right-hand track and then down there. But all that rough down there is going to be so thick,
you're going to just have this little strip to here. But you're not thinking out here. You're actually thinking here, just a little main
connection and getting it going in that direction.
(CROSSTALK)
STRANGE (voice-over): That was all right. That was all right.
TORRANCE (voice-over): Let's have a wander down, shall we?
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Torrance and Strange led their respective teams at the Belfry in 2002. It was the cup that was postponed a year
following 9/11 and both felt a need to give the competition after a few years of bad blood between the sides some proper perspective.
Torrance and Europe may have won, but the friendship endures.
STRANGE (voice-over): No, I'd say here. Say, I'd hit it -- see the slope here? That would come off completely nice fade, you know what.
That's where I'd hit. You make it look like --
(CROSSTALK)
TORRANCE (voice-over): -- perfect play. Look at this.
STRANGE (voice-over): All right, Sam, 16th hole, par 5. Tell me something about it.
TORRANCE (voice-over): Well, that's a great hole. It's a breachable but nowhere into the wind it's (INAUDIBLE). This is a -- there's a river
across the front, but it's about 70-80 yards short of the green, two-tier green. And it's imperative to hit the fairway.
STRANGE (voice-over): So a good finish for an exciting finish --
(CROSSTALK)
TORRANCE (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE).
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): This was another risk reward hole, whether you actually go for it in two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Absolutely. Really strong par 5, a good tee shot. We'll give you a green light to score for the green and
tee. Again, like you say, risk and reward. So water short of the green, which shouldn't really come in play for them.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Shouldn't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Shouldn't. But pressure can do funny things.
STRANGE (voice-over): And you know the other thing, when you get late in the afternoon at the Ryder Cup, all of the people congregate on these
last holes. This is an atmosphere that is so loud if you're the opposing team to play against.
TORRANCE (voice-over): Yes, I know. That's they're shouting for you.
STRANGE (voice-over): Oh, that's right. That's right.
TORRANCE (voice-over): It's not so loud.
STRANGE (voice-over): This will be good stuff.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
STRANGE (voice-over): OK, Sam, 18th holes, match is all square. Singles last match is all square. Everything is on the line. I am asked a
lot about how do you handle the pressure.
Well, you take a deep breath and sometimes you just got to be a man.
(LAUGHTER)
STRANGE (voice-over): There's no easy way.
TORRANCE (voice-over): There's no easy way. Obviously at this point in the day your nerves are gone. You're OK -- I don't mean they're gone;
your nerves are shot. I mean, the nervousness should be gone. The first tee's gone. You're into the match. Now you're totally concentrated. It's
all down to this. But then you start thinking. It's actually all on to me now. You got to get rid of those thoughts --
STRANGE (voice-over): You're still part of that fun, though --
TORRANCE (voice-over): Oh, absolutely.
STRANGE (voice-over): -- you'd love to be --
TORRANCE (voice-over): You want to be the hero.
This is a hole where you absolutely have to hit the fairway. It's important to reach the green from either side, rough side. So you've got
to have big drive and there's a long shot in. It's a very, very difficult green.
Now it may be in the situation singles, your partner's put it in a bad position in two and you've got even 4 iron onto the green, you may lay up,
just to get it in a place where you know you're going to chip it in 5, 6 feet, maybe 4 or 5 with maybe enough to win the match and the Ryder Cup.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The home holes can certainly provide lots of drama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Well, the premium again is on accuracy, a little bit to the left, a little bit to the right and you're
going to get caught out. It'll give them the opportunity to maybe showcase some of their wonderful short game. We want someone to win the Ryder Cup
here.
STRANGE (voice-over): This green's only 15 paces wide, coming in here from well over 200 yards. If you do miss to the left, which, to me, the
angle from the second shot in, it's going to dictate you have to aim in this position and come in from the left.
If you miss here, not good.
TORRANCE (voice-over): This is where it's going to end up. It's going to run up there and come back around and end up around about here
somewhere. And how do you putt it? You can't putt. You can try throwing it. I mean, you've got to throw it there. But to get it just over -- oh,
this is magnificent. I've got sand here until next Christmas. I'll not do that again.
STRANGE (voice-over): You have to putt.
TORRANCE (voice-over): That's it. That's even better. That's even better.
STRANGE (voice-over): You have to putt.
Sam, I've never played an event here and don't know much about the golf course. But with your local knowledge of Gleneagles, who's your
favorite?
TORRANCE (voice-over): To be honest, it doesn't really favor either team. (INAUDIBLE) guys playing well, as most Ryder Cup venues do. You
just got to play your golf.
(CROSSTALK)
TORRANCE (voice-over): It'll be a fantastic challenge. A great match, old buddy.
(CROSSTALK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Well, the wait is almost over. The seeds of the Ryder Cup were sown here in 1921. Now it returns, bigger and much,
much bolder. Rivalries renewed, battle lines drawn. Whose side are you on? Until next time, goodbye.
END
