Pros News
What another amazing experience I have been fortunate enough to have at this year's Ryder Cup.
Our hotel was located in Midtown Manhattan, New York, which was the perfect location for sightseeing. Along with a couple of fellow Board members, we visited Ground Zero, did the Statue of Liberty boat cruise, went to Central Park, Times Square etc. We could actually see the Empire State Building from our hotel rooms but, as for travelling to and from Bethpage, that was an entirely different story!
If we needed to, or managed to, get on the early bus transfer (4am - 6am), it took about an hour to reach the club but, anything later than that, it was a minimum of 2hours! New York is literally like a car park!
On Wednesday, with the Opening Ceremony being brought forward 24hours due to storms being forecast for the Thursday, it sadly ate into our sightseeing time but, when the opportunity to go this event is there..............you grab it with both hands.
On the Thursday, we needed to go to the club for an Observers Meeting. This was held to give us instructions/advice as to what is expected of you as an observer. In a nutshell, you are the eyes and ears for the match that you are assigned to and to give the referee, who walks with the players, the 'heads up', via radio, should there be any incidents/situations that happens to the players' ball - ie ball deflected, picked up, thrown etc.
At this years event, I was to observe Match 4 on Saturday morning, which was Robert MacIntyre & Viktor Hovland (Vic & Bob!) v Scottie Scheffler & Russell Henley, plus Match 8 in the Sunday singles, which turned out to be Shane Lowry v Russell Henley.
As an observer, you are inside the ropes (on the rope line) but you don't see any of the match you are assigned to, as you need to be ahead of them to spot any incidents. As soon as you know the ball is safe, you have to move on. As a result, you get to see more of the match in front!
On Friday I set the alarm for 3am (!) to make sure I was on the first bus to the golf club, to make sure I was in the stands for the opening day foursomes. What an atmosphere. In the main, it was very good. It was just the minority that felt the need to try and spoil it.
Come Saturday, another 3am alarm, as the match I was observing was teeing off at 8am. Because of that alarm call, I got the 1pm bus back to the hotel and watched the afternoon matches on TV. Great watching from a golfing aspect, but not quite so pleasant with regards to some of the fan's behaviour.
Then came Sunday, and Europe only needing 2 points to retain the trophy after Viktor's withdrawal due to injury. By the time I reached the first scoreboard, it was looking great for Europe and I thought it would all be over way before my match however, Team USA had other ideas!
The atmosphere was electric and I, along with many other Europe fans I'm sure, was beginning to wonder where these 2 points we needed were going to come from? As it turned out, it came down to the match I was observing.
Being inside the ropes and, on the right side of the hole, I was stood directly opposite Henley and Lowry's putt on the 18th green! Out came my phone and I caught it all on video!
This year's Ryder Cup will be remembered for lots of reasons, sadly not all of them good but, getting the result was the most important thing.
There was no opportunity to mix with the players this time around but.................I did manage to grab a selfie with this golfing legend!
Bring on Adare Manor, Limerick, in 2027!
