The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 22 September 2008 /

The Ryder Cup was closer than the score would suggest and Celtic Manor is now perfectly poised to be a definitive contest, says the Punter.

Anyone who didn't watch the Ryder Cup yesterday and only looked at the final score, 16 ½ - 11 ½ in favour of the Americans, wouldn't have a clue how very close it really was.

The day started with both Anthony Kim and Sergio Garcia both hitting their approach shots to about two feet on the 1st hole. The needle started from then on in between the two when Kim didn't concede Garcia's marginally longer putt. Garcia appeared to show a bit more class and gain the upper hand by giving Kim his but it all went pear shaped for the Spaniard after that.

In an attempt to unsettle rookie Kim, Garcia slowed his game right down. A move that back fired quite spectacularly as Kim wasn't the least bit phased as Garcia appeared to lose all rhythm. Kim soon took control of the match, eventually winning 5 & 4, not that he realised he'd won; he went marching off to the 15th tee!

It was a poor Ryder Cup for Garcia and I wonder whether the run of a few weeks in contention leading up to the event had taken the edge off him, he really wasn't his usual gritty self all week.
Mahan and Casey then tied the second match and the Europeans notched a couple of wins courtesy of Robert Karlsson and Justin Rose. But that was as good as it got for Faldo's charges.

An emotional Kenny Perry won the fifth match, beating Henrik Stenson 3 & 2, a victory that was scripted by the golfing Gods. He made some remarkable putts and talked afterwards of it being his swansong, his last hoorah. It had been his goal all season to make the team and he had been criticised for missing majors in an attempt to do so but no-one could begrudge the Kentuckian his day in the sun.

The next US point came from the character of the week, Boo Weekley. He started the day by pretending he was riding a horse with his driver between his legs after teeing off on the first! He maybe a character and a joker but he sure can golf his ball! He was my first and largest of three final day bets and although he lost the second hole a Boo victory was never in doubt after that.

Famed for saying that he was only going to play golf until he'd earned enough money to spend the rest of his days huntin' an' fishin' he claimed after his win that this experience had been incredible. He even claimed the adrenalin rush was bigger than that experienced when shooting a dear! Steady on Boo.

Big hitting JB Holmes out-gunned brave Dane Soren Hansen, who I thought had a decent Ryder Cup and deserved more than the ½ point he won. Then somewhat fittingly Jim Furyk beat fellow elder statesman Miguel Angel Jimenez on the 17th green to secure the win for the USA. I say fittingly because when Furyk and Paul Azinger embraced afterwards you could see how much it meant to the pair. Furyk knows what it feels like to lose this event and had felt the pain and now deserved the pleasure. Indeed he spoke afterwards of how he felt for Miguel and how he knew how it felt to be in his shoes.

With the match won the last four pairings finished off almost irrelevantly, with Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter both winning their games for Europe. My last two bets of the day, Curtis and Campbell won the final two rubbers for the US, providing lashings of icing for my Ryder Cup cake.

In summary, bets aside, I honestly think the result was the best one for the competition. Had the US lost they'd have been massive underdogs for Wales in 2010, and I'm pretty sure the American public would have started to lose interest. I believe their win is good for the event and good for the game in general.

I think both Captains did a great job, I feel for Faldo, when all is said and done the 'names' in the European team didn't fire but there were plusses. Poulter obviously, G-Mac, Rose; It's a changing of the guard, and I fear for Lee Westwood. He looked sullen, whined at every opportunity and appears caught between generations.

As for the victors, Lefty talked of the all the rookies and how the fact that they didn't know what it was like to lose the Ryder Cup helped them and the whole team.

And what about Tiger, how does he feel having watched it all on TV? Is he a jinx?

From a betting point of view it was by far my best Ryder Cup and I'll probably never get both the top Euro and USA player's market right in the same year again. I'll remember the hideously inaccurate and increasingly violent high fives, the ridiculous Faldo bashing and the incredibly high standard of play.

But the most important thing for me is that I'll be able to say I witnessed the very first time that the Ryder Cup was won by the good old Boo-S-A.

Back to normal this week and I'll be previewing two great events on Wednesday, the British Open and the Tour Championship.

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