– Niklas Norgaard is the only player from Continental Europe who clearly won his singles match in the Team Cup this Sunday. He defeated Matthew Jordan by 3 and 2. The Dane assured shortly after shaking hands with the Englishman that he went out to play with sky-high motivation. “If they told me I had to go through a concrete wall, I would have done it.” And we can attest that the guy has the physique for that and more.
What happened between the last foursomes match on Saturday and his tee-off on Sunday? What occurred in that blue locker room to lift the team’s spirits in such a way with a score of 11-4 on the board? The answer lies in José María Olazábal and Severiano Ballesteros. Of course. The true spirit of the Ryder Cup.
Olazábal, seeing the boys downcast, as could only be expected given the harshness of the score, told them: “you have two options in the singles, go out to play and see what happens or fight for every point and every shot as Seve would.” The message itself is powerful, but José Mari went a bit further and told them two examples of how far Ballesteros took the fighting spirit. Both occurred in the 1987 Ryder Cup at Muirfield Village, Ohio.
The first was in a foursomes duel of Seve and Olazábal against Larry Nelson and Payne Stewart. Not just any duel. It was Olazábal’s first point in his entire Ryder Cup career, on Friday morning. Fourth match. Chema narrates the story: “It was the 9th hole, a par 4 that doglegs slightly to the right with water right in front of the green. Seve tees off and ends up on the right, among trees, bad spot. Larry hits next and places it in the middle of the fairway. When I get to the ball, the good news is that it’s very well positioned. With so many trees, the grass barely grew, and the lie was perfect. The bad news is that there was no gap between the trees to hit the green. The only thing I saw was a tiny hole through which I could aim, but to reach the green, I had to hit a crazy slice with the 4-iron. I tell Seve, and he says: José Mari, don’t worry, just get the ball back to the fairway and leave it about 90 meters, nothing more. Perfect, I reply. I do exactly that and place it roughly there. When I get to the ball, Seve had already done all the calculations for his third shot. Perfect, Jose Mari, he tells me, I have 91 meters. Just what I wanted. We were ahead of the Americans on the fairway, with our backs to them, both looking at the green very closely, elbow to elbow next to our ball. Then Seve nudges me and says: José Mari, we’re going to win this hole. I was amazed. But they’re going to hit their second to the green with a 9-iron, and we’re hitting the third… Nothing, you’ll see, he tells me again. Payne Stewart hits the 9-iron, the ball goes perfectly in line with the flag, but it starts to open a bit, bounces on the green, slightly short and to the right, catches the slope, and begins to roll back slowly until it falls into the water. Seve nudges me again, this time harder, and says: what did I tell you. Then he hits a spectacular shot. Leaves it a meter away, and I sink the putt to win the hole.”
The second example of Seve’s fighting spirit happened that same day, in the afternoon fourballs. They went out to play against Curtis Strange and Tom Kite. It was the 1st hole. Right at the start. Olazábal had left himself a one-meter putt for par, and Seve was off the green for birdie. Moreover, Strange had a makeable birdie putt. Then, Seve, who was far from the hole, with his arms akimbo from off the green, asked Olazábal to finish the hole so he could chip with more confidence for birdie, having secured the par. José Mari was about to putt, but Strange told him he couldn’t. He explained that his ball was on the same line and that according to the rules that week, those balls had to be marked and couldn’t be finished. Seve, focused on his chip, didn’t understand what was happening, he just saw that Olazábal wasn’t putting and, a bit impatient, shouted with his arms akimbo: but what’s going on, why aren’t you finishing the hole… He explained what was happening, and Seve asked Strange: is it really on your line? Curtis said yes, and Seve replied ok, no problem, don’t putt, it’s not an issue. He chipped it in, and Strange missed. They won the hole.
As if not to go through a wall.
– Speaking of Seve, yes, always Seve. Of course. The Cantabrian appeared again in the penultimate match of the day. 18th hole. Francesco Molinari and Jordan Smith were tied. The Italian missed his tee shot far to the left, into the sand, among trees, terrible. Meanwhile, the Englishman placed it on the fairway and long. He hit his second shot on this par 5 and put it on the green. Absolute advantage. Molinari already knew he had to make a 4 to halve the hole. On his way to the ball, before the second shot, he met Olazábal and said: “I’m going to have to channel Seve to save this hole.” And something like that happened. He hit the wood under the trees and ended up in the left bunker of the 9th hole. He had a shot of about 50 meters with the flag short of the green. His third shot was incredible, leaving it just over two meters away, and he made the putt for birdie. Definitely, a very Seve-like hole.
– Paul Waring hasn’t had much prominence this week. He really never does. He’s not one of those expressive players who demand attention. However, what he has done in the Team Cup is worth highlighting. He played four points and won three and a half. And how he won: 4 and 3 in the singles against Neergaard Petersen, 6 and 4 in the foursome with Canter against Rozner and Manassero, and 5 and 3 in the foursome with Jordan Smith against the same opponents. He only halved the fourballs with Smith against Nordgaard and Olesen, achieving a birdie on the 15th to halve the match. The golf world wondered if Waring would be able to step up to the next level after winning a tournament of the calibre of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. In the Team Cup, he certainly showed that he is on his way.
– The great absence from this Team Cup, beyond Nicolai Hojgaard, was Thomas Bjorn. It’s not that the Dane has stopped counting for the Ryder Cup, far from it. In fact, he was a sure presence this week as an assistant, but he fell ill days before travelling to Abu Dhabi and was dropped from the lineup. We’ll see him at Bethpage for sure.
