Ryder Cup

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Fore!

Until 1975, when work began to construct a golf course in England that would prepare European players for the U.S. tour, the undeveloped land about a 20-minute drive outside industrial Birmingham was a potato patch.

Now, it is The Belfry, a long course with a lot of water and sand. The Europeans might have more of an advantage on one of their traditional links courses, where the gales and gorse often frustrate Americans. But after a victory in 1985 and a tie in ’89 at The Belfry, the Europeans decided to return once more before moving to Spain in 1997.

Now There’s a Water Hazard with Teeth

There are not bats at The Belfry, but the course’s management wondered if it could make the Americans feel more at home by importing alligators for the lake in front of the 18th green. The management couldn’t help but notice that alligators were among those with fairway homes at Kiawah Island, S.C., the site of the ’91 Ryder Cup. Local zoologists, however, advised that the gators wouldn’t last 12 hours because the water would be too cold.

Lake Parbegone

Even without the alligators, the par-five, 474-yard 18th gives the Americans weak knees. The Europeans tied in 1985 at The Belfry, retaining the Cup, when three Americans on the final day sent their tee-shots on 18 into the lake.

You might think that non-playing captain Ray Floyd would have schooled them about avoiding the water, but what could he say? Four years earlier, when the Americans lost for the first time in 28 years, Floyd dropped his match on the final day because his tee-shot at 18 met the lake.

Elementary, Tom

If the captain is non-playing, what does he do? Seeking an answer to that question is the current man in that role for the United States, Tom Watson. One person he asked was former captain Jack Nicklaus.

“He said you’ve got to have a cart full of Band-Aids, fruit, Rolaids, water, extra shirts, underwear and all sorts of things that players might need at a moment’s notice.”

But Don’t Call Him “My Dear Watson.”

Watson has been more diplomatic than Warren Christopher, predicting a close match. “It’s a pick-em,” he says. “No question about it.”

But Europe’s non-playing captain, 44-year-old Scotsman Bernard Gallacher, isn’t fooled by his counterpart’s graciousness. “Underneath all the Mr. Nice Guy image, there is a very tough American who will be desperate to win,” he says.

He discovered that in the 1983 Ryder Cup at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Matched against each other in the decisive final pairing on the last day, Watson won, 2 and 1, to give the United States a one-point victory.

How does Gallacher see this one?

“We should have nothing to fear,” he says.

Seed Money

U.S. and British golfers met in team competition as early as 1921, but the first official Ryder Cup was in 1927 at Worcester, Mass. It was named for Samuel Ryder, an Englishmen who earned his fortune selling penny packets of seeds to gardeners. A golf enthusiast since learning to play at age 50, he donated the small gold cup, which was worth about $375 at the time.

Thanks, Jack. Have Any Ideas for Saddam?

The two sides split the first four competitions, but British golf was devastated by World War II. Even after the Republic of Ireland joined the cause in 1973, the Americans continued to dominate.

But, in 1977, Nicklaus insisted in a letter to the British PGA that it was “vital to widen the selection procedures if the Ryder Cup is to continue to enjoy its past prestige.”

As a result, players from other Western European countries joined the Brits and the Irish in 1979. In 1985, the Americans were beaten for the first time since 1957. Two years later, they were beaten for the first time on home soil. That was at Muirfield Village in Ohio, Nicklaus’ home course. Guess who was the United States’ non-playing captain.

At Least His Teammates Didn’t Feed Him to the Gators.

In order to take the Cup back home with them in 1991, the Europeans needed a victory in the final singles match on the last day by Bernhard Langer over Hale Irwin. After finishing the first 17 holes even, Langer was in position to give it to them when he stood over a 6-foot putt for par on the 18th green.

Considered one of the most pressure-filled strokes in golf’s history, Langer’s putt was true. But the path lied. The ball wiggled over a spike mark and stopped just left of the hole.

“I was very upset about that putt for a few days,” Langer says. “But it hasn’t haunted me. You live in the future, not in the past.

“I wouldn’t mind having that chance again. It might be difficult to block out the putt I missed in ’91. I am sure I would still be nervous. But I would relish it.”

So That’s Why They Call Him Chip

While Langer is seeking redemption at The Belfry, the player with the most to prove for the United States might be Chip Beck. His play during the final round of this year’s Masters has become the latest symbol for the satisfaction U.S. tour players seem to find in finishing second.

Trailing by three shots entering the par-five 15th, Beck needed an eagle to put himself in position to win down the stretch. But instead of going for the green with his second shot, he chose to lay up in front of the water and chip. He settled for par, all but holding the green jacket for the leader, Langer, to slip into.

“If I were in his shoes, yes, most certainly I would have gone for it,” said Langer, who won by four shots. “I was surprised he laid up. But I don’t mind so much.”

Hogan and Hagen Weren’t Available

When Gallacher made his three wild-card choices for the European team, some critics had the gumption to ask him why he used two of them for a couple of Spaniards who haven’t played all that well this year.

Just check their Ryder Cup records, Gallacher said of Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabol. Since they first teamed together in 1987, they have lost only one of 12 four-ball and foursome matches.

Asked if he resents Gallacher’s suggestion that the team of Ballesteros and Olazabol intimidates the Americans, Watson says, “They (ital) are (end ital) intimidating.”

He doesn’t have to tell Seve, who says: “We expect to win, the people expect us to win, and the Americans, they expect to lose.”

Rocca Road

The first Italian to earn a place in the Ryder Cup, Constantino Rocca, 36, turned professional 11 years ago after working for $15 a week in a box factory in his hometown of Bergamo. He and his friends learned to play golf at a local country club. But, because they weren’t members, they had to sneak on after dark to get in their nightly 18 holes.

“We used a torch to spot the ball on the tee,” he says. “We’d listen hard to where the ball went and searched until we found it. If we thought it hit the trees, we’d use another ball.”

Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

Gallacher didn’t appreciate the “War by the Shore” mentality that the Americans brought to the 1991 Ryder Cup in South Carolina. It wasn’t just that the U.S. players wore Desert Storm camouflage caps before the competition, but the spectators were more demonstrative than he felt appropriate.

“It was like that World Wrestling Federation stuff on television, where you have bad guys and good guys,” he says. “We were the bad guys.”

But U.S. players recall needing machetes to loosen their balls from the rough after fans at The Belfry stepped on them. Talk about trampling on the etiquette of the game.

The Teams

Each team has 12 players and a nonplaying captain. The top nine Europeans and top 10 Americans qualified for the team by accumulating points since the beginning of 1992. The European captain Bernard Gallacher selected three additional players: the U.S. captain, Tom Watson, selected two.

U.S. Team

Number of Record in Cup Team times on Cup matches Standings Age team (Won-Lost-halved) Paul Azinger 33 3 5-4-0 Fred Couples 33 3 3-3-1 Tom Kite 43 7 13-7-4 Lee Janzen 29 1 1st appearance Corey Pavin 33 2 1-2-0 Payne Stewart 36 4 5-6-1 John Cook 35 1 1st appearance Davis Love III 29 1 1st appearance Chip Beck 37 3 4-2-1 Jim Gallagher Jr. 32 1 1st appearance Raymond Floyd 51 8 9-15-3 Lanny Wadkins 43 8 18-10-2 Captain: Tom Watson 44

European Team

Number of Record in Cup Team times on Cup matches Standings Age team (Won-Lost-halved) Nick Faldo 36 9 17-12-2 Colin Montgomerie 30 2 1-1-1 Bernhard Langer 36 7 11-9-5 Barry Lane 33 1 1st appearance Mark James 39 6 7-11-1 Sam Torrance 40 7 4-12-3 Costantino Rocca 36 1 1st appearance Peter Baker 25 1 1st appearance Jose Maria Olazabal 27 4 10-3-2 Ian Woosnam 35 6 8-10-3 Joakim Haeggman 24 8 1st appearance Seve Ballesteros 36 8 17-8-5 Captain: Bernard Gallacher 44