Fairway to heaven
Golfer Ian Woosnam on the forthcoming Ryder Cup
FAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
GOLFING ‘GIANT’ IAN WOOSNAM PREPARES FOR HIS GREATEST HONOUR YET: CAPTAINCY OF THE EUROPEAN TEAM AT THE RYDER CUP
words: robert philip
ALTHOUGH HE IS small enough at 5’4” to clamber up on the snooker table of his Jersey palace to practise his putting, Ian Woosnam is a golfi ng giant. He won the US Masters and became world No.1 by virtue of a preposterously simple philosophy: whack it, go fi nd it, whack it again, go fi nd it again…
Now comes what Woosie – as his popular nickname goes – describes as “the ultimate recognition”: captaincy of the European team bidding to win the Ryder Cup for the third successive time against the United States at the K Club, Straffen, County Kildare from 22-24 September.
“I’ve played in eight Ryder Cups [winning four, tying one] so I’ve served my apprenticeship,” he says with his trademark cheeky-chappie grin.
It was Martina Navratilova’s belief that you are either committed to your sport, or merely involved. “And therein lies a world of difference,” she explained. “Think of ham and eggs. The chicken is involved, the pig is committed.” In the nicest possible way, when it comes to the Ryder Cup, Woosie is a committed little swine.
“Nothing in golf compares with standing on the fi rst tee on the opening day. You feel like throwing up. I always had a swift look around to check the whereabouts of the nearest bush. Well, you don’t want to be sick all over your opponents’ shoes, do you? Playing in the Masters is easy by comparison because the only person you can let down is yourself. Screw it up in the Ryder Cup and you let down yourself, 11 team-mates, the nation and the whole fl ippin’ continent.”
Such is the devastation that this biennial trans-Atlantic skirmish wreaked on his nerve-ends, Woosnam can remember every contest, every match, every shot. Let us rewind to his debut in 1983 at the PGA National Club, Palm Beach Gardens, where he was partnered by Sam Torrance against Ben Crenshaw and Calvin Peete. “I was only 23, my stomach was churning, my legs were wobbling and I was shivering with nerves. Sam said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll look after you. I’ll take care of the fi rst few holes till you settle down’. So what happens? Crenshaw and Peete drive off safely down the middle and Sam shanks it straight out of bounds.
“I’m in an even worse state now, so I get out my trusty old No.1 iron, manage to get ball on fairway, hit an eight iron to about seven feet and by some miracle hole the putt for a half. At the second, Sam drives straight into the water. After that he had seven birdies and we halved our match. Sam’s a smashing bloke to be around so it’s a lovely memory of my fi rst Ryder Cup. We lost the trophy by a single point at the end, but that was enough to convince us we could actually win the thing.”
At the Belfry two years later, the Americans were fi nally conquered for the fi rst time since 1957, with Woosnam and his new sidekick, Paul Way, to the fore in the fourballs, twice beating Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Green. To Torrance went the honour of holing the climactic putt, sparking the party of parties. Woosie and chums danced on the clubhouse balcony and sprayed the skies with champagne while Concorde fl ew past, dipping its wings in salute. “There were quite a few party animals among us – myself, Sam, Jesse (Mark James), Howard Clark – and maybe a half-dozen who wanted to go to bed,” recalls Woosnam. “No chance; we had the music on full all night, the one song over and over – Simply The Best.”
But better yet was to come in ‘87, when Europe triumphed at Muirfield Village to record their fi rst ever victory on American turf, aided by Woosie playing “the best golf of my career – really fantastic”. He joined forces with Nick Faldo to devastating effect, winning three and a half points out of four. “Not that we started well. After nine holes of the first morning’s foursomes we were four down to Lanny Wadkins and Larry Mize.”
Faldo and Woosnam recovered to win on the last green before returning to the course to defeat the top American pairing, Curtis Strange and Tom Kite, in what Jack Nicklaus still describes as the most remarkable exhibition of golf in Ryder Cup history. “We beat them fi ve and four with Nick and me at 10-under-par after 14 holes. I reckon ‘87 was the best feeling of all. To beat them in America under their conditions, on one of the toughest championship courses in the world, was fantastic. I’ll never forget the tension. No matter how often you play in the Ryder Cup, at the end of the three days you are absolutely drained. No kidding, it takes a month out of your life.”
A third successive conquest – albeit by virtue of a 14-14 tie, which allowed Europe to retain possession of the trophy – followed at The Belfry in ‘89 when, after three further victories, Faldo and Woosnam’s seven-match winning run came to an end in the Saturday afternoon fourballs against Chip Beck and Paul Azinger. “We were nine-under after 17 holes yet lost two and one. They were 11-under, which is a helluva score and there’s nothing you can do against that sort of thing.”
With Europe leading 9-7 going into the fi nal day’s singles, Woosnam was named as anchorman in the 12th and fi nal match against Strange. “I’d never won a singles – and never did as it happens – but I’m one up on the 15th when [Jose Maria] Canizares knocks in the putt which means we can’t be beaten. Strange goes to shake my hand and concede but I persuade him to complete the round. So what happens? He birdies 16 and we’re level, he birdies 17 and I’m one down. Then he birdies 18 so I’ve lost by two holes.”
Europe relinquished their hold on the cup at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, in 1991, the year Corey Pavin wore a Desert Storm army cap and American captain Dave Stockton ‘declared war’. Bernhard Langer missed a short putt on the 18th green, which would have given him victory over Hale Irwin in the last singles, allowing the US to squeeze home by a single point. “I think Stockton was completely out of order. He went out to win and he didn’t care how he did it. When the British lost in the 40s, 50s and 60s they did it with grace; when the Americans began losing they didn’t like it and Stockton got the crowds too aggressively wound up. It almost turned into a riot. It wasn’t golf and it wasn’t a fair match either.
“When the Americans hit it into the trees or deep rough, their balls would mysteriously reappear on the fairway. I didn’t enjoy that week at all.”
As you would expect, Woosie reacted to the defeat the only way he knows how. “We were all down, some of the lads were in tears. So I grabbed a few of the team – I remember Sam and Jesse came with me – and we walked over to the big beer tent where all the European fans had gathered and sank a few beers and sang a few songs with them.”
Europe failed again in 1993 but the Ryder Cup recovered its dignity, due in no small part to the infl uence of the new captains, Bernard Gallacher and Tom Watson. “I hadn’t been playing particularly well going into it,” explains Woosnam, “but I ended up with four and a half points. Europe lost, but because of the spirit in which every match was played, golf was the real winner.”
And so to Oak Hill, New York, in 1995, when Europe appeared doomed to defeat after Pavin chipped in on the Saturday afternoon against Faldo and Colin Montgomerie, a stroke one American TV commentator called, “the shot heard round the world”, to leave the US 9-7 in front and needing a mere fi ve points from the forthcoming 12 singles to avoid defeat.
“The atmosphere at the start of that Saturday night was all doom and gloom. Then Bernie [Gallacher] went to work on us. By the time we’d fi nished dinner, we were certain we could come from behind and win.”
Amid scenes of heart-stopping tension and tumultuous celebrations on the 18th green, where the Duke of York led the uninhibited jubilation, Woosnam (who, just as he had done in 1991, gained a half with Fred Couples), Faldo, Dave Gilford and Philip Walton all performed heroics in quick succession to convert seemingly-inevitable defeat into implausible triumph.
Woosie’s last appearance as a player was at Valderrama, in 1997, where Europe edged home on another fi nal afternoon of roller-coaster emotions. Thumped eight and seven by Fred Couples in the singles, the Welshman recalls: “That might seem like a low-key exit but the result was what mattered. And, oh boy, did we have some fun that night.”
The Ryder Cup may have become one of the most important events on the sporting calendar but in the European locker-room, Ian Woosnam, the tiny skipper with the big heart and even bigger smile, is sure to bring that same sense of fun to proceedings.
Robert Philip writes for the Daily Telegraph
