Golf is a cruel sport. Or so Brandt Snedeker was entitled to feel on the final day at The Open Championship last July when the bunkers at Royal Lytham St. Anne’s took their toll on his final day round, after a 73 secured him a share of third place with Tiger Woods. Leaving them both three strokes behind the hapless runner-up, Australian Adam Scott, who was just about to put his second hand on the Claret Jug when a green side bunker on the eighteenth all but ended his chance of adding a major to his trophy cabinet. That twist of fate benefiting the 2002 Open Champion, Ernie Els, who with a steady of 68 applied just enough pressure on Scott to make a difference – in the end.
For Snedeker though the feeling was different given his return form a series of injuries and operations that might have stopped mere mortals in their tracks, who with a carefree ease that is nothing, if not contagious, attracted many admirers on the Lancashire coast. The manner in which the Nashville native assumed the plaudits on the opening day following his opening round 66, was compelled further when a second round 64 saw him match Sir Nick Faldo’s 20-year-old record for a 36-hole Open score of 130. All of which left Snedeker pretty much unfazed as he headed into Saturday’s round playing alongside Adam Scott. Even if unable to equal the antipodean’s 68 in the end – shooting a round of 73.
On the final day Brandt partnered Tiger Woods with both just watching the final pairing of Graeme McDowell and Scott for any slip up that might enable a leaderboard change. And despite some magic golf from Woods and impressive up and downs from Snedeker the door was only opened on the last green, all too late for either American to equal any other Faldo record at Royal Lytham. Which for Snedeker might have seemed like a body blow given his half-way score, but it did not visibly affect him with is infectious enthusiasm earning him premature well wishers for 2013 Open at Muirfield. This week at East Lakes in Georgia the golfing God’s rewarded Mister Brandt Who with a ten million dollar pay day.
What’s more Team USA Ryder Cup captain, Davis Love III, picked him as a wild card for the clash this week at Medinah Country Club, an inspired choice it seems now.
It came though on the wake of much muttering from the chattering classes – and may yet prove a lethal weapon and someone who is so innately competitive yet very understated and a sure bet to hold his singles match come Sunday. Against whomever Jose Maria Olazabal puts out on the day, and with the event held in the in the USA, nobody will really want to draw him. A contrast to Jim Furyk perhaps in 2010 who arrived ten million dollars richer to the Welsh Valleys but unusually burdened with jet lag and greeted by very wet rain. Not to mention faulty designer waterproofs that failed the most basic of tests - being impervious. On home sole the FedEx Cup winner will prove an asset and perhaps the one pick that no European might fancy on Sunday further down the batting order. Although given Graeme McDowell’s epic against Hunter Mahan, never say never.
When Darren Clarke won The Open at Royal St George in 2011 those same golfing God’s rewarded one of their own, who through sheer service and perseverance, had more than earned the chances to receive the accolades of his peers. In the same way that at the K Club in 2006, only weeks after the death of his beloved wife Heather, Clarke was as good as the deciding point on the 16th hole to see off the American challenge in the one Ryder Cup hosted in Ireland. That day on the banks of the River Liffey the Northern Ireland prodigy savoured a moment that comes to few in the game of golf, and the confluence of events that is still recorded in many memorable photos six years on.
A reminder to all that for all those moments in the game when the putts just don’t drop there are those special moments to compensate the balance. Even at the dizzy heights of the professional game.
Those moments were on display again with latest Northern Ireland prodigy who made his comeback to the world stage at The Congressional - winning the US Open - within months of a most public golfing collapse at The Masters in Augusta National. All of which was erased when Rory McIlroy broke into a big smile and hugged his Father Gerry on the eighteenth green on the outskirts of Washington DC as US Open Champion. A feat which was repeated in his second major win at the 2012 PGA Championship this year at Kiawah Island – a place that few European golfers remember fondly as it was the venue for the “War on the Shore.
Or to give it the full official title, the 1991 Ryder Cup.
That such a place could throw up fond memories for European golfers – if not also Irish golfers – was a surprise in many ways as it was a Ryder Cup that has gone down poorly in the annals of the game. Perhaps over sensitised by the outbreak of the Gulf War and the effect the invasion was having on American minds and bodies. The Irish cause unusually was also just down to the one player, the imitable David Feherty, who set off with the captains picks of 2008 captain Sir Nick Faldo, 1999 Captain Mark James, and this year’s Ryder Cup captain, Jose Maria Olazabal.
But this summer Rory McIlroy banished the ghosts of Kiawah and did so with a majestic performance to secure his second major within the year of his last, with additional wins at the Deutsche Bank and BMW Championships. Leaving the Holywood born golfer in tip top shape to win the FedEx jackpot at East Lakes in Atlanta. But the golfing God’s again had their say and saw to it that Snedeker ended his season rewarded for his comeback all of ten million dollars richer.
No different for Sergio Garcia who also completed a return to the fold with a timely win that’s secured a place in the 2012 European Ryder Cup team and maintains that Spanish legacy so cherished so many decades ago by Severiano Ballesteros. That return from the golfing wilderness by Garcia allows the Spanish Armada to sail once towards North America take on all-comers in Chicago- with Captain Olazabal at the helm and commander Miguel Angel Jimenez at his side. Both ably supported by Ryder Cup veterans Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and the 1997 inspiration at Valderrama, Thomas Bjorn.
Under captain Seve the great Dane halved his match with the indomitable Justin Leonard on his Ryder Cup debut and played the challenging 17th hole at the Sotogrande course with an incomparable aggression that rattled the incumbent Open Champion . But then again that was what Severiano created every time he appeared in a Ryder Cup and has left a spirit which has been instilled in his regular partner of those great days, Chema Olazabal. Thankfully that tradition has been passed down through the generations as Jimenez well knows, given he was a Vice captain in 1997 - before every actually winning the t-shirt himself in the event.
The return of Garcia is therefore fitting and the work of the golfing God’s once again as the Spaniard won the Wyndham Champions in late August with such ease - the last qualifying tournament for Ryder Cup points. In doing so showed a nerve and competitive edge that had been tarnished for a couple of seasons and threatened to end Garcia’s ever presence on European teams since 1999. Albeit his appearances at The Celtic Manor in 2010 was as backroom staff, his presence and role was clearly felt in the valleys of Newport.
In Medinah his resurgence will no doubt be something the American team will fear and maybe the twist that those ever busy golfing Gods’ have in store for all of us, when the eventual victor of this great bi-annual tournament emerges. Given it is the first since Ballesteros premature death in 2011 there is something to suggest that Garcia will play a pivotal role.
The golfing God’s have a way with these things..
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