The Redemption of Nick Faldo and the Ryder Cup

It was make or break time for Nick Faldo at Valhalla over the last three days. Come to that, it was make or break time for the competition itself, in many ways. For golf betting fans, repetitive wins by the Europeans had taken the excitement out of a contest previously noted for its nail-biting close finishes. Further decline was signalled by the word going around that the Americans were beginning to see the Ryder Cup competition as an irrelevance; a distraction from the more important imperative of making lots of money on the Tour. A case of sour grapes, it would seem.

Ryder Cup gets Tribal

Well, the competition has redeemed itself big time. It was back to the good old days of tight finishes and a critical third day which, at one point looked like going to the wire. Slightly depressing shouts of the football chant ‘Ole, Ole, Ole’ from the English spectators were drowned out by the more numerous American shouts of USA USA USA. Boos were worryingly heard until it became clear they were in homage to Boo Weekly, the new hillbilly golfing hero from the Everglades. A vital edge of tribal conflict has returned to this cherished tournament and we can now look forward to rewarding encounters to come.

What was Faldo’s Final Scorecard?

And what of Faldo? Watching the Europeans fade last night, one sensed the tabloid scribes out there licking their lips and sharpening their pencils to a very sharp point. Now was the time for revenge after all those press conferences enduring the charmless sneers and deeply personal humour of the golfing great. Time to put the boot in. But no, glancing over the back pages this morning there’s little in the way of criticism of the European captain, let alone crushing condemnation. Rightly so, in my view. His wild card choice of Ian Poulter won three points and turned out to be the man of the match on our team. Paul Casey battled to the end in the singles and won a half. If Faldo made a mistake it was to put the out-of-sorts Sergio Garcia up for the first singles match when we needed to close the points gap early on. All in all Faldo went for it and, despite losing the match, went up a notch in the eyes of those who have had their doubts over the years.