After all the pomp, all the ceremony, all the syrup, speeches, schmaltz and singing, finally we get to the swinging.
The 44th Ryder Cup will commence at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club on Friday morning, bringing an end to the preamble of fluff and guff and heralding a start to what matters — the actual sport. Glorious, wonderful sport.
For Zach Johnson, that cannot come a moment too soon, because it is hard to imagine a chap less fond of the glare and silliness of these occasions.
By 5.30pm local time on Thursday evening, so after he had endured the formalities of a stage-mounted address to a large audience, Johnson was shuffling around with his tie loosened and lopsided, his face flushed with fatigue. He carried the look of a groom staggering towards the end of a particularly stressful wedding.
He had done a reasonable enough job in the previous hour up on the stage. He had mostly said the right things, mostly thanked the right people, wobbled with emotion in mostly the right places and then he got away from the mic as fast as his legs would carry him.
The opening ceremony was held on Thursday – on Friday it will be time for the action to start
Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas crack a joke at the opening ceremony
Viktor Hovland (L) and Sepp Straka attend the ceremony in Rome on the eve of the event
It was fine, if we care for such business.
But Luke Donald was smoother, more assured. He had remembered to thank the caddies — the bridesmaids? — and Johnson had not.
He also spoke in Italian, which drew local approval, and Johnson had not done that either. The easy gag is that Europe are one up, but that would fit with the truism of a Ryder Cup week — everything before they hit the balls is bo****ks. What counts is what comes now, when the meaningful examinations begin.
It is truly a fascinating showdown, enlivened by a compelling set of match-ups for the opening foursomes and the broader context of US travel sickness — they have not won away since 1993 but they are marginal favourites against a European team in transition.
In response, Donald — never the most cavalier in an excellent playing career — has rolled the dice with his four pairings and the order of their deployment.
The first of those is utterly compelling, for Donald has gone with Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, two men who could burn down a rainforest with their tempers and language. If we are to evoke the film Gladiator, and to borrow from a superb headline this week, Donald has made a call to ‘Unleash f****** hell’.
No environment rewards passion quite like the Ryder Cup, but of course that can go either way.
After all the pomp, all the ceremony, all the syrup, speeches, schmaltz and singing, finally we get to the swinging
Team USA captain Zach Johnson carried the look of a groom staggering towards the end of a particularly stressful wedding after he addressed the large audience on Thursday evening
Luke Donald, captain of Team Europe, was smoother and more assured in his stage-mounted address, having remembered to thank the caddies – something which Johnson had failed to do
Will they thrive or fall when they step on to that first tee, surrounded by a towering and spectacular ‘Coliseum’ stand that will rock with 4,000 screaming fans?
A tough question to answer, and tougher still when you consider who Johnson has sent out to get red on the board early: Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1, and his closest friend on the team, Sam Burns, the winner of the WGC Match Play in March.
No one strikes a ball like Scheffler; no one among the game’s elite has blown so many putts, either, which will possibly favour Europe if Hatton and Rahm gel.
They have played together only once before — a half point against Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau two years ago — but Rahm is an all-round magician, the Masters champion, and Hatton is a very fine iron player and putter.
In this alternate-shot format, there is technical logic to go with the tub-thumping.
Donald said: ‘I think Jon feeds off a playing partner with similar kind of fire and passion — he wants to feel like he’s out there with a team-mate that’s really engaged with him. Tyrrell really fits that bill.’
Donald’s second gamble is also his most exciting — he has gone with the kid. At 23, Ludvig Aberg is a phenomenon. Amid all the hype, it is worth remembering less than four months have passed since he was an amateur, but here he is, alongside the world No 4, Viktor Hovland, and taking on Max Homa and the Open champion Brian Harman.
The latter, the ‘Butcher of Hoylake’, is possibly the best putter in the field, but Hovland’s game, supplemented by his vastly improved play around the greens this year, is arguably the most complete of the 24 in Rome.
With the right mix of risk and reward, holes 9, 13 and 16 will have a big impact on the Ryder Cup
It is a great duel and Aberg’s presence is a key component — he has a tee-to-green game that is perfect for these pinched fairways.
Europe might be considered slight favourites for each of those two opening matches, but Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa — the former a picture of resurgence, the latter a two-time major winner with laser accuracy from the fairway — would seem to have a theoretical edge on Shane Lowry and the rookie, Sepp Straka.
Lowry’s form has at least picked up following the difficulties of this year and Straka is excellent off the tee, but that is a tough draw. The point they contest could well swing the session. Of course, most eyeballs might be on the group behind, because that brings with it the question of Rory McIlroy.
He cried at Whistling Straits after bombing with one point from four, but he has been a ball of intense energy this week. He goes out with Tommy Fleetwood, the ‘flusher’ as Donald calls him, and they are an extremely good fit.
But they face the understated monsters of the US — Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. If the road to success in the Cup is built on proven pairings, then there are few opponents more intimidating — they won both their foursomes matches at Whistling Straits, including the hiding given to McIlroy and Ian Poulter.
It would be a brave soul who bets against them, but it would also be an immense statement if McIlroy and Fleetwood take them down.
Looking forward to the weekend, Rory McIlroy said Team Europe are feeling as ready as ever
McIlroy said: ‘I feel like this is as excited and as ready a group as I’ve been a part of.
‘We know the task at hand. It’s a really strong American team, and they have a lot of really tough partnerships. We’re going up against one of them tomorrow in Xander and Patrick.’
After all the pageantry and filler of the past week, it is the sort of clash on which the Cup has built its reputation.
The sort that might make all those public speaking engagements worthwhile for Johnson. The sort Donald might well need to win if Europe are to avoid being reduced to ruins in Rome.
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