Former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie thinks that this year’s Ryder Cup team is shaping up to be the best that Europe has ever fielded.
“This could be the strongest ever team,” he commented recently. “And it’s got to be to beat the might of America come September.”
His comments came after victories for Tommy Fleetwood in Abu Dhabi, Sergio Garcia in Singapore and Jon Rahm in America.
Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn can also count on Paul Casey, who has now qualifies once again having rejoined the European Tour, and Rory McIlroy, who is returning to form after a year beset by injury.
The 42nd Ryder Cup is being played in continental Europe for only the second time, taking place on September 28-30 on the Albatros Course at Le Golf National in Paris. And while the USA have not won away since 1993, losing the last five matches, Europe will still need a strong team to regain the trophy they lost so comprehensively in Hazeltine, 17-11.
The trouble is, as McIlroy’s poor 2017 season proved, injuries could quickly turn that winning team into a second choice patchwork. Just ask England Rugby coach Eddie Jones, who is facing an injury list of no less than 14 major players from the team originally ranked the Six Nations favourites.
Of course, golf is not as physical, or as rough, as contact sports like rugby, but players can still get injured in the strangest of circumstances. Padraig Harrington almost had his career ended by a freak injury. Sliced open by a wild swing from an amateur player he was teaching, Harrington thought his golfing days were numbered. Fortunately, he was only laid up for 12 days while the stitches did their work, but if those 12 days were to fall at the end of September, even this short hiatus would leave the Ryder Cup team short of a key player.
The Americans have not been without injury themselves, with Tiger Woods only just returning from a prolonged break with a back injury. And who could forget world number one Dustin Johnson pulling out on the first tee of the Masters last year after he fell down the stairs in the luxury home he had rented for the tournament. And let’s not even get started on Greg Norman’s antics with chain saws, or the Segway shenanigans of Brant Snedeker and Jesper Parnevik, both of whom had to withdraw from a tournament as a result.
The bottom line is that as quickly as new, promising players like Fleetwood and Rahm appear, they can disappear through something as simple as missing a step on the way down to breakfast. Fortunately, Montgomerie also sees strength in depth on the European Tour. “As well as the guys who have come form nowhere on to the world stage, there are a number of guys who are right behind that level,” he explained. “European Golf is in a very, very strong place.”
Let’s just hope that they leave the chainsaws and Segways in the garage, and hold on tight to the bannister as they come down stairs.