MEDINAH, Ill. — Golf Channel will premiere a 60-minute documentary titled “War By The Shore” tonight, chronicling the epic 1991 Ryder Cup showdown between the United States and Europe at Kiawah Island.
It was there on the Ocean Course where the biennial event went from a golf exhibition to an international sporting duel complete with tension, hostility and gamesmanship. The United States won 14½ to 13 ½ when Bernhard Langer of Germany missed a 6-foot putt on the final hole. But what lingered was the contentiousness displayed between the two teams throughout the matches.
“People who didn’t know a golf ball from a baseball were suddenly riveted by this competition,” said Ross Greenburg, who produced the film. “That’s when it became obvious these players were playing for the love of their country or their region and not just themselves. That’s when the pressure started to jump through the television screens.”
The gamesmanship and bitter feelings between the teams extended beyond 1999 at Brookline in Boston where the American players and wives trampled over the putting line of Jose Maria Olazabal after Justin Leonard made a long putt for a birdie, highlighting a memorable U.S. come-from-behind win.
But as the teams arrived here yesterday for the 39th Ryder Cup Matches that begin at Medinah Country Club on Friday, the one-time nastiness and cold war has been replaced by a healthy respect for competition among friends.
“It’s going to be competitive,” U.S. captain Davis Love III said. “But it’s also organized and cordial and respectful and that’s the way it ought to be.”
Things have changed since the War at the Shore. Now many of the top European players like Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter have homes in the United States and play on the PGA Tour. There’s a familiarity with American players and U.S. courses that didn’t exist in 1991.
“We’re playing against our friends,” Love said, “but it’s still as intense, maybe even more because we are more familiar with them.”
Also in previous years, the teams traveled together as a unit to the host site. Yesterday only three Europeans — Nicolas Colsaerts, Francesco Molinari, and Paul Lawrie — were on the “team” airplane. The U.S. team is also arriving in fragments: Webb Simpson, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Bubba Watson were at the movies yesterday with assistant captain Fred Couples, while Steve Stricker, Keegan Bradley, Jim Furyk and Dustin Johnson were chipping and putting at Medinah. Tiger Woods, Jason Dufner and newly crowned FedEx champion Brandt Snedeker were set to arrive today.
The closeness of the Europeans has always been perceived as an asset, something Olazabal doesn’t see changing. “They are all going to be there by the time I get to the hotel,” he said. “We are going to have a relaxing time and we’ll chat together and we will create that bond.”
What hasn’t changed is the pressure that still jumps through the television screen. Golf is predominantly an individual sport where finishing in the top 10 isn’t a bad thing. At the Ryder Cup, you win or lose; you’re playing for your teammates and you’re playing for your country. Two years ago, Hunter Mahan was in tears after flubbing a chip at the 17th hole at Celtic Manor that cost the United States a chance to regain the Cup in Wales. He cried through the closing ceremonies and throughout the post-match press conference.
“It’s very intense,” Love said. “It’s almost unfair to the players. But I think these guys love the challenge of that and to see how they can react under that kind of pressure.”
It’s the pressure, the gamesmanship of Seve Ballesteros and the strife between the two teams that made the Ryder Cup such a compelling event in 1991.
Two decades later, it might not be as contentious. But it should be just as compelling.