Andy North was on the American Ryder Cup team in 1985 when the rivalry with the Europeans was just heating up.
So, it will not be easy for the ESPN analyst to separate himself from the action as the two sides tee it up again this weekend.
“You try to make sure it’s the U.S. team and the Europe team, not us and them,” North said. “But all of us that have played on a Ryder Cup, we all understand how much it means to the players. … For people to talk about, ‘well, their side cares more than our side’ it’s absolutely crazy. Our guys are dying out there for each other. That’s the beauty of this. It’s competition at it’s best.”
Recently that competition has been skewed toward the Europeans who have won four of the past five biennial showdowns and six of the past eight. After the Americans were dominated in 2004 and 2006, they won at Valhalla in 2008 and narrowly lost at Celtic Manor in 2010.
“To say one team has more talent is unfair. The matches have been pretty close,” North said. “In Wales it came down to a guy [Graeme McDowell] making a 15-footer on the next to last hole of the last match.
“They’ve been very, very competitive. It comes down to a putt here or a good break there that all of a sudden changes a match that changes the whole event. If you look at the world rankings of both teams they are about equal. It really is an even match this time. From an America standpoint, you are hoping being on American soil [Medinah Country Club, in suburban Chicago] has a little bit of an impact and that could be the difference between winning and losing the whole thing.”
Just don’t anticipate that big moment to be in the hands of a big name. For all the attention and hype Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will bring to the event — added to by Greg Norman suggesting Woods is “intimidated” by McIlroy — it usually comes down to a player you don’t expect.
“Ian Poulter has had a couple of great Ryder Cups and that’s really helped the Euros,” North said. “I think [Peter] Hanson or [Nicolas] Colsaerts, the only rookie on their team, a lot will go on how those players do.
“I think a couple of guys that are important to the Americans are [Brandt] Snedeker, Dustin Johnson and the first-time guys — [Keegan] Bradley and [Webb] Simpson — will be huge. So often it’s one of the rookies or new guys that has a great Ryder Cup and has a huge impact.”
That’s because the Ryder Cup is a different beast than the majors that these guys are accustomed to competing in.
“If you are out there losing a hole at the end of your match and there’s six of your teammates following you around, that’s pressure,” North said. “Because you are trying so hard to do it for everyone else, and sometimes when you’re doing that you don’t focus on what you need to do.
“When you’re playing for yourself you go through the whole process and you live with the consequences. When those consequences effect 11 other players, that’s a whole lot more.”