Quotes of the day
- 22 Sep 06, 08:07 PM
K CLUB 鈥 Seven of the eight games go to the last, all 12 of Europe鈥檚 players feature, all of them contribute at least a half and Monty holes a clutch putt on the 18th. What a day!
Sergio Garcia was at his sparkling best, Tiger Woods toiled and Darren Clarke delighted the home fans with an emotionally-charged display of skill and determination.
European captain Ian Woosnam could hardly contain himself he was so excited at the end, but he will know the Americans showed plenty of quality and heart themselves on this first day 鈥 there is plenty more meat on the bone of this Ryder Cup.
But if the Europeans shaded the matchplay honours on Friday, who won top chat award? Here are our quotes of the day:
鈥淚鈥檒l never forget the reception I was given on the 1st tee 鈥 Lee, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco giving me hugs too. It was very, very special moment, very touching.鈥
Darren Clarke, whose wife Heather died of cancer last month, on the incredible and heartfelt welcome he was given by the K Club galleries.
鈥淲hat time do I have to get up?鈥
Clarke tells a journalist, who was probably hoping for something a little more profound, what his last thoughts were before going to bed on Thursday.
Sergio Garcia: 鈥淚 hit a little nine iron to two feet.鈥
Luke Donald: 鈥淭hree feet.鈥
Garcia: 鈥淭wo and a half.鈥
Donald and Garcia, the European team鈥檚 answer to Morecambe and Wise, get their set off to a gentle start with some nice, knockabout banter.
鈥淭o those people who I say I鈥檓 not a good putter, I want to say that I had two putts in 18 holes this afternoon.鈥
Garcia reveals that alternate shot matchplay, with the accurate Donald as his partner, is the secret to solving his putting problems.
鈥淚鈥檒l take this one.鈥
Donald jumps in to answer a very long-winded, and Spanish, question from a Spanish journalist.
鈥淪orry, he was saying that I had been playing s**t and I was trying to explain that I had a decent summer.鈥
Garcia explains to Donald, and everybody else, what his own, equally long-winded, answer was about.
鈥淭he Americans are talking about how hard the greens are - try stopping it on a TV tower. So that was something.鈥
Robert Karlsson extracts the positives from his hilariously over-clubbed approach to the 7th.
鈥淚 gave one piece of advice but the guy ended up in the TV tower, so I decided to keep my mouth shut after that.鈥
Ian Woosnam explains his part in Karlsson鈥檚 hilariously over-clubbed approach to the 7th.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great apart from the fact that he makes me look very short.鈥
Paul Casey on the downside of partnering 6ft 5in Karlsson when you are 5ft 8in in thick-soled shoes and two pairs of socks.
鈥淭hat is, without doubt, the noisiest and best reception I鈥檝e ever had in all the years I鈥檝e been involved in the Ryder Cup. It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.鈥
Colin Montgomerie confirms the suspicions of everybody who heard the roars at the start of play on Friday 鈥 the K Club crowd is loud.
鈥淚 definitely had a little bit of mud on my ball a few times, but then I wasn鈥檛 in the fairway very much.鈥
Brett Wetterich gives his tuppenth on the pick and place debate.
鈥淚 practiced a little bit, cheered a little bit, ate a lot. So I鈥檓 ready to go.鈥
Zach Johnson gives an insight into the life of Ryder Cup bench-warmer.
鈥淎s they say in Monty Python, 鈥業 know nothing!鈥欌
Henrik Stenson gets his John Cleese classics confused but we love him for trying.
鈥淲hat? A 鈥榶ou show me yours, I鈥檒l show you mine鈥 kind of thing?鈥
Tom Lehman gets all playground with media boss Gordon Simpson over the issue of revealing his pairings for Saturday.
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颁辞尘尘别苍迟蝉听听 Post your comment
What is all the fuss about, paint drying is more entertaining than golf
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If the 大象传媒 hadn't spent so much on extra channels that few people watch and on overpaid presenters, there might have been some money available to bid for the TV rights so that licence payers can watch great sporting events like the Ryder Cup and the Ashes.
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Nick what is great about this competition is that we can see all the different cultures of Europe coming together and shows us that it can be done.
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No, paint drying is more interesting than baseball :-)
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Why not play all 12 players in every series!!That would sort out the best team/best captain and reward all 12 players who have fought so hard to make the team.
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The U.S. team is just taking a break waiting to get back to the USPGA. They are just going through the motions. No real pressure to win since there no big $$ at risk for them. Anyone who thinks the players are concerned about their pride is wrong. Europeans will win this one as well and be celebrated by local news media for the two years.
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No, paint drying is more interesting than you two - go to the knitting blog.
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"What is all the fuss about, paint drying is more entertaining than golf."
So what are you doing on a forum about golf then?
The Ryder Cup is fantastic ya big wowser.
Any sport is exciting if you're interested in it. You're obviously not interested in it, so what are you doing on this forum. Geez, talk about get a life.
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It such a shame that the Ryder Cup isn't included in the sporting events that have to be shown also on terrestrial TV. Having said that, however, the commentary on 5 live was excellent. The drama and tension was so intense, especially around the point where it seemed everyone apart from a very lucky Luke Donald seemed to be finding the water.
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How can you possibly say that Montgomerie's putt on the 18th saved the Europeans? I think I was watching the same round of golf, albeit on TV in Canada, and I would say that Montgomerie actually caused Westwood and him self to be in the position of needing that last putt by virtue of his mistakes all through the round.
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Is'nt baseball just rounders played by fat blokes in plus 4's?
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Surely you have something better to do than bemoan a hugely (6th by attendance if I'm not mistaken) popular sporting event just because you don't like it? There were some wayward shots yesterday but it was high drama all the way, and the crowd at the K club make it sound like a football ground at times. There are clearly a great many people who think there is 'a fuss' to be made, so kindly let us make one.
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Why is that people who find a sport boring go out of their way to find the comments board & post about it?
I loved the quotes today, I only wish we got some of those on TV here in Texas!
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Don't stand too close to that paint, Nick, it can get a bit intoxicating.
Everybody settled in for another great day of golf?
Anybody got any questions they'd like us to investigate? Ideally of a Ryder Cup or K Club nature.
First blood to Europe! Karlsson has just birdied the 2nd to get some blue on the scoreboard early doors.
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Hello Paul Stephens, who said Monty's putt "saved the Europeans"? Certainly not me. I said he holed a clutch putt (as he has done so many times before in Ryder Cups past). Plus ce change and all that.
Interesting idea, Lovett, Woosie was saying something similar on Thursday. I can see where you're coming from but I quite like the current format. It adds to the whole tactical/captaincy angle on the first two days. Who plays, who cheerleads. There are two more practical reasons for leaving things as they are. The first is fatigue. Playing five high-pressure rounds in three days ain't easy. Not sure the likes of Monty, Olly and Verplank would be that happy. And there is also the daylight issue. Four more games adds at least an hour's golf to the first two days. Could be a bit gloomy at the 18th for those late starters. And I can't see the US Tour allowing the Ryder Cup to move to the summer.
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Point taken Matt, but I recall at least one reference to a breakfast roll - Reports are brilliant - keep up the good work
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The Ryder Cup is fantastically entertaining, & has incredible continental patriotism.
I, for one, would now like to see the competition grow in line with it's popularity.
How about increasing the teams to 16 players a side, with say 6 fourballs/foursomes & 16 singles.
PS - Also, lets have the competion on terrestrial TV !!!
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I am very disappointed that the Ryder Cup is not shown on terrestrial television. Lets hope the 大象传媒 can show the next competition as it is such a great sproting spectacle. I have listened to it all on five live and must say the commentry is absolutely fantastic. Good Job, keep it up!!
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Ken, did you not read Matts post number 15 and all the daylight issues?
Personally i think the Ryder Cup is a great event. Why mess with the format when the competition is already so brilliant, all you risk doing is ruining it by changing the format for the sake of it.
We have in the Ryder Cup perfection, lets not mess with it after all to be cliched, if it aint broke dont fix it!
Although lets have it on terrestrial, and also on a side note, give us back the cricket too.
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"The U.S. team is just taking a break waiting to get back to the USPGA. They are just going through the motions. No real pressure to win since there no big $$ at risk for them. Anyone who thinks the players are concerned about their pride is wrong. Europeans will win this one as well and be celebrated by local news media for the two years."
Let me tell you having spend some time in the states myself that the Americans take the ryder cup VERY seriously. Also any decent sportsman will tell you that it has nothing to do with money any professional wants to win whether it be a sunday morning round with your mates or the Ryder Cup! You clearly know nothing about Golf Glenn or any other sport for that matter.
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Can we get back to talking about golf, please. This event is becoming a biannual mismatch, but it has nothing to do with the Americans not trying, it is about the superior skill of the Europeans.
Is anyone aware that the average European on the team ranks 6 places higher than the average American, even taking into account that Americans hold all three top spots?
Why don't we change the format to Europe V The Rest of the World
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Let me tell you having spend some time in the states myself that the Americans take the ryder cup VERY seriously. Also any decent sportsman will tell you that it has nothing to do with money any professional wants to win whether it be a sunday morning round with your mates or the Ryder Cup! You clearly know nothing about Golf Glenn or any other sport for that matter.
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Matt D--Guess I you're politically correct--I don't know anything about golf. This morning the Europeans are up 6-3 (in team play) and are they going to increase that lead even more. The Europeans are much more of a Team than we are. You're probably one of those who thinks individual match-ups will get the US side what it needs to win. If you can't see that--then you know little about team sports.
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Whose brilliant idea was it for both the teams to be almost identically for the Saturday 4 ball.... Blue shirt, black pants, and an almost identical shade of blue in caps!!
Any idea how difficult it was for the TV viewers to figure who was from which team, specially on distance shots?
Isn't here some sort of planning and discussion about this? Or don't both the Captains talk to each other about things like this?
I was almost thankful for the rain having started....at least the team umbrellas were conspicously different!!
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On both days it was announced that match 1 was "on the clock" ie playing too slowly.Had it persisted,what sort of penalty could have been dished out?
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May i dare throw some crazy thoughts into this suggestion of format changes . Ms lovett suggested all 12 players be involved every session, which is really nice, no hurt feelings, no bruised egos, and less panados for the captains . However, due to our human fragilities,( anyone could be physically indisposed anytime ), what about subs !
Imagine Tiger ( with due respect ) dumped the ball into the pond for the third time, gave Big Tom a knowing look, and with the slightest nod of head, Big Tom could call on Zach, ' take over, boy, and go get them.'
This innovation, with conditions properly worded out, could really bring the complexity of the game, and team strategy to another level. This is a team event, isnt it , and as in team event, ... the comfort of being bailed out by a team-mate....and the need to react to a new opponent...
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This is one of the Great sporting events and Americans want it just as much as we do - but they only sing when they are winning so to speak. When they wre holders they loved ramming it down European throats. I just wish I could watch it here in Germany - 大象传媒 please win it back.
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