Nick Faldo warned us.
Two years ago at the Ryder Cup closing ceremony in Kentucky, the defeated European captain concluded his speech with the following prediction:
"See you at Celtic Manor in two years and remember to bring your waterproofs."
At the time, Faldo’s remarks were panned in European circles. However as a result of Friday’s disastrous near total rainout at Celtic Manor for the opening day’s play of the 38th Ryder Cup matches, it turns out Faldo couldn’t have been more prophetic.
U.S. captain Corey Pavin clearly didn’t catch Faldo’s speech, nor did he bother to check the pre-event weather reports because the stylish, striped raingear he provided for his team did everything Friday except what it’s supposed to do—keep his players dry.
The players’ displeasure with the gear grew so great, that the PGA of America was forced to purchase alternative gear at a Ryder Cup merchandise tent, at a cost of 350 Euros a pop.
Ouch.
Later, during the ESPN telecast Friday morning, Curtis Strange revealed that the U.S. team’s golf bags were also not made of waterproof material, and like the rain-gear, after three holes of golf they had been reduced to nothing more than a stylish, wet rag.
"For the bags to be leaking, that’s really bad," chimed in fellow ESPN analyst, Paul Azinger. "That’s a disaster."
But for all the slack Pavin and his wife (U.S. team fashion designer) Lisa were taking Friday over the uniform debacle, the critical knives should really be pointed in the direction of the European Tour decision-makers, who granted the Ryder Cup to Wales in the first place.
The notion of holding golf’s biggest event in a region where the risk of it being hijacked by inclement weather is not only possible—but likely—is incomprehensible from a practical point of view. But as we all know when money is involved, practically often goes out the window.
And make no mistake: money is at the root of Friday’s washout. In Europe today, the Ryder Cup has become such big business that many countries bid for the event with the same zeal that you'd expect to see when chasing after a World Cup or an Olympics.
Earlier this year, six European countries submitted bids to host the 2018 matches. Among them were traditional golfing nations such as Spain and Sweden, but non-golfing hotbeds Portugal, Germany, Holland and France have also thrown their hats into the ring.
Clearly, the European Tour is not lacking in drier climates to host their marquee event.
But when a native Welsh billionaire (and now Ottawa resident) comes knocking on your door with a brand new golf course designed specifically for the event—not to mention the promise of sponsoring and hosting a lucrative annual Tour event—well, you can just imagine the European Tour executives saying to themselves, "How much can it rain there anyway?"
Well, now we know. But with a Monday finish to these matches all but a certainty now—barring any more rain, that is—the roars of excitement that greeted the players on the first tee Friday morning, have been replaced by groans of frustration.
Somewhere, Nick Faldo is saying "I told you so."
Killing time on Twitter
The Dos Equis man might be the most interesting man in the world, but the most dangerous man—at least with an iPhone in his hand—might be Ian Poulter.
The Englishman used his time during the rain delay to snap pics of his sleeping beauty teammates Padraig Harrington (apparently three majors don’t guarantee you a bed) and Miguel-Angel Jiminez (likely in a cigar and wine-induced coma).
And with the U.S. team still under a strict no-tweeting edict from captain Corey Pavin, Poulter posted this video of how American Bubba Watson killed time Friday.
Meanwhile, in the European team room, several players including Rory McIlroy honed up on their Ryder Cup skills in Tiger Woods ‘11 for Wii. Wonder if McIlroy was playing as himself against Tiger?
Speaking of the young Ulsterman, a few wigged, sauced supporters of his decided to serenade him during the rain delay Friday. We’re note sure whether young Rory looks impressed, or disturbed here.
