‘The whole of Europe is behind you’: Ryder Cup players on unique identity

IIt started in January in Abu Dhabi. During the all-European Hero Cup, an early precursor to the Ryder Cup, Luke Donald delivered a message. Three of Donald’s predecessors as Europe captain, Thomas Bjørn, José María Olazábal and Paul McGinley, gave impassioned speeches to players. Olazábal focused on the spirit of Seve Ballesteros. Bjørn spoke about the importance of the traditions passed down by European teams of yesteryear. McGinley, whose captaincy in 2014 was praised by everyone who touched it, carefully outlined what it will take to achieve victory over the United States. Players were said to be enchanted by the trio.

Donald isn’t the type to bang in the tub and blow up the mob. There is no chance he will be rampaging through the dressing room of the Marco Simone club outside Rome next week, shouting in the faces of the European contingent. Still, there needs to be a subtle and consistent message to a team looking to reclaim the trophy after an embarrassment in Wisconsin two years ago.

What is the cause? What does representing Europe mean? The camaraderie generated within the European Ryder Cup camp is famous, which is intriguing because golfers play under a banner that, in theory at least, means nothing to them 103 out of 104 weeks. Americans, on the other hand, are permanently American.

“It struck me the week before I played,” explains Nicolas Colsaerts, who played for Europe in the 2012 Miracle of Medinah and is one of Donald’s vice-captains. “I went to Spain to prepare and I met Germans, French, Scandinavians and Spaniards who all told me they supported me. That was a revelation to me: you realize that the whole of Europe is behind you. Even beyond that actually; South Africans and Australians tend to support us. The 24-handicapper from Germany, the scratcher from Great Britain. The demographic that supports you is much broader than I ever imagined.

“You’re going to the opening ceremony. You see this flag going up with something on it that we didn’t really grow up with. Then you realize, “Wait a minute. Every two years, twelve stupid guys like me sit in these chairs and watch this flag go up, and that’s what we represent.” You are part of a small club. It reaches a deep level within you, nothing else comes close.”

Colsaerts is just kidding when he says that golfers from different countries within Europe don’t tend to be friendly during individual tour life. “Then you put on the jersey and everyone gets along through pure magic.”

Ask Shane Lowry if that’s him feels European and the answer is emphatic. “Oh yeah,” says the 2019 Open champion. “If you grow up in Ireland with the Ryder Cup, you’re European. I am a very patriotic person. I always enjoy playing for Ireland, that’s who I am. Clovers everywhere, I travel with my Ireland jersey. But for these weeks I am European and I am very proud of that.”

The Ryder Cup has evolved, of course. The United States has always resisted, but it first did so for Great Britain, Great Britain, and Ireland before the struggle became so one-sided that further adjustment was necessary. Linked to the European Tour – which was renamed the DP World Tour in 2021 – golfers have been playing under the continental flag since 1979. In the 1980s, Ballesteros’ utter disregard for all that America had to offer drove Europe forward.

Tommy Fleetwood is typical in the sense that he represented a province and a country before rocketing through the professional ranks. “If Planet Earth played Mars, I’m sure we could all believe we were representing Earth,” Fleetwood adds. Does the flag actually have any relevance? Fleetwood insists this is the case. “We are all very proud Europeans,” he says. “If you get the chance to play at this event, you naturally consider yourself a European.

“There are many different meanings. First of all, you play for everyone on the team. That is something very important: being there for your teammates. Of course you play for the Tour.

“I also think Team Europe has such a legacy: the legends of European football have all been there. They have inspired us in those Ryder Cup moments and it is very clear when you are there that it is part of your role to proudly carry and continue that legacy.” This is why Ballesteros, Langer, Woosnam, Faldo et al. grace the walls of European team rooms.

Bjørn has invested enormously in the DP World Tour. He watched with pride as all twelve members of Donald’s team came to Wentworth for the recent PGA Championship. Players must maintain their membership on the Tour – and play in a required number of events – to be eligible for the Ryder Cup.

Without that connection, there’s a good chance that players like Rory McIlroy would spend all their time in the more lucrative and star-studded environment of the PGA Tour. Donald has never said it publicly, but this time it appears Europe may have a point to prove to illustrious names who have fled to LIV Golf.

“It’s about Europe as a continent, but it’s also about the Tour,” says Bjørn about why the Ryder Cup is important. “When you do this Tour, so much of the emphasis is on the Ryder Cup. I think it is right that you should be a member of this Tour, I have no doubts about that. As the golf world has evolved and we wouldn’t have the Ryder Cup and the guys wouldn’t have to play here, it would be hard to compete with the other things that are out there.

Bjørn, a Dane living in London, also sees the broader picture. “When I came on Tour, I realized how European I was,” he says. “When you grow up the world is so big, I was just Danish in my way of thinking. Different generations have had different times with the Ryder Cup, but for me it was very difficult to make the first team in the mid-1990s. Their Tour wasn’t very welcoming at the time, so through the Ryder Cup and our European identity we created bonds.

Fleetwood now lives in Dubai. McIlroy and several others have homes in Florida. Donald took his team to Rome for a reconnaissance mission immediately after the Wentworth event concluded. The captain’s method feels good. “You left that trip thinking, ‘We are a team,’” Lowry says. “That’s a great feeling, a few weeks after the tournament. I feel like I’m representing a continent, I feel like I’m representing Ireland, and I’m representing my family and friends. I think everyone on this Tour will be behind us and shouting for us.” This overwhelming sense of a unifying force, the Ryder Cup, in a broken world is actually enormously endearing.

Of those involved in the Hero Cup, Fleetwood, Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre, Sepp Straka and Nicolai Højgaard will tee off in Rome from Friday. Middle Eastern themes inevitably stick in their minds.