2 August 2024
Report courtesy of Rob Manton
We all know that the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone GC in Rome was a dramatic victory for the European Team over a star studded US Team of… let’s call it for what it was – chokers!! (Ask our former Captain Tim Evans: he was there and played the course afterwards).
What some/many may not know was that the engineer of Europe’s triumph was not its Captain, Luuuuke Donald, but someone who actually gained an engineering degree before embarking on a professional golf career – Edoardo Molinari (Dodo). Bear with me here!!
You see, Molinari had spent Covid lockdown building a statistical program to serve tour players. When his ‘client’, Matt Fitzpatrick (well known for his note taking during a round that rivals Tommy Warhurst’s hole by hole updates of his own match during the recent Seniors Plate semi final – ‘TW wins the 15th!!) won the US Open in 2022, Dodo was inundated with calls for assistance from tour players. One call was from European Ryder Cup Captain Luuuuuke, who appointed Dodo as a VC and relied heavily on his statistical analysis of previous Ryder Cups to convince his players why they could win. That analysis revealed that winning the first hole was important but being up after three holes was ‘crucial’.
The RAGC elite Senior Interclub team sought to put this theory to the test against the previously undefeated and table topping team from The Grange in a 16 hole sprint at Glenelg Golf Club (they’re still looking for the missing two holes – any ideas Purple?). With late withdrawals causing some upheaval to the team (there is no truth to the rumour that the withdrawals were the result of the players not wanting to come under the scrutiny of this report writer), our two season rookies, Eddie Bell (EB) and Richard Huebl (RH), stepped up at very late notice to join Andrew Potter(AP), Tim Pozza Jnr (TP), Tim Astley (TA) and Leigh Carpenter (LC).
So, where were we after 3 holes? In reverse order: LC 3 up, RH Sq, TA 1 up, EB 1 dn, TP 2 up and AP 1 up. Should Dodo’s analysis prove correct this was going to be epic.
After 8 holes things were looking even better particularly when RH holed a putt of sesquipedalian length (it was actually longer than that but the length of the word should provide an indication that it was long) to bring his match back to square, with only EB being 2 dn. It should be noted that Eddie’s inclusion was at great personal expense having to cancel two client appointments to play (that’s commitment), though he did advise that he was looking for an early finish to get to a long planned long lunch.
With the revised Glenelg course layout posing a constant arithmetical dilemma for the players in their individual matches (how many holes left? Imagine how the Manager felt trying to keep track of all six), this group of sub 90 scorers found themselves up in 4 matches, square in 1 and down in 1 after 10 holes. The 12th hole (it’s actually the 11th but in the confusion it became known simply as ‘the next one’), is a redesigned mid length uphill par 3 (most holes at GGC are redesigned so that’s a superfluous comment really) that saw TP make a Tiger Woods like up and down from the far side of the next tee, over a garden bed and a footpath that would have seen CBS commentator Jim Nantz lost for words, to close out his match 6/4!! In his two matches so far TP has played a total of 26 holes – impressive – certainly in the mix for Simpson Cup selection surely Nudge. EB had checked his watch for the long lunch cut off and realised that he still had time to mount a comeback despite being 4 down with 4 to go. RH had fallen away to be 2 down but, with one match in the bank, square in 1 and ahead in two others, a halved match was still possible though, from experience, an overall victory was looking less likely than a Carlton come from behind win (read, highly unlikely!!).
AP closed his match out at 13, 4/3 (really the 12th but by now no one had much of a clue) with EB succumbing at the same point – lunch was definitely going to be long. LC was 3 up with 3 to play, TA was sq with RH hanging tough until 15 (do I need to remind that 15 was actually 14?) where his match ended with a 2/1 loss. So overall the match was 2-1 to us at this point and the team was daring to dream of a halved contest.
Enter Tim Astley. A solid par 3 on the 15th (nee 14th!!) saw TA pull one ahead with one to go. The halved match was secure and a win was back on the cards if one of either TA or LC could finish off.
LC promptly lost 14 and 15 (sigh) – 1 up, one to go. A drive to the right side of the 16th (actually the 18th – confused yet?) and a layup short of the extraordinarily short par 5 saw him in a strong position with his opponent in the right green side bunker with a challenging shot over a mound in the green where a large animal is clearly buried. Being the aggressive player that he is, LC only had eyes for the pin… over the same mound. There are times when the manager turns coach and needs to come to the sidelines, hold up the 2 minute drill sign, and direct the player to park their ego. Convincing him to play 10 feet left of the hole to avoid the mound and add to the pressure his opponent was clearly feeling, with much consternation (‘where are the heroics in that play?’) LC delivered and his opponent took 3 in the bunker with his 3rd finishing in the penalty area beyond the green. Job done.
TA then delivered the coup de grace – on in 2 and then holing his longest putt of the day (6 inches – yes his opponent made him putt) for a two putt birdie.
A convincing win. I have advised Dodo this elite team of veterans has ratified his analytical conclusions.
Reporters correction: Last week I incorrectly stated that only one other reader would know the meaning of ‘deliquesce’. I have since been advised there was another but to protect their identities I shall not name them here. (I suspect there are now a lot more).
Next match vs Glenelg @ RAGC
