The Ryder Cup: What Europe had to say
All 12 European players and team captain Paul McGinley have been speaking to the assembled media at Gleneagles on the eve of the 40th Ryder Cup. Here is what they had to say as they bid to retain the trophy.
Last Updated: 25/09/14 3:17pm
We have quotes from all 12 European players and team captain Paul McGinley on the eve of the 40th Ryder Cup.
Paul McGinley
"I've some experience of sitting there as a vice captain on two occasions, and I've seen the decisions that have been made on both occasions where we've been fortunate enough to win, and we won by a point on each occasion. I've certainly am of the view that the captain's decisions in both instances were very important and were pertinent to us winning both of those. So I'm very much in the camp that although the players play all the game, of course the captain has an influence. He doesn't have a massive influence, but he has a big influence in what happens, but ultimately, though, it's down to the players."
Lee Westwood
"Well, I'm obviously delighted to be back at The Ryder Cup. This year, I've played a little inconsistently and that's why I didn't qualify for the team outright, but lucky enough to get a pick from Paul. He's got the confidence in me to give me a pick, and looking forward to my ninth one. Try and win some points for Europe and get my seventh win on the side.
"Team atmosphere is good. The rookies, they don't feel like rookies anymore. They play such a good game, and they play at all the big tournaments around the world. I don't think it's that much of a shock for them. Obviously there's going to be times this week when they are surprised about certain things, how intense it is and the atmosphere and stuff like that. But they will gradually ease into it as the practise rounds go by, and the Opening Ceremony happens, that's a bit of a lump in the throat sort of type thing, and the gala dinner, that will get them all warmed up for Friday.
"We've got a lot of very good world-class players. Pretty much, with the exception of maybe one, all the big tournaments this year have been won by Europeans and people on this team. We are in a pretty good position. We're confident without being complacent and looking forward to the week and showing how good we can play and coming together as a team."
Henrik Stenson
"If it all gets a bit sad in the team room, I'm sure I can try and cheer it up a little bit. Hopefully we don't need that. But it's a fun week with the boys on the golf course and off the golf course and with everyone that's associated with the team, and the wives and girlfriends and all the rest.
"So it's a great week. It's a memory for life to be part of The Ryder Cup, and this is my third one, and I've got some of my great golfing memories are from the previous two that I played. Hopefully we can add a few good memories to that and, yeah, I hope I can pull one or two good jokes off."
Graeme McDowell
"You know, 2010 was the most nerve-wracking experience, certainly probably of my life. I thought I would be nervous going into the delivery room there four weeks ago. But I would say that back nine against Hunter Mahan in Celtic Manor, I don't think I will ever be that tight and that nervous again in my life. It was pretty intense stuff. You know, to make birdie on 16 like I did and win that point was certainly one of the highs of my career.
"Hitting the first tee shot at Medinah a couple years ago was a very bizarre experience. I would say I felt very calm and confident and ready to take that on as I went to the first tee, and the noise was amazing and everyone's excitement levels had peaked. I remember getting announced on the first tee and putting the tee in the ground and the whole place going deathly silent and how bizarre that was.
"I remember standing over the tee shot thinking to myself, this is just the most bizarre feeling I've ever had in my life, and I didn't put a very good swing on it. Like my head was genuinely kind of elsewhere just kind of taking in the sort of, how surreal the moment and the environment was from sort of high noise levels to absolutely zero. I remember seeing Bubba and all the guys kind of whipping the crowd up afterwards and thinking to myself, maybe I should have done that, because it was very bizarre. The silence level was amazing.
"Yeah, it's fun to hit the first tee shot, and even more fun to hit the last putt. It's a special tournament, like I say. My experiences in the three Ryder Cups I've played so far are very much the greatest experiences of my golf career."
Victor Dubuisson
"It feels great. Even a year ago, I wouldn't really expect to play The Ryder Cup. So when I started to do well at the end of last year, then I won Turkey and then I thought, okay, maybe this is a chance for me to play my first Ryder Cup.
It's my favourite format. Match play is very different than what we do usually. It's more about the mind. Like every few holes, you have to change the way you use strategy. But I think the key to get you to do well in match play is to just play your own game and try to play your own stroke play. It's what I do all the time, and it's worked pretty well at the WGC. Sometimes you can play against a guy who shot 7-, 8-under, and then it's no luck and you cannot do anything about that. But yeah, if you play your own game and you do what you do, usually you won't lose many matches."
Jamie Donaldson
"It's great to be back at Gleneagles. I always enjoyed playing here in the Johnnie Walker, and it's great to be back up here again. It did take a long time to get in the team. You know, it's amazing how long it takes and how difficult it is to get in. It took me the event before the last one, qualification event, to get in the team, and I felt as though I played really well in that season. So it's difficult to get in. I'm very happy to be here and looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead."
"It's been great. The lads are all very relaxed. There's a lot of camaraderie between the guys. It's good fun. It's a lot of banter. I played table tennis last night with Thomas Björn, who had a jumper on and I had a tee shirt on and I was dripping with sweat and he didn't have any sweat on him at all, and he battered me 3-nil. He was winding me up all morning."
Thomas Bjorn
"I'm obviously delighted that I could make it here and it became a big thing over the summer. There's a lot of hard golf to be played to get on the team. This was an extremely difficult team to make on merit. Got off to that great start, and it kind of set the tone for the way I played this year. So I'm just delighted to be back, really. It was nice to walk in that locker room and actually see a golf bag with your name on it. It's been a while. So, yeah, I'm delighted about it. From all the way down in the heart, it feels good to be back.
"What makes a great team great is you just have to look at the World Rankings. You can start at the top and kind of work your way down and you get to European names very quickly. That's what makes the team great. We know what the top part of our team have done in the world of golf over the last few years. So that's what makes a team great."
Rory McIlroy
"What we have been doing has been working. We've won seven of the last nine Ryder Cups. So Paul was very adamant that he was not going to come in and try and change anything up. He just wanted to keep to the same blueprint, the same template, and you just try and enhance it, just try and do what we've been doing but just do it a little bit better. That's sort of been the plan all week. That is the plan all week.
"What we have been doing in previous Ryder Cups is working. We're winning, and you don't really - you don't have to try to reinvent the wheel here. We know what we're doing, we've done it before and we are going to try to do it again."
Sergio Garcia
"I think that the drive to try to do well and obviously win, it's still the same. There's no doubt that I think for us Europeans now, we're a lot more global than we used to be and a lot more of us play on the PGA TOUR and get to play with a lot of the Americans. We get to know each other better and obviously have closer relationships. But once you put your clothes on and your shoes on and you step on the first tee, you still want to beat them as hard as you can, the same way that they do with us, because that's the nature of the game. That doesn't change.
"To me, I couldn't feel more European when I see Swedish people, German people, British people obviously Spanish people, Italians, cheering for me. I mean, you can't feel more European than that. I think that when everybody comes together and cheers for one, for the same cause, it doesn't matter where you're from. I think that's the ultimate European feeling, I guess."
Stephen Gallacher
"it was my lifetime ambition. It was my goal to get here. I'm proud that I'm sitting here. I am very excited, and it is a bit surreal still, because I live so close. But it's one I'm embracing and just trying to use the positive energy, and the crowd is going to be spectacular, as well, and it's just going to be really entertaining.
"I've had a lot of good luck messages pretty much just from all my friends and had one from Martin O'Neill, which was nice. I spoke to him a couple of times, just because he's Paul's friend and he spoke to me at the Masters, and then he sent me a voicemail.
"He just says, 'Well done for getting in. You'll love the team environment. Probably one of the best weeks of your life,' and stuff like that. And he's right, it will be."
Martin Kaymer
"Yesterday, when we went to the gala dinner, and then went to the concert, we had a really good time on the bus. We had fun. We laughed a lot and I think that is quite important for a week like this, that you enjoy the week, as well; that you enjoy the team atmosphere, that you bond with some players that you might play with in foursomes or fourball. You get to know the vice captains a little bit better. Obviously I never really played golf with Sam Torrance or Des Smyth. They are a little bit older than me. Yeah, so far we had great fun, but the real fun starts tomorrow I guess.
"Well, pairings, obviously in the past few Ryder Cups, if you play with someone in the practise rounds, there's a possibility that you might play with them in the foursomes or the fourball. But to be honest, you know, I think after the round today, we will sit down and make a proper plan what's going to happen Friday morning at least. So far, I think it's still up to Paul.
"Yeah, today I play with Rory again, but it doesn't mean that I will play with him Friday morning. We get along well as people, and I think at the end of the day, it's very important, especially for the foursomes, because it's such a tough game to play; that you need to get along with the person. And it's not a secret that I get along with Rory, but I also get along with Sergio and Henrik and Ian."
Justin Rose
"Delighted to play a home Ryder Cup. That was definitely the goal that I set out a couple years ago. Yeah, obviously Valhalla in 2008, and obviously I missed Celtic Manor 2010. And obviously here we are after Medinah last year or two years ago, really excited. Obviously the first couple of days have been great. They have been somewhat -- obviously the crowds have come out and it's been brilliant and it's been low key but the real atmosphere is going to start tomorrow, so I can't wait.
"we're very confident and comfortable with our games and our situation, and we're very confident as a team. And I think we're focusing on the golf and we believe that the process is going to take care of things. We sort of have accepted the fact that we are the team to beat this week, and I just believe that we're playing a very, very strong team. The fact is we are going to have to rely upon now hard work and commitment and concentration and focus to get the job done. So anything like that, anything in the media or anything that's extra to that is not going to help the cause. It comes down to being professional. It comes down to getting the job done on the golf course."
Ian Poulter
"I'm ready. I've been ready for a few weeks now, so looking forward to it. I think it's set up very nicely. The golf course is in fantastic shape, and I think the team are full of confidence and ready to go.
"I think how I've performed in the last number of Ryder Cups is - if I really have to sit back and think about it - I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud of my record and proud that I've put a lot of blue on the board. I'm passionate as a team player, and yeah, to be mentioned with the likes of Seve and Monty and those players is an absolute honour.
"I've put a lot of blue on the board for Team Europe, and I guess when you've done that, you've kept a lot of red off of their board. And by doing that, I think - I take that as a compliment, being able to deliver for my team and help get us over the line, I'm very proud of. And I guess I take Tom Watson's comment as a huge compliment; to me as a player, as someone that has loved The Ryder Cup and for like Tom, who as accomplished as he is, to pay me that compliment is amazing."
