No More Mr. Nice Guys
By JIM LITKE / AP Sports Writer
SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) -- Jack Nicklaus' decision to concede
a 2-foot putt on the last hole of the last singles match of the
1969 Ryder Cup is roundly considered one of the grandest gestures
of sportsmanship ever.
But don't count Sam Snead among its admirers.
"We went over there to win," Snead, the captain of
the 1969 squad, still grumbles today, "not to be good ol'
boys."
The truth is Nicklaus could afford to be gracious to Englishman
Tony Jacklin. The concession nearly three decades ago only resulted
in a 14-14 tie that enabled the Americans, who had won the Cup
outright two years earlier, to hold onto it. But in a sense, that
singular act of charity has hamstrung every U.S. squad since.
Dozens of American Ryder Cuppers have dreamed about doing the
same, forgetting they didn't possess half of Nicklaus' talent
and a quarter of his competitive drive. And if the dozen members
of the 1997 team intend to bring the Cup back across the Atlantic
with them, they had better adopt an attitude more like Sam's than
Jack's.
No more Mr. Nice Guys. No matter what. And absolutely no more
statements the rest of this week like the one Mark O'Meara made
recently: "I'll be disappointed if we lose in Spain, but
I'll be the first to shake hands with the winning team."
Americans like to think of themselves as rugged individualists
and top-notch closers, able to single-handedly seal any deal.
One reason is that we've seen guys like Nicklaus, Michael Jordan
and Reggie Jackson doing just that on the biggest stages for years.
But as far as recent Ryder Cups are concerned, nothing could be
further from the truth.
In the 1995 Ryder Cup at Oak Hill, five matches came down to
the 18th hole. The Americans lost every one, and the Cup in the
bargain. At the Belfry in 1989, four Americans hit their approach
shots at the 18th into the drink instead. The scrambling Europeans
managed a tie and kept the Cup. Go back over the last six competitions,
in fact, and the Americans' winning percentage in matches decided
on the last two holes isn't much better. They have won just 37
of 103, or 36 percent.
The reason?
We've gone soft, become a nation of fat-cat golfers. The all-exempt
PGA Tour has produced a generation of competitors who would like
to be Jack Nicklaus, but who would rather live like Jack Nicholson.
Distracted by the easy money that makes millionaires out of
even mediocre players, the desire to take home the trophy has
been weakened by the certainty that a 10th-place finish still
puts a new Land Rover in the garage next to the Lexus. They still
dream about nobly conceding putts to opponents on the last day
of a tournament. The reality is they wind up none-too-sadly conceding
victory as well. But that is about to change.
We've seen some indications already. Tiger Woods' win at Augusta
marked only the third time in the last 10 Masters an American
has won there. But the growing perception is that it marked a
shift in the tide, not simply one man swimming against it. Because
swimming in formation alongside Woods are Justin Leonard, Phil
Mickelson and Jim Furyk, the point men for a generation of ferocious
young competitors.
And just as their emergence forced a chronic underachiever
like Davis Love III to toughen up and grab his first major, the
PGA Championship, by the throat, so will it toughen up the entire
U.S. Ryder Cup squad.
Knowing as much, the Europeans are targeting Woods the same
way the Detroit Pistons came up with their "Jordan Rules"
to go after Jordan. Their case is built on the assumption that
in the 1995 Walker Cup, Gary Wolstenholme beat Woods in the final
match on Day 1 and the Great Britain-Ireland side went on to an
upset win.
Unfortunately for the Europeans, that conveniently overlooks
Woods' having won 18 consecutive matches -- several of them in
spectacular fashion -- en route to three U.S. Amateur championships.
"I've always preferred match play over medal," Woods
reminded everyone after Tuesday's practice round. "It's the
epitome. One on one. You get momentum on your side and ride that
wave."
If the 21-year-old kid seems too young to be an inspirational
leader for some of the older guys on the American squad, then
let them look not to Nicklaus, but to Seve Ballesteros. The captain
of this year's European squad, Ballesteros joined the side in
1979 and with his fire almost single-handedly made the Ryder Cup
competitive again.
Italian Costantino Rocca, whose loss in singles decided the
1993 Cup, remembered seeing Ballesteros in tears afterward. "I
had never seen Seve cry," he recalled, and credited that
memory with helping him play an integral part in the European
win two years later.
For those Americans who missed it the first time, this is their
chance to make Ballesteros cry again.
|
