February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The reason for this, the commentator indicated, was that O’Meara had an Irish name and that perhaps the U.S. golfers might have a better chance against Europe as a result of this and nothing else.
Small wonder that O’Meara’s very name was being seen as a cure for U.S. golfing ills, even if facetiously. The Americans must have been sick of the sight and sound of Irish flags, songs and roars from the gallery, not to mention a trio of Irish Ryder Cup team members who showed little or no respect to the high-end golfing names that their trans-Atlantic cousins had fielded in Oakland Hills, a most luxuriant course on the outskirts of Detroit.
Quite simply put, the Irish Ryder players held their end up and then some. That Padraig Harrington, the only top 10-ranked member of the “Euros,” sank the last putt for a birdie was a most fitting exclamation point to the entire affair.
It was also, in a sense, the first stroke in the 2006 cup, a return match to be staged on the equally luxuriant sward that is the K Club in County Kildare.
The performance of the Irish players in Oakland Hills, not to mention that of the rest of the European team, will for sure fire up the Americans, who will set out across the Atlantic two years from now eager for revenge.
The movie “Braveheart” was shot on the plains of Kildare. The film is famous for its battle scenes. The next battle in the county will be for real, and not for the faint of heart. Here’s to Ireland’s Ryder Cup, a mere couple of Septembers from now.