Top 10 Friday morning Ryder Cup 1st tee moments…

The amphitheatre-like atmosphere around the 1st tee early today
(Image credit: Getty Images)

They were queueing from before first light but it was worth the wait. Jeremy Ellwood looks back on the electric atmosphere as the 2014 Ryder Cup got underway

Many of you will no doubt have been glued to the coverage from 7.35am this morning. I’m not normally one for sitting in a grandstand at a golf event as I generally like to get out and wander, but with reserved seats this morning courtesy of my hosts at Rolex, it would have been rude not to get up at 5.00am for the second morning in a row and avail myself of such a privileged spot.

What a spot – three rows back just behind Dr Bob Rotella - and what an atmosphere! I’ve never known anything quite like it. So here, in no particular order, are my Top 10 moments from the hour and a half I sat there, from 6.50am until the final ball was struck majestically down the middle by Rory…

1. The sun gradually rising to reveal the glorious Perthshire countryside in all its glory.

2. The welcome for Ivor Robson and the chanting of, ‘Ivor, Ivor, give us a wave.’ It was a real shame he then fluffed his opening line.

3. Webb Simpson’s opening sky-duff which didn’t get halfway up the hole. I think it was actually a hybrid not a 3-wood, so the moral of the tale is, when you’re faced with the scariest tee-shot of your life, don’t use your very smallest club.

Webb Simpson's less-than-perfect opening effort

Webb Simpson's less-than-perfect opening effort

4. Bubba whipping up the crowd, then hitting a massive banana slice which almost started out over the heads of Monty, Butch and Darren in the Sky commentary booth.

Bubba gets the crowd going on the 1st

Bubba gets the crowd going on the 1st

5. The sheer volume of the cheers as every European pair appeared and was announced.

6. A second startled deer (after Webb Simpson) making an appearance only to find his usual grazing ground occupied by about 20,000 people!

This startled deer found himself playing to a vast crowd!

This startled deer found himself playing to a vast crowd!

7. The YourGolfTravel Guardians of the Ryder Cup. I have to confess, I’ve found their ads on our YouTube videos mildly irritating, but warmed to them here, especially ‘Kaymer, Kaymer, Kaymer, Kaymer, Kaymer Chamelion.’

8. Three or four resilient US fans being booed good-naturedly by the massed Europeans whenever they put their vocal chords over the parapet.

9. The roars that greeted captain Paul McGinley when he first appeared on the tee.

10. The spontaneous rendition of, ‘There’s only one Tom Watson’, amid all the pro-European chanting.

Jeremy Ellwood
Contributing Editor

Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly. He is an expert on the Rules of Golf having qualified through an R&A course to become a golf referee. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played 1,000 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts. He reached the 1,000 mark on his 60th birthday in October 2023 on Vale do Lobo's Ocean course. Put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.

Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf


Jeremy is currently playing...

Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft

3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft

Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft

Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)

Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response