Ryder Cup Guardians Allowed To Travel - Are They Good For Team Europe?

The Guardians of the Cup have managed to make the trip to Whistling Straits...

Guardians of the Cup pictured at the Ryder Cup

The Guardians of the Cup have managed to make the trip to Whistling Straits...

Nothing was going to stop the ‘Guardians of the Cup’ from making it to Whistling Straits and there they were, front and centre, at 6am on the opening morning of the Ryder Cup.

Their story goes back to 2002 when, inspired by the heroics of Sam Torrance’s team at The Belfry, they got together to get behind Europe.

They describe themselves as a ‘group of incurable golf fans dedicated to securing Ryder Cup victory for Team Europe via the power of song. Our inability to sing is no obstacle to our ambition!’

They’re self-confessed golf addicts and they add a splash of colour, particularly this year when the 1st tee is one big blanket of red, white and blue and seemingly never-ending chants of ‘U-S-A’.

And they come armed with a collection of songs from the obvious – The Sun Has Got Its Hatton – to the almost virtuoso…

(To the tune of Da Do Ron Ron)

Do you have big muscles and a lovely smile?

You do Rahm Rahm Rahm, you do Rahm Rahm,

Do you come from Spain and hit the ball a mile?

You do Rahm Rahm Rahm, you do Rahm Rahm,

Yeah, the boy can play,

Yeah, he’ll win today,

Do we think that he will beat the U-S-A?

We do Rahm, Rahm, Rahm, we do Rahm Rahm!

They try hard, for many far too hard, but, for one year maybe, after all that’s gone on in the past 18 months, let’s tip our yellow Hogan hats in their direction and say well done for making it over there.

Well done for having a bit of a laugh and, if it gives the European players a little lift and a smile, then good on you.

And in a two years roll on Italy, another giant grandstand, thousands of cool locals and something different to drown out (did I say that?!) the well-rehearsed and, again, never-ending renditions of the same old, same old.

But, for now, if you are Sergio fan then try and get this out of your head…

(To the tune of That’s Amore)

When he tees it up high it will rip through the sky, that’s Garcia

In his jacket of green he’s the best that I’ve seen, that’s Garcia

When he pulls out his flop, he’ll give Ricky the chop that’s Garcia

When he sinks his last putt he will kick Bubba’s butt that’s Garcia

Mark Townsend
Contributing editor

Mark has worked in golf for over 20 years having started off his journalistic life at the Press Association and BBC Sport before moving to Sky Sports where he became their golf editor on skysports.com. He then worked at National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer where he was the deputy editor and he has interviewed many of the leading names in the game, both male and female, ghosted columns for the likes of Robert Rock, Charley Hull and Dame Laura Davies, as well as playing the vast majority of our Top 100 GB&I courses. He loves links golf with a particular love of Royal Dornoch and Kingsbarns. He is now a freelance, also working for the PGA and Robert Rock. Loves tour golf, both men and women and he remains the long-standing owner of an horrific short game. He plays at Moortown with a handicap of 6.