VALHALLA DIARY:GRAEME MCDOWELL, a son of the Causeway Coast, might have a reason to have a greater affinity with Louisville than the other members of the European team.
Louisville distilleries produce over one-third of all the bourbon in the world . . . and the city just happens to be twinned with Bushmills on the north Antrim coast, not far from where McDowell grew up.
Maybe not all that an original idea
• TERRY MATTHEWS, the billionaire businessman whose course at Celtic Manor will play host to the 2010 Ryder Cup, has been a more than interested observer here at Valhalla over the past few weeks.
He started acquiring and developing hundreds of acres of farmland near Newport in south Wales in the 1980s with playing host to the Ryder Cup as his primary objective. In 2001, when Celtic Manor was bidding to host the Ryder Cup, players suggested that the existing course wasn't good enough, so Matthews committed himself to creating another, new lay-out which was renamed the Twenty Ten Course. "It's the first time anyone has built a course from scratch for the Ryder Cup, and we had the European Tour all over it from the outset giving advice on the best way to make the most of the site," said Matthews.
Maybe Dr Michael Smurfit might disagree that Matthews is a trendsetter. It seems to us that the Welsh businessman pretty much imitated much of what Smurfit did in securing the Ryder Cup for The K Club!
Thanking God for one Ian Poulter
• As one of the most respected tournament referees in the world, John Paramour - and his often demure outlook - wouldn't immediately strike you as a comedian. But when Ian Poulter's fans at the back of the 18th green broke into a chorus of "There's Only One Ian Poulter" Parmour's reaction was to roll his eyes to those in the vicinity and murmur, "thank God for that!"
Feeling like a dog at the track
• BOO WEEKLEY has been eminently quotable this week as a result of his sense of humour and after Saturday's victory with JB Holmes in the afternoon fourballs, that was very much in evidence again. When asked whether he got more hyper playing in the Ryder Cup on the basis of having team-mates rather than simply playing for himself, Weekley used an interesting analogy.
"In terms of adrenaline I feel like a dog that someone done (sic) stuck a needle into and it juiced me up like I've been running around a greyhound track chasing one of them bunnies." Brilliant.
Westwood and Boo make up
• IT SEEMS that Lee Westwood and Boo Weekley have made up following the Englishman's comments about Weekley's penchant for gesturing to the crowd while his opponents were still playing out a hole. After the pair played against each other for a second time on Saturday, Westwood confirmed: "He didn't do it between shots like he did on Friday, so he obviously learned. He apologised last night which is the kind of man he is; a nice guy. We get on very well."
• TIGER WOODS is watching closely on television according to captain Paul Azinger, who has received texts from him. Azinger said: "He (Woods) likes to heckle. I told him he needed to step up his heckling skills and he certainly brought it on after that. I didn't think he could take it to such a high level so I have to give him credit."
