The horse-shoe grandstand’s metal frame embraces the first tee here on the Centenary Course, offering only a hint of what awaits come tomorrow’s start.
It’s been full but relatively quiet in these practice days, a calm before the storm. But everyone knows it won’t stay that way. The decibel level will rise when spectators clatter on to the aluminium structure to join the roars, shouts and chanting not only of those in the grandstand but those lined along the fairway.
Is there any other atmosphere like it in golf? And for this 40th edition Paul McGinley came up with the idea of transforming an old grey tunnel under the road, adorning the subterranean walls with images of famous players, both European and American. The last face players will pass on the way to the first tee is that of Seve Ballesteros. The renditions of Óle! Óle! Óle! will be inspirational.
As McGinley described it, the scene will be of gladiators going into the arena to do battle. “At the time, their stomach will be churning, they will be incredibly nervous . . . but afterwards they are going to remember that for the rest of their lives,” he said.
That first tee shot in a Ryder Cup is one that has caused even the greats to quake. Remember that opening shot from Tiger Woods at the K Club in 2006? An ugly, pull hook that swung left and kept going until it found a watery grave. There's no water at Gleneagles, but the opening tee shot – especially for rookies – is one that players remember.
As Pádraig Harrington, one of five vice-captains to McGinley’s team, recalled of his first tee shot
– at Brookline in 1999 – he had difficulty putting the tee in the ground. "I know the first shot I hit in the Ryder Cup, I couldn't see the golf ball. I was just so nervous. I couldn't even see it . . . at Oakland Hills [in 2004]; I felt great on the first tee. That was my third Ryder Cup and I went from not being able to see the ball, to not bad at The Belfry, to pretty good at Oakland Hills."
Paul Lawrie, another rookie at Brookline, confessed to still waking up “with wee shivers” in recalling the shot he hit as a Ryder Cup player. “It wasn’t great, you’re standing there and everything’s moving apart from the ball.”
Even Lee Westwood, one of the coolest players in the Ryder Cup cauldron since debuting at Valderrama, had a bout of nerves. “I could not get the ball on the tee . . . my hands were shaking and my eyes glazed over a little bit,” he recalled.
Justin Rose found the fairway safely with his first tee shot in the 2008 match at Valhalla, his debut. “I really worked hard on my breathing and visualisation and just tried to trust it,” said the English man.
In the 1987 match at the Belfry, Mark O’Meara hit his opening tee shot so far left it finished up in the tented village but still in play. “Where did that shot come from?” wondered his partner Strange. To which O’Meara replied: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” He got little sympathy. “Are you kidding me? You better start breathing because you got me as a partner,” replied Strange.
This time around, there are six rookies playing – Jamie Donaldson, Victor Dubuisson and Stephen Gallacher for Europe; Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Jimmy Walker for the US – and probably the most pressure will fall on the lone Scot, Gallacher. Perhaps his age should help. At 39 he is the second oldest rookie to play for Europe.
“The first tee at the Masters was pretty good and the first tee playing at St Andrews nice . . . I know this is going to be tougher, but I’m hopefully going to enjoy it,” said Gallacher.
