The Ryder Cup is almost as much about gamesmanship and mind games as it is producing quality golf throughout the three days of play.
The Ryder Cup is finally upon us with just hours remaining until the first tee shot is struck at Bethpage Black.
Brandel Chamblee has been covering the Ryder Cup live from Bethpage Black all week long, so he’s been privy to things that have been going on behind the scenes which may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald got the Ryder Cup proceedings off to a fine start on Wednesday, as they both spoke from the heart ahead of the 45th edition of the competition.
Chamblee praised the two Ryder Cup captains for the class they both showed with their speeches during the opening ceremony.
However, the controversial and highly outspoken golf analyst has also highlighted how it won’t all be sunshine and rainbows at Bethpage this week.
Brandel Chamblee accuses Europe of gamesmanship on the range at Bethpage
Europe have clearly started early with the mind games at Bethpage Black.
Donald clearly knows that the Ryder Cup will be won not just with the players’ golf clubs, but with their minds as well.
And the Europeans made a brazen statement on the driving range this week in a bid to get an upper hand on the US team before the Ryder Cup has even begun.
Chamblee was speaking on the Dan Patrick Show on Thursday and he noted a really interesting point
“It’s the mental aspect of it, it’s mano a mano, they’ll be some gamesmanship, there already has been some gamesmanship.
“Luke Donald has a little gamesmanship with his opening remarks.
“The European team out on the range, I don’t know if it was yesterday or today. Instead of going to one end so the US side could uniformly practice at another end, the European team went right in the middle so the US team had to split up and go to either side of them.
“That is absolutely gamesmanship by the European team.“
That was a really bold move indeed from the visiting European team and you just know it would have rankled the American players.
When Colin Montgomerie took Ryder Cup gamesmanship to another level
Throughout his years playing in the Ryder Cup (eight appearances as a player in total), Colin Montgomerie has been involved with more spats with American players, and indeed fans, than most.
The Scot lived and breathed the Ryder Cup during his career and he always saved his best form for the biennial competition.
However, his passion got the better of him ahead of the showdown with the United States at Valderrama in 1997.
Montgomerie took mind games to a whole new level entirely when he unloaded on numerous different American players.
The European legend suggested that if the Americans had a short putt to win the Ryder Cup, he hoped that it would be left in the hands of Scott Hoch.
Hoch had missed a putt from around two feet to win the 1989 Masters, before Nick Faldo went on to triumph at Augusta National.
Monty then bizarrely insulted Brad Faxon, suggesting that he ‘wouldn’t be mentally with it’ because the American was going through a divorce.
He also suggested that he was on the same level as Tiger Woods and labelled Phil Mickelson as ‘unreliable’.
Montgomerie ended up apologising to the American players he insulted, both to their faces and via letters.
However, it was Montgomerie who had the last laugh as Europe won the Ryder Cup with the Scot earning the winning point.
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