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| Yours Truly at the Ryder Cup entrance mugging with an artist designed golf ball |
Sitting on my sofa at home watching the final day of Ryder Cup 2012 at Medinah, I suddenly felt like a passenger on the Disney Tower of Terror Ride.If you are unfamiliar, this is a nauseating ride where you go up,up,up and then the bottom drops out.This is precisely what occurred for the American team supporters this past Sunday.I expected to be crying tears of joy on Sunday along with a blubbering Bubba Watson due to the 10-6 lead that the US held going into the final day of play. Surely, Ian Poulter, a Matchplay God with dogged enthusiasm couldn't carry the entire European Team on his back. Boy,was I wrong. I ended up cringing and crying on Sunday night due to whatever occurred at Medinah on Sunday, a collapse, a massacre or simply stellar play by Team Europe.
Since Sunday I have been forlorn over the European victory which yielded a score of Europe 14 1/2 to USA 13 1/2. I still haven't decided where I believe the blame should fall for what occurred but, it was a horrifying spectacle that as the matches were finishing the US players were not garnering points. Brandt Snedeker's match was particularly difficult stomach as his game just completely left him on such a high profile stage, losing 5 and 3 to Paul Lawrie.
As the 13th man, I will accept some of the blame for what occurred on Sunday; I left Chicago Saturday to head home. I wanted to share my Medinah 2012 experiences with you on the most positive of notes, with the US having regained the Ryder Cup. I now have a Ryder Cup 2012 pin flag,hat and shirt that I am looking at in a very bittersweet fashion. I did have a wonderful experience at Medinah and in Chicago in general. I took 337 photographs on Thursday at the practice round alone, which I have edited into a slideshow to share with you here on the blog.
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| A great billboard of Captains Love and Olazabal greeted spectators at the tourney entrance |
Tiger Woods,Steve Stricker and Dustin Johnson were practicing together on 18, at this point I got distracted and separated from my Illinois' friends. I went into frenzied photography mode and starting encountering many of the players practicing. Here is a slideshow of some of my photographs:
On the 12th green I met up with Brian Katrek of Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio, which was a very cool experience because I am a regular caller to his show, Teed Off. I also had an opportunity to meet Michael Breed of the Golf Channel's Golf Fix who was working on the RyderCup.com broadcast along with Katrek.
Friday, I arrived at the Medinah Country Club at 6:30am and followed the first match out, Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker versus Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell in alternate shot format. I was shocked when Jim Furyk was driving off of the 1st Tee for Team USA. It was a great match to follow, when Snedeker put a ball into the trees off of the 4th tee, Furyk had to come right into the area where I was standing to hit their second shot. Later in the day, I was standing adjacent Phil and Bones in a wooded area.
On the 12th tee box I had the privilege to meet up with one of my Twitter friends from Northern Ireland. We spent the rest of the day together on the course, rooting for opposing teams. His favorite chant is, "stand up for the Ulstermen" and his objective was to coerce me to support Team Europe. I reassured him that I only support the red, white and blue and that these colors don't run. Watching the afternoon Fourball, I had what was the coolest of experiences, I was introduced to Gerry and Rosie McIlroy. They were lovely people and it's obvious where the number one professional golfer in the world obtained his incredible demeanor.
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| My friend Gary and me strike a pose after a full day on the course Friday |
Much has been said about the crowds and whether they were disrespectful. I can reassure you that the spectators on the whole were fabulous. I met tons of Americans and Europeans while I was out walking. People were in good spirits. There were very few idiots in the huddled masses; I attribute any poor behavior to the fact that people were served beer starting first thing in the morning. The volunteers were spectacular, from the on course marshals to the shuttle lot attendants.
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| Some patriotic Team USA Fans show their spirit. |
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| Fans that went full on European Flag with an homage to Rory |
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| One very inventive spectator |
My only regret is not having stuck around for the weekend. I have my name in the lottery for tickets to the Ryder Cup 2014 at Gleneagles. If I am lucky enough to secure passes, I will absolutely go to Scotland to support Team USA, especially if my favorite pro, Bubba Watson makes the team.
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| So that's how he hits it Bubbalong;he's a giant. |
