The competitive element is different because you are part of a team which golfers are not used to as we play a very individual - and selfish - sport. Then when you put twelve players used to winning out against each other that instinct just increases twenty four fold.
Both sides are also playing for National pride which adds to the mix. All that together makes the golf event very different and winning is what it’s all about for those four days.
Going into Sunday at Oak Hill Country Club the US team needed only five points from the 12 singles matches to retain the Samuel Ryder trophy – which they had in their possession since 1991.
Put into context the European target of seven and a half points had not been achieved since that win at The Belfry in 1985. So we had a mountain to climb on paper at the New York State venue.
Put into context the European target of seven and a half points had not been achieved since that win at The Belfry in 1985. So we had a mountain to climb on paper at the New York State venue.
On the Sunday our Captain Bernard Gallacher put Seve Ballesteros out first and Ian Woosnam fourth hoping to outfox US Captain Lanny Wadkins and get points early.
Sir Nick Faldo was in the middle order with myself 11th and Per Ulrik Johansson last - both protected from the pressure, supposedly, in the belief that by then the game was either won or lost and our matches would n’t perhaps matter.
As the day progressed that was not to prove the case as wins by Howard Clark, David Gilford and Nick Faldo – with Woosie winning a half point in his match against Freddie Couples – changed things.
Faldo was in the eighth match and surprisingly in trouble against Curtis Strange and one down with two to play. As only he could, Faldo turned it around and won the match on the eighteenth green.
Behind his match I added to the good news having started well I went two up against Jay Haas early and felt good – controlling things nicely.
Matchplay is all about pressure and not always about beautiful golf and as Oak Hill punished mistakes I knew it was still a long way to go. All I wanted to do was just keep the pressure on Jay and off me.
But on the third I dropped a shot and again on the fifth as a par was not good enough when the American putted for birdie.
Having recovered at the eight I had a great chip at nine to get the lead back when Haas failed to par the hole.
On reaching the fifteenth, a tricky hole protected by water one side and a bunker on the other, I felt confident enough to go for the flag and landed the ball about four feet away. Another birdie to go three up with three to play.
But it was far from over.
Haas holed a super bunker shot on the sixteenth for birdie and for the first time in the round I had a poor putt on the 17th to see the lead down to one going into the last.
Off the 18th, Haas went left behind a tree on the left and I landed on the right in the semi rough with the ball sitting just right for me to have a go at the green.
But I didn’t make it with my five wood hitting the rough and as Haas was half way up the fairway - after a good recovery – saw his pitch spin off the green. It looked like trouble for me – until he chipped well past the hole.
Game on again. All I had to do was roll it close but it wouldn’t be easy out of the greenside rough to control the pace. Looking back now it’s still nerve jangling stuff.
When the ball rested less than a few feet away Haas conceded defeat and everyone went crazy, Nick Faldo was in tears, Seve was in tears. I can't remember if I was crying but I'll tell you one thing: you had to be strong to deal with that type of pressure.
People have no idea.
Philip Walton ©
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