Our Cup Spilleth Over
‘ALL eyes are on Oakland Hills this weekend, the golf club in Michigan where the American Ryder Cup team will reveal this years fashion crime.
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| Made in America…in a mould |
The word is that the outfit chosen by US captain Hal Sutton is something quite special, although it will have to be if it is to match some of their previous performances.
The 1999 team is widely regarded by most fashion experts to have been the greatest ever assembled, the shirts bearing photographs of past tournaments.
And it is not just the men, either Sutton will have to come up with outfits for the wives that beat the 1999 Sindy costumes or the 2002 Stepford Wives look.
With such pressure on the costumiers, it is little wonder that this biennial event is so eagerly anticipated by players and spectators alike.
The papers, however, are for once concentrating on the game itself in what the Independent kids itself is increasingly becoming a barometer of middle Americas self-regard.
The fact that the European team hold the trophy and have won five and drawn one of the last 10 matches does not seem to have unduly affected a country that has never had much problem when it comes to self-regard.
American captains traditionally introduce their team as the 12 best golfers in the world and then come Sunday evening, are forced to eat humble pie.
This year, they dont even have the best golfer in the world after Tiger Woods lost that mantle to Vijay Singh and the Press are expecting a close contest once again.
At lunchtime today, Woods and Phil Mickelson will lead out against Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington in the first of the morning fourballs.
And if anyone doubts that its going to be a real battle, the Guardian says Suttons vice-captain Jackie Burke Jr described the required mindset as like going ashore with the Marines.
He presumably wasnt referring to Monty.
Meanwhile, the tabloids focus on the return of Rio Ferdinand after his seven-month ban for missing a drugs test.
The Sun reports that his Manchester United teammates have only won 41% of the matches they have played in the defenders absence.
And the man himself tells the Mirror how the ban has helped him to realise just how lucky professional footballers are.
Theres nothing like sitting on your arse for half a year and getting paid £80,000 a week to do it to give one a bit of perspective…’
Posted: 17th, September 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
