Ryder Cup: Battle for Cup glory may swing on Monty's foursomes

IT can require only one swing of the golf club to etch a player's name into Ryder Cup folklore.

Just ask Howard Clark, whose Ryder Cup story spans the game's evolution from a match in which Great Britain and Ireland were biennial whipping boys to the dawn of the European revolution; contrasting victories over major champions with hours spent on the sidelines fighting nerves and controlling adrenalin.

As he came to the crunch of a singles match with Peter Jacobsen at Oak Hill in 1995, in the final match of his six appearances, Clark flushed a six iron tee-shot towards the par-three 11th and watched as it rolled into the cup.

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The pent-up frustration of what had been a trying weekend exploded out of him.

"It's a nice way to be remembered," he recalls modestly. "It kind of glosses over the difficult stuff."

Only five other players have recorded a hole-in-one in the 37 matches between Europe and the United States, giving the

56-year-old from Leeds a special place in the contest's rich history.

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The 'difficult stuff' Clark endured were the battles with his game and his nerves, emotions he now experiences vicariously as the current gladiators go through the same nerve-jangling experiences.

In his privileged role as Sky Sports' on-course reporter, Clark travels the world covering the biggest tournaments and spends much of his working day stood a few feet from the game's leading names as they begin their back swing.

"He's got a four iron and about 230 yards to the flag," he whispers down the mic. Swoosh, the shot is airborne. "Hmm, he doesn't like it," observes Clark dryly, as the four iron is angrily smashed into the fairway inches from him.

Clark has to be unflappable and invisible. High definition cameras might beam the pictures back to thousands of armchair fans but the Yorkshireman will have the best viewing point at Celtic Manor this week. Clark has carved out a niche for himself as one of the best in the business as the man on the spot. He knows the form of all 24 players at Celtic Manor this week, their strengths and their weaknesses.

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"I really can't call it," he says when asked to pick a winner. "A few months ago you'd have thought the swing was with the Europeans with Casey going close at the Open and Kaymer winning the PGA. Europe's best players were winning championships on both sides.

"I think the swing, though, has gone back to the US. Dustin Johnson is never off a leaderboard. Things aren't as cut and dried as everybody thinks.

"All 24 players are in the top 50, and when you consider there are South Africans, Australians, Argentinians in the top bracket, it shows the strength of the teams. The top six in the world are playing this week, and nine of the top 10, with the exception of Casey."

On the subject of whether world No 7 Casey should be in the team, Clark bristles, before acknowledging that the 12 who are there are deserving of their place.

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Casey's omission is a testament to the strength of European golf, and the depth of talent on both teams this week.

"If you look at the stroke average of the two teams they're within a stroke of each other," says Clark amid a flurry of statistics. "Also the average world rankings show the United States has a slight advantage, so they might even start as favourites."

The label of underdogs is not an unfamiliar tag for Europe. Their success down the years has been built on the platform of the foursomes and fourballs, when European spirit and teamwork has shone through.

"Monty has got to get his foursomes partnerships right," says Clark of the format that will follow the fourballs on Friday and Saturday.

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"I played a lot of foursomes, it's the hardest and most interesting format, although not necessarily the most exciting. There are eight points up for grabs and it is where Monty will either win or lose the Ryder Cup.

"I didn't have a great record in foursomes because everybody I played against seemed to play unbelievably well. At Muirfield Village (1987), Sam Torrance and I were playing Tom Kite and Curtis Strange and I couldn't believe how well they played; they were well under par early on.

"Foursomes is a tough game to get back into. You can be two or three down through five holes and your opponents then only have to play par golf.

"It will be tough at Celtic Manor in the wind to get the ball close to the hole. If it's calm then it's birdies all the way.

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"In foursomes, you need to quickly establish a good partnership. For instance I would say Padraig Harrington is the perfect fourballs player, but not a foursomes player. This is one of the reasons why Edoardo Molinari, for me, would be the perfect partner for anybody."

Clark enjoyed productive partnerships with Sam Torrance and his good friend Mark James throughout his six-match career, and although the results were not always positive, establishing a relationship was vital.

"It takes a little bit of time to establish a rapport," adds Clark. "Jesse (James) and I shared this policy that it didn't matter if I was closest to the hole and he was twice the distance, he should try and hole his putt as well and not leave it to the guy who was closest. It was a very relaxed but strict rule between us in that we didn't wait for each other. You can easily relax and say my playing partner will win the hole, but you should go out there and try and win it yourself.

"I was not brilliant off the tee but I was a good partner in fourballs because most of the time I was there to back up my partner and I was a consistent player scoring wise. The important thing in fourballs is to back your partner up."

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Of equal importance to the team is how a player reacts to not being selected, with four men sitting out every session.

"Your job is to give the rest of the team a bit of encouragement, going out to follow is important to players," he says. "You've also got to balance that out with getting a bit of practice in so that when you're called upon you're ready."

Because you never know when that tee shot might fly into the hole.

Howard Clark is the on-course reporter for Sky Sports, who will be broadcasting the Ryder Cup in 3D.