Ryder Cup: Justin Thomas, DJ and Brooks Koepka Recall 1st Tee Nerves

Ask anyone who has ever played in a Ryder Cup.  The first tee shot they hit is the most nervous one ever in their lives. It’s the same for everyone, but they feel it differently.

“For me it was walking to the tee,” Justin Thomas said at this year’s Ryder Cup.

He and his partner, Jordan Spieth, and their caddies walked up and over a bridge-like structure to reach No. 1  at the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris. It was a fourball match.  Massive European crowds cheered and chanted for their side.  Spieth asked Thomas if he wanted to go first or second.

“I was like, ‘I’m going,’ and he’s like, ‘You got it,’” Thomas recalled.

Spieth told him to do what he was comfortable doing at that point in time. Thomas said he was sure Spieth knew what emotions were running though his body because Spieth had been through it before.

“He knew it was going to take a couple holes for me to settle in, and I rode my horse until I finally got comfortable,” Thomas admitted.

Despite it being an unsettling feeling for any player to hit his first tee shot in Ryder Cup, Thomas said he can’t wait to do it again.

“It’s something you’ve never felt before…” — Dustin Johnson on Ryder Cup first tee nerves

Dustin Johnson, playing in his fifth Ryder Cup, still recalls the first tee shot in his debut which was in Wales at Celtic Manor.

“It’s a completely different feeling. It’s something you’ve never felt before, at least something that I never felt before,” he said at this year’s Northern Trust. “The fans over there singing, and it was cold and wet, windy, wasn’t ideal conditions to hit a nice tee shot for your first Ryder Cup.”

He said despite the conditions, it was fun and like most, he is ready to do it one more time. However, he probably doesn’t want the equipment problem he had late Thursday before the matches started in 2010.

“I was on the range with Butch and just hitting some balls, just kind of winding down, and cracked my driver, and of course all the trucks had just left,” he said.

The trucks he referenced are golf equipment trucks, tractor-trailer rigs, that are at every professional tournament.  They are manufacturer specific and have every kind of club imaginable. If a golfer needs a new wedge or wants a tweak to his 6-iron or has to have a new driver head, he can get it done on site asap.

Johnson called his equipment rep in San Diego where it was 3 AM, and they figured out how to get Johnson a new driver head within a couple of hours.

Even Mr. Tough Guy Brooks Kopeka was affected by his first Ryder Cup.

“It was probably the most nervous I had ever been on the first tee,” he said.  Brooks Koepka, nervous?  Hard to believe.

Koekpa said he didn’t play in the first session, and instead of practicing, he became a spectator for a while.

“I went out and watched the guys tee off and got to soak in the atmosphere, which was pretty cool,” he admitted. ”I got chills, I think I was standing next to Tiger or maybe Davis and was like, how cool is this?”

So, when all the players approach their first tee shots on Friday, whether it’s their first Ryder Cup or their sixth, you can be sure that every fiber in their body is jingling with anticipation and adrenaline that mere mortal golfers can only imagine. How do they get through it?

According to DJ, “You’ve just got to embrace it and enjoy it and enjoy the week.”