Garcia and Rahm: Golf’s Spanish Armada Sails Again at Ryder Cup
A big part of the change in Ryder Cup success for Europe was the play of several Spanish golfers starting with the legendary Seve Ballesteros and later Jose Maria Olazabal. But it wasn’t always so. Now, Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia have assumed that role.
When the continent of Europe was added to the Ryder Cup in 1979, it added firepower to the European side, firepower that had been missing in what had become a lopsided contest between the US and the team from Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I). From 1927 to 1979, the GB&I squad won just three times and tied once.
With the emergence of quality golfers from the European continent like Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer in the late 1970s, Jack Nicklaus lobbied to include all of Europe in the mix thinking it would make the event more competitive. Was he ever right.
In 1979 the change was made. That Ryder Cup saw the debut of one of the best players ever, the incredible Seve Ballesteros.
Ballesteros had won the 1979 British Open and became a top player on the European Tour. The next spring he captured his first Masters. He was very much in demand.
In Europe, where appearance fees have been allowed over the years, Ballesteros and the European Tour got into a brouhaha over pay-for-play fees—legal on other tours but not the PGA Tour– and as a result, he did not participate in the 1981 Ryder Cup. But Germany’s Bernhard Langer and Spain’s Manuel Pinero and Jose Maria Canizares did.
The European Tour and Ballesteros settled their differences by 1983, and Ballesteros was back in the fold. Langer was on the team again as well as and others who would go on to make a huge difference in European Ryder Cup history, changing their path forever. It was the first year for Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam. Europe lost by only one point in at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The next two years turned Nicklaus’ prediction into fact. Adding Europe did improve the competition, so much so that they started a string of victories.
In 1985, with Ballesteros, Langer, Faldo, Woosnam, Sandy Lyle and others, Europe pulled out their first Ryder Cup victory since 1957. The next session, in 1987, Europe beat the US for the first time in the US. All their other victories had been in England. To say it was pivotal is a colossal understatement.
That was the beginning of the great tradition of Spanish superstar golfers, as well as others from all parts of Europe, who became Ryder Cup names to fear.
Ballesteros would go on to win 22 ½ Ryder Cup points with numerous partners including, most notably, Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal. Olazabal won 31 matches and 20 ½ points, some with Ballesteros and many with today’s Spanish star, Sergio Garcia.
He’s carrying the Spanish and European flags on his shoulders
Others made huge contributions.
Faldo was in 46 matches and earned 25 points. Colin Montgomerie played 36 matches with a point total of 23 ½. Langer teed it up 42 times in Ryder Cup and won 24 points. Woosnam was in 31 matches and won 16 ½ points. And there were others.
Garcia has now carried forward the Ballesteros winning tradition at Ryder Cup, becoming not just the Spaniard with the most points won at Ryder Cup but the European with the most points won. At the beginning of this week’s event, he had a record of 25 ½ points in just 41 matches.
Now, he and fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm have become a star pairing for Europe in a battle that may not go Europe’s way. Regardless, after the death of Ballesteros, and retirement of Olazabal, Sergio Garcia has emerged as the Spanish spark that drives victories, no matter what the situation. Ryder Cup is simply an event that Garcia loves.
“It drives me on those moments when I need to do something extraordinary to get going, and I’ve been fortunate to do it for many years, and I’m so proud to be a part of Team Europe,” he said after he and Rahm won their foursomes match on Saturday.
Garcia and Rahm have won 2 ½ of Europe’s 3 points half-way through Saturday. They are playing the afternoon session against Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth meaning that Garcia and Rahm will play all five matches when the singles are added in to the picture. If Garcia ever gets tired in Ryder Cup, he never shows it. He’s carrying the Spanish and European flags on his shoulders, and he knows it, loves it and embraces it. He is a big part of today’s Spanish Armada.