The 2010 Ryder Cup is in Wales, in October. Weather-wise, is this going to be a problem?
It’s not good at all. I think it’s going to be a huge problem. It may have to go into a fourth day. The problem is the FedEx Cup. The Ryder Cup should be two weeks earlier, but it can’t because it has to accommodate the FedEx events. It’s a tough one for the Americans. You’ll have the likes of Woods and Mickelson playing four or five weeks on the trot. You’d think the best players will play [in the Ryder Cup] but we’ll see when it comes to the time. We’ll see then how much the Americans value the Ryder Cup then.
What’s the difference between playing and captaining?
It’s so different it’s scary. Captaining is totally different than playing. I learned more from being vice captain to Mark James in 1999 than I did playing in eight Ryder Cups. It’s a powerful position to be, being captain, although you have to make sure all the players are comfortable and happy. I remember having to order in some olive oil for Miguel Angel Jimenez, as he wanted it for his breakfast. He just poured some in a bowl and ate it with some bread. But that’s what he wanted so that’s fine. The hardest part of captaining was the public speaking.
What did you make of Valhalla in 2008, and Nick Faldo’s captaincy in particular?
I don’t want to go there. OK, I thought Paul Azinger did a great job. That’s all I’ll say on the matter.
Gamesmanship in the Ryder Cup. Where do you stand?
I abhor it, hate it. I don't mind a wind-up, never have; but I don't believe in gamesmanship…at all. I think it's part of the sport that is certainly not necessary. Gamesmanship to me is cheating. It's like footballer when the two of them go for the ball and one knows they touched it last as it goes out of play. Almost always they both put their hand up to appeal that it wasn't them. One of them is lying but they get away with it. In golf, it's such a fair, honest sport that gamesmanship cannot come into it at all.
You’ve had many Ryder Cup highs, but what was the worst moment as either player or captain?
During the Saturday afternoon fourballs in 2002. Paul McGinley, who was playing with Darren Clarke, came up to me on the eighth tee and said: “I’m sorry, Sam, but what rules are we playing under?” I didn’t know what he meant, but he then told me he was using a TaylorMade R driver – a hot-faced club banned on the US PGA Tour but legal in Europe. I told him it was fine but I had no idea and ran off to find Mark James [his vice captain]. Both he and the chief referee confirmed that we were playing to European Tour rules and that R drivers were legal. We really couldn’t have afforded to lose that match.—As told to Alex Jenkins
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