The infamous 1991 Ryder Cup was one of the most tense and controversial in the event's history. Paul Broadhurst, who was a rookie for Team Europe offers his first-hand account. Subscribe to Golfing World for more: / golf
he done well coming in on the Saturday and winning a singles match well worth his selection, I think everyone should get a run out on the first day though
Azinger was a nasty little so-and-so at Kiawah. Inciting the crowds, and kept comparing it to the Gulf War - which coming from a Christian was pretty tasteless.
To be fair. Seve had to be called down several times for his tricks. See Raymond Floyd putting his elbow in his ribs and telling him to stop as an example. The stop was for his coughing in couples backswing , and continued change jingling when the rookie was hitting.
Yeah, they weren't permitted to change compression of the ball during the round. They had to declare what they were using from the start and stick to it. The different compression would have advantages on different holes. Into the wind or on a par 5 you might favour 1 compression over the other. Seve and Jose were suspicious that Azinger was using a different compression during the round. Azinger had also incorrectly accused Seve of cheating so there was some bad blood. And when Jose confirmed they had switched balls Azinger denied it and again accused the Spanish of cheating. However when they called the referee here and the cameras rolling in this clip Azinger admits he switched balls, but was trying to pass it off as accidental despite the Spanish raising the issue earlier. The US golf media retorted by accusing Seve of cheating USA here, and the slur stuck for those misguided enough to get their info from the media
I think the Faldo/ Woosnam pairing that had been so successful in 1987 was also ended due to a compression issue)) The story was that they discussed which compression to use in advance of a round because they both played with a different compression in their usual play. Ian claims Faldo agreed to use Ian's favoured compression in their upcoming match due to the driving advantage Ian felt it gave. Faldo was teeing off first and used his own ball despite agreeing to use Ian's, and they were stuck with it for the remainder of the round. Ian refused to play with Faldo again.
You’re right. Azinger denied swapping balls until he realised that he & Beck wouldn’t get penalised for it. Only then did he admit it, and that was what really annoyed Seve & Ollie. Plus the fact that he then tried to pass it off as “Seve gamesmanship”, when in fact it was Ollie who quite justifiably raised the issue in the first place (Seve hadn’t noticed until Ollie told him on the seventh green).
