Review of the year 2012 - Part 2: THE MAJORS, RYDER CUP AND THE SINKING OF THE ANCHORED STROKE

T H E

M A J O R   C H A M P I O N S H I P S 

2 0 1 2

T H E   M A S T E R S

A U G U S T A   N A T I O N A L

A P R I L   5 - 8

April, The Masters, that must mean I arrive in St Andrews to start a season of caddying. Well it has done for the last 2 years. I arrived in the town a few days earlier than last year. Watching the 2012 Masters was slightly different for me this year as I watched at a friends house Thursday, Friday and Saturday night before I was put in a “difficult” position regarding the final day. In 2011 I lived with some female students from the University, and two of them had invited me out to a meal in town with some of their friends. I was torn between a night out with a few beautiful women or staying in to watch the final round of The Masters. The confusion didn't last long and I decided to go out for the meal, as it isn't often that I am asked out by any women lol.

We were sat in the restaurant, and unbelievably the music playing was “Georgia on my mind”, how ironic. The meal was enjoyable and luckily it finished before 9pm and they all went off to student accommodation for the rest of the night. I rushed back to my friends house to see the conclusion of the final round, and what a conclusion. The lasting memories of the final round of the 2012 Masters are Louis Oosthuizen's albatross at the par five second hole and Bubba Watson's magnificent recovery shot onto the 10^th green in the playoff, but it was about much more than two shots. Yet another missed opportunity for Lee Westwood, another fine week for European golfers at Augusta, Peter Hanson falling away from the 54-hole lead and Phil Mickelson missing out on a fourth green jacket. Eventually it came down to the 18^th hole and both Oosthuizen and Watson had putts for birdie to get to 11-under-par, neither dropped and for the 15^th time in Masters history the title would be decided in a playoff.

Oosthuizen looking to emulate his friends Charl Schwartzel and Trevor Immelman, as well as his hero Gary Player. Watson trying to become the third left handed golfer to claim the green jacket and make it 5 left handed wins at Augusta in the last 10 Masters Tournaments.

Both made pars at the first playoff hole, the par 4 18^th. And following Watson's terribly pulled tee shot into the right trees on the tenth it looked almost certain that Oosthuizen would be joining Schwartzel as back to back South African Masters winners. The 2010 Open Champion, looking for his second Major title, also missed to the right but nowhere nearly as wildly and he had a clear line to the green. His approach came up short of the green, presenting difficulties for the third shot. But he still seemed red hot favourite given Bubba's ball was in a seemingly impossible position. What followed was a moment that will forever define the career of Bubba Watson. It is an iconic Masters moment to compare with Tiger Woods' chip in on 16 in 2005. The Floridian is known the world over for his ability to curve the ball, but the shot he played in the playoff will go down as one of the greatest ever seen in the Majors.

Almost every other player in the field would have had to pitch out sideways and try and take the playoff to a third hole. He curved the ball at almost a 90 degree angle to the hole with a wedge from the pine needles onto the green to within 12 feet. Oosthuizen made a 5 and 2 putts later incredibly Watson was the champion. He had tried an equally bold and unlikely shot in the playoff in the 2010 PGA Championship, it didn't come off and Martin Kaymer went on to claim his first Major. There is a thin line between Genius and Madness, and many would say what Watson attempted on that Sunday evening was close to Madness. But it came off and he looked like a Genius. He has many of the attributes shown by Seve Ballesteros and Phil Mickelson, who have won 5 Masters titles between them.

The moment that Watson produced, and the drama of that final day, is something that only The Masters among the Majors can produce. Because it is played on the same course every year and the course is never used for any other event. It truly is a once in a year experience for every player in the field, and for the fans. For many its a once in a lifetime experience, especially for those who were alongside the tenth fairway late on Sunday evening. They can say I was there to see one of the greatest shots of all-time.

U . S .   O P E N

O L Y M P I C   C L U B

J U N E   1 4 - 1 7

The Olympic Club is a course that I always thought had a special mystique about it, an archetypal US Open course, in a spectacular location with a dramatic final hole. That mystique was shattered in June, it is quite simply the worst set-up I have ever seen for a Major Championship, and the course is not worthy of a modern professional tournament and hasn't been adapted to provide a suitable challenge that is fair but stern for the world's best.

Let's start with the final hole, a hole which I had until this year considered one of the great finishing holes in all of golf. But watching this year's championship time after time, it was the same. Iron off the tee, wedge to the green, 2 or even 3 putts. The worst final hole I have ever seen used for a Major, but it didn't need to be like that. The USGA have had years to prepare the course, they could have extended the hole, putting the driver into the hands of the golfer, making them come up with that pressure shot when it was needed. The margin for error is a lot smaller when you have the driver in your hand than an iron, which leads to a much greater variety of second shot possibilities. Instead of the monotony of iron-wedge-putt, iron-wedge-putt.

But the course's many problems weren't confined to the final hole. The sloping fairways were, at times, virtually impossible to hold with a tee-shot, and whilst I think it is great that the trees are a hazard at Olympic, I think what happened to Lee Westwood on Sunday was near-on ridiculous and downright unfair. His drive on the 491-yard fifth hole wasn't miss-hit, or offline, it was his intended line, but the ball stuck up a tree and right there and then his chances were gone, as he had to return to the tee to play a third shot. The USGA were roundly criticized for their set-up in 2006 and 2007 at Winged Foot and Oakmont, but if I am honest, it produced a much fairer and much more exciting outcome, and usually the best golfers come out on top. Now, instead of brutal rough, they seem to be stuck in some sort of very uncomfortable half-way house between the US Open and The Masters, and the outcome is not desirable.

Despite the many misgivings I had with the golf course this was a US Open that saw the title go down to the 72^nd hole, with Ernie Els, Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk all in contention until the final few holes of the championship. But invariably it was the funky and at times the unfair nature of the golf course that contributed to all of their downfalls. Don't get me wrong, a golf course at the Major level should be demanding, and bad shots should be punished, but it was just the same thing time and time again. This isn't a US Open I wish to remember. Roll on Merion in June 2013, that's if the USGA have remembered how to set-up a course for the US OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP.

Oh, by the way, Webb Simpson won.

T H E   O P E N   C H A M P I O N S H I P

R O Y A L   L Y T H A M 

&  S T . A N N E ' S

J U L Y   1 9 - 2 2

In 2012 the only sporting event which grabbed the attention of the British public was London 2012, the first Olympic Games in the UK since 1948. The final major international sports event prior to the Olympic Games was The Open Championship. Royal Lytham & St Anne's was the stage for yet another memorable edition of the championship which is 36 years older than the modern Olympic Games. The favourites coming into the week were Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and World Number One Luke Donald; for McIlroy and Westwood it was an ultimately frustrating week as they made the cut but neither contended.

Tiger Woods was in the reckoning at the start of the final day until he came to grief at the par four sixth hole when he found a greenside bunker and ended up making a critical treble-bogey seven. Another British challenger came in the shape of US Open runner-up Graeme McDowell, who at the start of the day had hopes of adding The Open to the US Open. But again he struggled in the conditions on Sunday which were much different to the damp and benign ones over the first three days.

Brandt Snedeker made a decent start to 2012 with his come from behind win at Torrey Pines, and was starting to be renowned for his putting under pressure. But there wouldn't have been anyone on the planet in July that would have predicted that Snedeker would set the record for the lowest 36-hole total in Open Championship history. He did just that, recording rounds of 66 and 64 to post a 10-under-par total of 130 strokes. Snedeker finished in a tie for third place, 4 shots adrift of the winning score following a 7-over-par weekend.

Australia's Adam Scott has won it all. The Players Championship, THE TOUR Championship, a World Golf Championship, the Australian Open, he had 19 career worldwide wins. But no Majors. In fact until the 2011 Masters Adam Scott had only four top tens to his name in the Majors in contrast to 14 missed cuts. The undoubted quality he had shown in every big event outside the Majors had never been replicated in the Majors. Scott put three excellent rounds together including an opening day 64 to hold the 54-hole lead on 11-under-par. It was the first time ever the former World Number Three had been in a final group of a Major on Sunday, and the pressure clearly affected the Adelaide native as he bogeyed the first and third holes.

Despite a further bogey at the sixth hole, the four shot lead he started with was still intact with nine holes to play. He started the back nine with four pars, before a birdie on 14 gave Scott a cushion of four shots with four holes to play. On the 15th, Scott pulled his approach shot into a greenside bunker and made bogey after failing to get up and down. Then at the 16th after finding the fairway with his drive, he over hit his second shot onto the back of the green to leave a lengthy putt for birdie. He missed the putt by about five feet to the left and could not convert the short par putt. With this bogey the lead was down to two strokes from Ernie Els with two holes to play.

Els, Major-less for 10 years since Muirfield 2002, with a record in the modern era that nobody can rival in The Open, was back in contention for the claret jug.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Els did keep his head, and the Big Easy played the back nine of his life, with birdies at 10, 12, 14 and most dramatically 18 to post the clubhouse target at 7-under-par. On 17, from the middle of the fairway, Scott flew the green and landed in some thick rough at the back of the green. He could only pitch out to 20 feet away and missed the resulting putt to record his third bogey and drop into a tie for the lead with Els. At the final hole, Scott found a bunker off the tee and his ball ended up tight underneath the lip. He was only able to pitch out sideways to leave a lengthy third to the green. He played a brilliant iron shot right down the pin to leave himself with an eight foot par to take the championship to a playoff. He started the putt left and it held its line to miss on the outside edge of the hole and result in a fourth consecutive bogey to finish the round. Scott shot a final round of 75 to finish at six under, one stroke behind Els.

It was a fourth Major title for the South African, who joined Bobby Locke as a winner of four of the biggest titles in the game, enhancing his reputation as a golfing giant. It was a crushing defeat for Scott, whose wait goes on for that elusive Major Championship.

U S P G A   C H A M P I O N S H I P

K I A W A H   I S L A N D, 

O C E A N   C O U R S E

A U G U S T   9 - 1 2

And so to the final Major of 2012, Glory's Last Shot. The PGA Championship was played opposite the final few days of the 2012 London Olympics, and because of this garnered little attention globally.

The final Major of the year was played on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, in South Carolina.

Kiawah Island. An exposed, wind-swept links, that until 2012 was only famous for perhaps the most controversial Ryder Cup ever played. Hardly the place you would expect Rory McIlroy to add to his Major Championship collection. After all, this was a man that just a year earlier had, in the heat of the moment, lamented the weather at Royal St George's and said: "There's no point in changing your game for one week a year. That's the Open. You either deal with the weather or just wait for a year when it's nice."

His form in the previous Majors in the year also didn't really give reason to believe in McIlroy as a favourite over a golf course so completely opposite to the types of courses he had previously triumphed over. But this is just proof that everyone, including me, had underestimated just how good this young man can be.

Carl Pettersson (66), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño (67), Alexander Noren (67) and McIlroy (67) got off to superb starts in what turned out to be a fantastic week for European golfers in general, not just its runaway champion. The conditions on Thursday were sunny, warm, dry and relatively calm considering the forecast for the week had led many to believe that there would be a high chance of a Monday finish. 44 players broke par in the opening round.

It was very much a case of make hay while the sun shines, because Friday could not have been more opposite to Thursday. The second round of the 2012 PGA Championship was the hardest ever round in the championships history since it became a strokeplay event in 1958. In contrast to the 44 players breaking par in the first round, just 4 broke par on Friday and only 1 player managed a round in the 60's. Winds of 20-30mph buffeted the 156 players on the second day and the average score was over 78.

39 players shot scores in the 80's and 2 recorded eye watering rounds of 90 or more. This was the equivalent of the Friday of the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews. That was a day when Rory McIlroy followed his record low round of 63 with a round of 80, but times have changed, on this fearful Friday it was a fighting 75 from the 2011 US Open Champion. Keeping him well in contention for a second major title. He trailed the leaders by 2 shots, with Carl Pettersson, Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods sharing the lead after 36 holes at 4-under-par.

The weather continued to play a significant part in proceedings and halted play late in the afternoon on Saturday, forcing the third round to be completed on Sunday morning. But before the stoppage McIlroy surged into contention with 5 birdies in his first 8 holes, before a bogey at 9 meant he ended the day in a tie for the lead with Vijay Singh at 6-under, with 9 holes to play. On resumption on Sunday morning McIlroy managed to get to 7-under par with a bogey at 13 and two birdies at 15 and 16, opening up a three stroke lead over Pettersson.

McIlroy had now led the 2011 Masters by 4, the 2011 US Open by 8 and the 2012 PGA by 3 going into the final round. He had folded terribly at the 2011 Masters but at the very next major had played like a veteran to coast to the 8 shot victory. How would he perform this time? Would memories of Augusta come flooding back? Or had they been banished forever by the extraordinary performance at Congressional? More questions in a year of questions for McIlroy. He answered them, emphatically.

“It was a great round of golf, I’m just speechless”

“It's just been incredible. I had a good feeling about it at the start. I never imagined to do this”

24 putts. 12 pars. 6 birdies. 0 bogeys.

One of the truly great final rounds in Major Championship history. A 6-under-par round of 66 and the exclamation mark on a record-breaking 8 shot win. The margin of victory was the best ever in the strokeplay era of the championship, 1 more than Jack Nicklaus's seven-shot win at Oak Hill in 1980, and the win was his second major title, achieved at a younger age than Tiger Woods and the youngest age since Seve Ballesteros won his second title, at the 1980 Masters.

"He's very good. We all know the talent he has."

"He went through a little spell this year, and I think that was good for him. We all go through those spells in our careers. He's got all the talent in the world to do what he's doing. And this is the way that Rory can play. When he gets it going, it's pretty impressive to watch."

This wasn't a person in the media saying this, it wasn't his family, friends or me. Tiger Woods said this. When arguably the greatest golfer ever to live says things like this I think we owe it to him and Rory to respect what he says.

S I M P S O N   A N D    E L S 

A C H I E V E M E N T S

B R I N G   P U T T E R   I S S U E 

T O   T H E   F O R E

The long putter and belly putter has long courted controversy, but until last August the issue was debated, but as nobody had made a significant impact using one it seemed as though its effect upon the game was minimal and just a good post round talking point. Keegan Bradley made history by becoming the first ever winner of a Major Championship to use a Belly putter / long putter, when he ousted Jason Dufner in a play-off in the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in August 2011. The debate and discussion intensified. Until now players had only turned to belly putters or long putters when they had failed with the shorter putter towards the end of their careers. 

But in 2011 not only did Keegan Bradley have major success, he won the HP Byron Nelson Championship in his rookie season, and Webb Simpson won twice to come 2^nd in the PGA Tour Money List. Simpson was 26, Bradley was 25, neither of these players have had problems with the short putter in their professional career, they made a calculated choice to use the putter.

Simpson then emulated Bradley by winning the US Open. More fuel to the fire for those wanting these putters banned. And then in July perhaps the greatest example and case for outlawing the putters. Ernie Els was renowned for more than a decade as arguably the greatest putter in the world, winner of 2 US Opens and 1 Claret Jug, a world number one and winner of more than 60 tournaments worldwide. But following nearly a decade without winning a Major, Els turned to the belly putter.

The championship Els covets more than any other is the Open Championship, his record is amongst the very best of any player to play the game with one win, three second places and a total of twelve top ten finishes out of 19 appearances prior to 2012. Els ached for one more chance to claim a second claret jug and fourth Major Championship. The 2012 Open Championship was lost by Adam Scott as much as it was won by Ernie Els, but two things some up for me the belly and long putters should be banned. Adam Scott was a top young golfer, and then lost his putting, he switched to the long putter and then won a WGC and lead the Open until the end. And, on the final green, the biggest putt of Els career since the 2004 Open Championship at Troon, the highest pressure he had faced in years, and he rolled the putt in to set the clubhouse target.

The top two players in The Open Championship used long / belly putters, the winner of the US Open and the 2011 PGA used belly putters. 3 of the 4 Majors were in possession of players who used putters other than standard. The issue was highlighted more than ever before.

And then, a 14-year-old won the Asian Amateur and qualified for the 2013 Masters. Guan Tianlang from China hasn't been playing long enough to lose his putting and use the belly putter as a last resort, he, along with his coach, have made a calculated decision to use it. This cannot be right.

Finally in late November the R&A and USGA made the brave decision to address the issue, outlawing anchoring the putter to a players body from January 2016. The clubs will remain conforming under the equipment rules, but finally golf's governing bodies had made the correct decision to end what many, including me, believe is legalised cheating. But don't just take my word for it. One of my closest friends is Stephen Sweeney, a PGA Professional and European Tour coach. I have know him for nearly 10 years and was living with him when he was an assistant at Royal County Down, and have kept in touch with him as his career has developed.

Sweeney has taught at all levels of the game, right across the world including in Ireland, Dubai, in Florida at TPC Sawgrass and in Germany, and is coach to Mikael Lundberg,  as well as giving advice on the range to several other European Tour golfers. Last month both Lundberg and Joakim Lagergren qualified for the 2013 European Tour at Qualifying School in Spain. He knows what he is talking about, and he kindly agreed to write the following piece for my review of the year.

The anchored stroke is quite fittingly soon to be sunk by the game of golfs governing bodies. The job of an anchor is on the sea bed and that's exactly where this legalised form of cheating in relation to putting belongs too. In fact, if it was my decision the belly putter and broomstick putter would find the same watery grave as the soon to be outlawed Anchored stroke. The game of golf is one of the most difficult sports in the world and to attain a level of mediocrity is an achievement in itself. It is only when people start playing golf that they realise the skill and ability of professional players who they watch on TV making pars, birdies and eagles with seemingly ease and regularity. There are hundreds of players who play on major tours every week all around the world with very similar ability levels when it comes to striking a golf ball with any given club. But there is one big difference......

October 2010 Dunhill Links, Sunday

Phillip Price has withdrawn from the tournament and I find myself stood on the driving range of a European Tour Event with my good friend Ryan Speedy as my caddie. I am stood between Thomas Bjorn and Jose Maria Olazabal and the noise coming from their practice shots are like shots from a Walther PPQ 9mm. I feel good about my swing and start off hitting the ball quite solid. I progress through the bag to the driver and didn't miss one shot. The swing felt good and the bal flight was under control. As we walk to the first tee my caddie comments on how good I am hitting it and suggests a low round coming up. A few practice putts later and the next thing I know I am on the 1st tee of the Old Course on Sunday of the Dunhill Links Championship about to play in a European Tour Event, if only for a day.

My name is announced by the starter and suddenly my hole body started shaking. A very sudden realisation set in that here I am with hundreds of people watching me and if I screw up everyone is going to know. What had been a rhythmic, smooth swing on the range suddenly turned into a short, quick slash on the first tee and I could feel I had completely lost all feel and control as I nervously watched my ball sail high and right towards the out of bounds.

Thankfully I struck it so poorly that the ball didn't reach the out of bounds and I quickly made my way from the first tee down the fairway with my caddie, both relieved that I had gotten away with it. Then came the dagger to the heart. My caddie gave me my six iron, I made a nice practice swing and then........ SHANK Out Of Bounds. I didn't even watch it finish as I turned to my caddie and quickly asked for another ball, dropped it and then made another quick slash barely avoiding another shank as the ball fizzed over the green from the thin strike. A good up and down later and I had a double bogey 6 on my card on one of the easiest holes on the course.

An OK drive on the second was followed by another shank and I just thought, what the hell am I doing here. I escaped with bogey but the damage was done. I started to play OK as the anxiety wore off and from the 3rd tee to the 16th green, I out drove, out putted and out played my European Tour playing partner, Jamie Donaldson. Then as we came to the famous 17th and I noticed a camera crew form sky sports following us, it happened again. I lost control of my swing and flared my tee shot high and right out of bounds and onto the head of a spectator in the Jigger Inn beer garden. My next found the fairway and then another half shank onto the road behind the green before escaping with a 7. I some how managed to par the last and accepted the applause from the spectators who obviously had not seen what had gone before.

I realised at that point why every Tour Player can shoot great scores in practice rounds and bounce games but can't even shoot par in a tournament round. For me on that Sunday in St Andrews I chipped and putted as well as I ever have because that has always been the strength of my game and I had supreme confidence in it. However despite the great warm up on the range, something still made me doubt my swing when it came to the first tee. I lost control not because my technique was poor but because I couldn't control my body movements and state of mind when it came to a pressure moment. I believe the same to be true with putting weather it is simply making bad stroke in tournaments or worst of all having the YIPS, these things are always exaggerated in stressful situations.

Scott Hoch 89 Masters

Doug Sanders 70 Open

Ben Hogan 46 Masters

Craig Stadler 85 Ryder Cup

Retief Goosen 01 US Open

IK Kim 12 Kraft Nabisco

Bernhard Langer 91 Ryder Cup

My experience got me thinking about putting and how much, if any, the belly putter could help control movement in the putting stoke when adrenaline levels and nervousness set in.

So I created a test with 10 carefully chosen professional players from various tours.

Test 1

I selected 5 players who are know to me as really good putters and 5 players who are considered to be poor putters. With the help of SAM Putt lab, I tracked their strokes as they putted to a hole 10 ft away with no break and absolutely no pressure. Every player made almost every putt and their strokes all stayed extremely consistent.

Test 2

I then conducted the same test with a betting scenario with cash added in to create pressure. Straight away, there was a perfect divide between the good putters and the poor putters in both the number of putts holed and the consistency of the stroke on SAM.

Test 3

I then conducted test 2 again, but this time every player used a belly putter (all players had some time to practice with the belly putter before test 3). The good putters maintained their previous high standard of putts holed and consistency of stroke. However the poor putters once again matched them in both categories holing more putts than in test 2 as well as hugely improving the consistency of stroke.

This test proved to me beyond any doubt that in pressure situations the anchored stroke creates an advantage over the conventional stroke. We have seen many players move to this "crutch" to prolong careers but quite simply it has to stop. Many players such as Lee Westwood have fallen from the top of the game because of full swing yips or chipping yips or so on and have had no "crutch" to lean on but have returned to the very top through hard work and persistence. The guys who have putting issues should have no such luxury either. If your game is not good enough in every department to compete at the level you want to play at, then quite simply you don't deserve to be there. Its a harsh reality for some people but in professional sports there is no hiding place.

I look forward to watching the Tour on TV where the only anchors that are seen are the ones hanging off yachts in the background at Harbour Town or Pebble Beach.

There can be little doubt that the anchored putter has had the greatest impact upon prolonging a player's career at the top and elevating youngsters who would likely be otherwise average players to the top of the game. It can be argued that the impact of the size of the club head of a driver had nowhere near that of the anchored putter, because it still requires a very high level of technique for a player to hit the ball long and straight, and distance can be combated by better course design and set-up rather than banning clubs with a large CC. The banning of box grooves was welcomed by most people and proceeded with very little fuss, but again it can be argued that a much greater technique is required to take advantage of the possible benefits associated with the grooves.

A recent poll conducted by ColtMackenzieMcNair on their linkedin page showed 72% of respondents were in favour of the action taken by the R&A and USGA. Of course, the ban will not take place immediately and for the next three years Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson could etch their names into golfing history and win multiple majors. The USGA and R&A say that nobody will have an asterisk aside their names, but it is inevitable that in the minds of the public and many other elite golfers that they will.

T H E   R Y D E R    C U P

M E D I N A H   C O U N T R Y    C L U B

S E P T E M B E R    2 8 - 3 0

Over the first two days we saw a wave of American birdies, with shot after stunning shot from a team being lauded as the best for 30 years, since the "dream team" which dismantled Europe at Walton Heath in 1981. Seemingly every putt they hit found the bottom of the hole, and Europe were clinging on to anything they could to keep the match alive going into the Sunday Singles. 

Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald held on to edge out Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, giving Europe just their fifth point out of the first 15. Then the attention switched to the 16th match between Ian Poulter & Rory McIlroy and Jason Dufner & Zach Johnson. The Americans took a 2-up lead into the last six holes, and seemed set to extend the overall score to 11-5, before an inspired finish which gave Europe the platform for their greatest ever comeback. The World Number One (McIlroy) holed a downhill putt at the 13th to win the hole with a birdie, and then the European talisman Ian Poulter took over, holing putt after astonishing putt on each of the last five holes to complete a remarkable six birdie finish for Europe to close the score to 10-6 and give them hope of a "Brookline 99" style comeback.

And Europe achieved the Impossible by winning the first five matches on Sunday, quietening the raucous Chicago crowds and sending a ripple of nervousness around the Medinah Country Club. Suddenly the seemingly rampant Americans were missing and the pressure was too much for them to bare. The matches and destiny of the Ryder Cup came down to the final three matches. Ryder Cup legend Lee Westwood extended his points tally in the competition to 21, moving to within 4 points of matching the all-time record held by Sir Nick Faldo, a record he can potentially break at Gleneagles in 2014.

So it came down to the final two matches, with the score at 13-13, Europe needing 1 point to retain and the United States needing 1 and a half points to win. Martin Kaymer, out of form for much of the season and dropped for the entire second day's play, made a par 3 to take the lead on the 17th in his match against Jim Furyk, meaning a half at the final hole would incredibly give Europe the Ryder Cup.

And the German delivered.

Francesco Molinari and Tiger Woods halved their match, remarkably giving Europe an outright win, from a seemingly impossible deficit.

It was pure ecstasy for Europe and the fans.

Sky Sports' Butch Harmon, coach to Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, said that it "was the greatest golf event he had ever been to" and television ratings show the immense popularity of what is now without question the greatest golf event in the world. NBC's overnight ratings were the highest they have been for the Ryder Cup ever, eclipsing those of the 1999 matches when the United States team came back from the same deficit at The Country Club.

And for me the Ryder Cup does transcend golf to an audience which otherwise would not watch the game, this was proved in my own house. My parents have never really sat down with me to watch golf, but they did for this Ryder Cup, on Thursday night for the Opening Ceremony, on Friday for the Opening shots, on Saturday evening for the incredible finish to the Fourballs, and on Sunday for the finale. And what further proved this was that my Dad actually said that he was looking forward to watching it.

We were all sat there cheering every holed putt and we all celebrated when Martin Kaymer holed the clinching putt. The sense of exultation when Europe won was absolutely fantastic, it was without question the best golf tournament I have ever watched.

The benefits of this for golf will surely be massive, especially in Europe and for viewing figures of European tour events over the coming weeks as the season comes to a conclusion at the DPWorld Tour Championship  at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Golf has always had a rather unfair reputation as a sport for old men and a stuffy, slow game. This week completely shattered that reputation, with the crowd interaction on the first tee and throughout the course, and at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. And the makeup of the two teams, the bright and brash Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Nicolas Colsaerts, Ian Poulter, Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley.

Golf has come out of the 2012 Ryder Cup with its reputation and popularity enhanced, and its stars shining brighter than ever before. Sunday 30 September 2012 was Golf's Greatest Day and the highlight of yet another fantastic year of golf.