Aka: Six of our Straka's are missing.
In which golf101 heads to the Marco Simone course for the final practice day ahead of the 2023 Ryder Cup.
A funny thing happened on the way to the fourm...
This is Ray and some of his mates.
This picture was taken at 9.30 in the morning at the park and ride drop off.
They're from Austria.
Hence the lederhosen.
It was 28 degrees when the photo was taken...a couple of hours later it was 32.
So of course I asked them for a photo and, initially, I was puzzled by the lettering on the shirts.
"Are you all lined up in the right order?" I naively asked.
"Yes Jon, we're a few guys light. We're meeting up with them in the ground"
And then I got it.
When they finally meet up, the full group of them will create a t-shirt lexicon of Austria's first ever Ryder Cup'er
S-E-P-P-S-T-R-A-K-A
What I had met, should I have been successful in re-arranging them, was P-A-R-T of a STRAKA.
It turns out Ray was a Ryder Cup veteran.
"This is very muted Jon. In France (last time) we'd all have been singing by now. Gleneagles was the best. The stand around the first tee was full and the fairways were 12 deep. Everyone was in full voice at 06.00am. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it".
Well we weren't at the ground yet so I took Ray's observation under advisement but thought it best not to pre-judge the atmospherics this early in my Ryder Cup odessey.
And as it turned out, Ray needn't have worried. For my money there was plenty of 'Viking Thunder Clap' when the European Team took to the first tee.
And an hour or so later, the crowd around the 5th green ratcheted up the applause when Victor Hovland holed out from the tee at this 300 yard par 4.
It wasn't, (technically) a hole-in-one as he'd already hit a tee shot short and right of the green.
Nevertheless it was some birdie and let's hope he can repeat the shot tomorrow!
Following the excitement of the hole-out at the 5th it was great, a few minutes later, to approach the 6th green and see a full compliment of STRAKAs.
I sought out Ray among the group, each of whom were two thirds the way down their own half corona cigar, shuffling about on a bed of discarded Peroni cans.
"Ray, how are you doing?"
"Hey Jon how are you? Look the rest of the guys are here!"
"Did you see Sepp?"
"Yes of course"
"Did he see you? Did he come over?"
"Yes! He was great. He loved it and signed all of our shirts!"
I've got a feeling that I'll meet up with the STRAKAs again as the weekend progresses...
I hope so, because for me, Ray, and the other nine consonants and vowels in his posse, epitomised the atmosphere that was present all day.
The Ryder Cup experience is more festival than traditional tour event.
Loads of fancy dress, twelve in a group, different venues each time, team shirts, funny formats...it's a cross between Top Meadow on Tour and the GIT Cup!!
All that's missing is a Corby Trouser Press...
The day closed with the opening ceremony.
The Freece Tricolori (Frecce Tricolori - Wikipedia) did their thing and Luke Donald and Zach Johnson introduced their teams and announced the first morning's fourball pairings.
And this is what we have to look forward to tomorrow from 07:30...
Match 1: John Rahm and Tyrell Hatton vs Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns
Match 2: Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg vs Max Homa and Brian Harman
Match 3: Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka vs Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa
Match 4: Rory Mcllory and Tommy Fleetwood vs Xander Schauffle and Patrick Cantlay.
Ave Caesar morituri te salutant
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