No sleeping on the job

It’s been a whirlwind few months, covering some of the biggest events in golf. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being at Troon for the men’s Open, staring once again at the views of Lake Geneva at Evian and tasting the sea air and all that St Andrews has to offer for the Women’s Open.

Although after two weeks in Scotland, I do feel I have lost a fair chunk of my summer! And there’s something about the so-called smaller events that resonate greater with me. And I suppose it depends how you define “small”. Last week at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open, over twenty thousand people came to watch at Carton House. And the Annabel Dimmock story was a joy. If you haven’t watched her mini documentary that concluded a week before Ireland, click on that link.

But now it’s back to a “biggie”. Arguably, the biggest in women’s golf, the Solheim Cup. I do wonder how many golf fans know that it’s days away. Hopefully, by the time it comes around, golf and sports fans get sucked in the way, I am sure many were by the Curtis Cup.

The Solheim Cup

For the first time since being at my first Solheim in 2011, I won’t be covering the event for Sky Sports. But I will be on 12 hours a day, covering the world feed (outside of the UK and Ireland and the USA). Ryder and Solheim Cups mean long hours on air. We are a team of three only for the world feed. You would think you would need to be fully rested and raring to go. Well, two of my Solheims, I have covered the first day almost completely sleep deprived.

2013 in Colorado. I was covering the World Championships badminton the week before! And due to fly straight from there to the US. Saturday night, after covering the semi-finals in Guangzhou, I look at my phone and see I have a dozen missed calls from my wife. Sadly, her father had passed away. I go the first flight I could to Manchester, before arriving in Liverpool to be at the funeral and be with my family. I stayed as long as I could and arrived in Colorado on the Thursday morning. Jey lag hit, fell asleep at 9pm, woke up at midnight. And that was it. Awake the rest of the night.

2019 in Gleneagles. Someone thought it was a good idea to put us in an hotel which backed onto a train station. The train track was metres from my room. And it happened to also be the end / beginning of the line. I tried to get to sleep early. To no avail. The cargo was constamtly being put on and off the trains there and the noise kept me awake until about 45 minutes before my 545am alarm. But the mind and the body have a way of getting you through. Coupled with adrenaline and plenty of caffeine! And the excitement of matchplay.

So, what about this year? Hopefully, I get a little more sleep! It feels strange having the event in successive years. But that means there will be more carry over than ever before. Unfinished business. Both captains will have learned from the experience. Suzann Pettersen famously going from “people pleaser” at the start of the match to the point where, as one of her players put it, “the beast was unleashed”.

It's the same captains and all but 5 of the 24 players will be the same. Unlike 2021 when covid affected the last staging on US soil, there should be some big crowds. If the US get ahead early (as they did in Spain), I expect them to go on and win this time. But if they get behind, the pressure could tell. World number one Nelly Korda has played in three of these and hasn’t been on a winning team. Not winning the cup for the 4th time in a row. For Team USA, that’s unthinkable.