THIS year’s Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club (USA) had the most exciting finish in golf history, as Europe came from well back to take the honours in the final games.
And while millions were at home late at night watching the drama unfold, one Driffield Golf Club member was at the course.
Ben Godby, who plays off nine, said Europe winning and retaining the Ryder Cup is an experience he will never forget.
Ben said: “We’d originally planned to only go on the Thursday practise session as tickets for the three days had already sold out some time ago.
“Luckily my stepfather checked the Ryder Cup website on the Tuesday to see the opening times and noticed a link to an affiliated charity selling tickets for the weekend session, so we were able to purchase for the final day on the Sunday.
“Of course after the first two days results we were a little unsure about going to see the Europeans lose in front of a raucous US crowd, but decided we wouldn’t get another chance to experience the Ryder Cup on American soil.
“You can’t really appreciate the standard of professional golfers until watching them in the flesh, the quality of ball striking and efficiency around the green is on another planet compared to a low handicap club player.
“Predictably the American crowd were in high spirits and very noisy. I’ve never experienced such an electric atmosphere at a sporting event.
“We’d managed to find a good spot on the 14th green which also had a scoreboard so we were able to see what was happening.
“Watching the groups come through as you’re only a few feet away from the players taking their shots is a surreal experience; most acknowledged the support from the fans.
“It was hard to see halfway through the day that the Europeans were going to make a comeback although from personal experience anything can happen playing golf.
“You could sense a change to an anxious atmosphere as the first few games were won by the Europeans. The players looked to remain calm but you could tell they were starting to worry with the growing silence from the home fans and several looks as they walked past the scoreboard!
“The rollercoaster of emotions you go through is indescribable; there was an ever growing excitement amongst us as the momentum started to swing towards the Europeans.
“In the final stages you really could feel the tension in the air, it’s hard to understand the pressure the players must have felt.
“Watching Kaymer on the 18th hole winning his game and Europe retaining the Ryder Cup is an experience I’ll never forget. It didn’t really sink in until the day after that I’ve probably witnessed one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time.
“It’s truly inspiring to see a game that you love being played by sporting superstars, although it didn’t help me much this weekend!”
Ben is pictured above at Driffield GC.