How the Ryder Cup Was Won

Well the Ryder Cup is over for another 2 years and I'm already counting the days to Celtic Manor in 2010. I cannot believe the drama and the excitement - it was even better than the K Club....apart from the result obviously!

Well here's what I've taken out from my weekend in front of the TV watching the best players in the world (bar Tiger Woods) play unbelievable golf. Hopefully, learning some of these lessons will help me get to single figures, lower my scores and my handicap.

Lesson 1 - When Captaining a side that is behind going into the last day singles put your form players out first. Faldo should have led the side with Karlsson, Poulter and McDowell who were all playing brilliant golf and who were all clearly in the right frame of mind to succeed.

Lesson 2 - Don't let your opponent get 'in your head' in matchplay - Anthony Kim clearly got to Sergio Garcia and it affected his game. The game was won well before the 8th when Sergio missed that short birdie putt to get a hole back.

Lesson 3 - Work on your wedge play - the quality of the approach shots was outstanding all week. These players clearly can make the ball dance with a short iron in their hands. This ability to make birdies or to recover from a poor shot to make par is the key to keeping your round on track. I am going to devote a much greater proportion of my practice time to 8 iron to lob wedge from now on.

Lesson 4 - You've got to putt well. Casey didn't make nearly as many putts as McDowell, Karlsson, Poulter and Harrington (who seemed to hole everything from within 20 feet in the last 4 balls match). Work on your putting. And when you think you're getting good, do some more work on it.

Overall, it was an enthralling weekend of sporting achievement - disappointing for the Europeans and momentous for the Americans - but at the same time a glowing tribute to the fascination of matchplay golf; and hopefully millions of youngsters watching this weekend will have been inspired to take up the game as a result of the spectacle they saw this weekend.

Fingers crossed for 2010; if I can just work on lessons 2, 3 and 4 who knows I might even make the team.