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The first
problem was where to leave the car and take the shuttle: for a fortnight I had
been trying to book a parking space, but I couldn't because of problems
on the website. I had also written twice to customer service, without ever getting
a reply. I try to go to La Rustica, where the shuttle should take a little less
time, but there is no parking, apart from theirs, so I fall back on Ponte
Mammolo. Once there, it takes me about ten minutes to figure out where the
shuttles leave from, I get sent twice from one floor to the other. I also fear
that there is no one waiting for them, that everyone is already there (on the
event's Instagram page I saw the crush to run to the first tee at the opening
of the gates), but instead a few people are still there: the shuttle leaves
immediately and is almost full. Most of them are Americans, some of them
dressed as revolutionaries: it is the first of many original outfits I will
see.
The shuttle
leaves at 8.35. The website said it would take 70 minutes: knowing the
distances, it seemed a bit long, but I thought they were taking rush hour traffic into account. Instead in about 20 minutes we arrived: if I'd known
that, I wouldn't even have tried to book parking, I would have gone straight to
Ponte Mammolo. I have no idea how far the gates are, because the site is
completely unrecognisable, even compared to the Open in May: you arrive in
about ten minutes. The entrance is quite quick, only I have to wait because my
ticket doesn't open on my mobile phone (it was absolutely forbidden to print it
out), there wasn't much connection. Moments of panic, but eventually it opens.
They pass the backpacks through the metal detector, but it all ends there, they
don't make me open it. Everyone speaks to you in English, not here but inside
you will also find many staff members who don't speak Italian at all.
Only once
we get to the course, with hole 9 being the first one we encounter, I
understand where we are. I see from the app that the match 1 is right at
9, so I start from there. The crowd is huge and I have a hard time finding a
place to watch. It was what I feared, as compared to the Open not only are
there a lot more people, but then there were about thirty matches on the course
at once, this time only four. In the morning there are the 'foursomes',
competitions in pairs in which the players alternate shots. I had already
realised that I had forgotten an essential accessory: my binocular, but few
people have them and they seem to be able to follow much better than me, from the
same distance.
I catch
sight of the second shot, it seems to me (the 9th is a par 5, but almost
everyone gets to the green or close to it with 2 shots), then I get closer tp the
green and catch a glimpse of the putts. I think about going ahead on the course
and taking place around a hole before the players arrive, hoping to find fewer
people, but as I move I realise that places have opened up near the green of
the 9th and that the other group is arriving. I therefore decide to stay and
manage to see the putts quite well.
Moving
towards the "in" part of the course, I see that there are already a few
people in the grandstand at the 18th hole. In passing I catch a glimpse of something
at the 10th, then I go forward and place myself at the 12th, in a position just
beyond the arrival of the first shot, which allows me to see the second shot
well and the putts quite well too. I thus follow the second, third and fourth
match, which all end tied, also due to errors in putts. I see a lot of Swedes
passing by in their national colours, while in the afternoon I will also see Danes.
Behind me are two old gentlemen speaking German. Lots of Americans too, with
various outfits that recall the national colours, One is mocking MAGA with a T-shirt with the same colours and the words 'make Tiger great again'. I
also see a Super Mario costume and others superhero ones.
After the12th you can cut to the 16th, where there are already a lot of people, but you can still
see quite closely. I therefore decide to wait for the players there, but
shortly afterwards I notice that the scoreboard begins to mark two points for
Europe. I then realise that the first two matches are already over, as they are
mathematically won by Europe and will therefore not go through to the 16th. I wait for the third one and for a while there is the risk that it won't go
through either: at the 14th they have a 3-shot lead, which will remain so at
the 15th (to the relief of the European public too), so they continue playing. I see a ball coming in a good position, at
first I think it's the Europeans', then I discover it's the Americans' one. The
Europeans' ball is not clear where it ended up: someone says in the water, then
when they go to hit the second shot it becomes clear that it was not. The
Americans win anyway, coming in at -2. In the next gmatch the Americans also win
and move to -1, but in the meantime I see from the screen that on 17 the
Europeans have kept the lead and closed.
Also in the last group the Europeans will close in the 17th, but I am too tired to follow them and, also considering that it is not long before the start of the afternoon matches, I decide to get some food on the hill near the start of the 18th. Food and drink are exorbitantly priced: for a sandwich (even a small one) with a chicken cutlet, a roesti and mojito-flavoured mayonnaise, fries and a drink I spend €23.90. Anyway it's good (and I should hope so...) . I cannot find a seat near the kiosk, I move to another food court nearby and find one. I see a group of fans wearing a jacket with the Union Jack next to the 12 stars of Europe: it's nice to see these two symbols together again, and I hope that they will be back together as soon as possible. In general, the European symbol can be seen more here than in the Berlaymont building (the EU headquarter).
As I eat I
also see the grandstand at the tee of the 1st gradually filling up and in fact when I
come down hoping to see the starts of the last two matches it is full and they
are no longer letting people in. As I walk up to the green of the 1st, I see lots of
people camped out at the 7th, and the first group is still at the 2nd! I see the putts at the 1st of what I think is the fourth matches, but I'll later discover it was the third. The 'fourballs', pairwise competitions
where the best of the pair at each hole counts, are harder to follow than this
morning's matches with the players on each team dressed alike and difficult to
distinguish from the distance I can see them from alone (given also my lack of competence) I struggle to work out how many strokes each one has made. Complicating
matters is also the fact that shorter putts are not executed, they are taken
for granted.
I move
towards the green of the 9th, but the crowd is huge: I manage to see little of
the second match, a little more of the third, then I give up waiting for the
fourth, I am too tired. I head towards the 16th, where I hope to sit in the
grandstand and end the day there. When I arrive at the grandstand, I see that there
is a queue and I think I have no hope, since it is unlikely that anyone will
leave before the match arrives, instead seats slowly become free and after a
while I manage to get in. The grandstand, like all the others, is in the sun:
the heat has been devastating all day, only now it is diminishing. There are
two screens, but from my position one is obstructed by trees and one is far away:
I can't tell which matches are being broadcast. The wait is long, the 15th hole
of the first match seems never-ending, and it is a par 4.
At the end
we see the first ball of the first game: it is from Europe and is close to the
green (the hole is par 4 but almost everyone arrives close to the green with
the first shot, and some even into the green). I see three balls arrive, one of
which (American) in the water: I will only see one in the second game and two
in the third. Hutton with the second shot arrives at a distance that allows him
to avoid the putt. Thomas, on the other hand, has to make it, despite being
very close, and misses: a 'football' roar from the crowd. The roar was even
louder in the second game, won by Europe with an incredible shot by Rahm, who
putted from the rough just off the green. The USA will instead win the third,
during which it will be confirmed that the fourth will not make it to the 16th,
Europe having closed it early.
On my way
to the exit, I read that the first two matches ended in a tie, in the second
Europe came back at the 18th, while the third should be won by the USA, they are two
shots ahead after the 1th6. I arrive at the bus queue, which is messy, no one checks
that there are no more people than there are seats, I see that there are also
coaches, with more standing places than sitting places, and I hope I don't have
to make the return journey standing up: I finally manage to sit down, after
having feared I wouldn't make it. On the coach I learn that the Americans have
not even managed to win the third game, which ended in a tie we are 6 1/2-1
1/2. During the journey there will be more football-style chants in favour of Europe.
My next
appointment with golf is for 1 August 2024 in Paris, the one with the Ryder Cup
I fear never and I am sorry because it was a fantastic experience, but, as Italian singer Guccinii, 'it is the expression of the little that we are given to live '.
