My favorite Ryder Cup memory: Hale Irwin

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We asked several Champions Tour players to share their favorite memories from the Ryder Cup. What did Hale Irwin say was his favorite moment?

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Looking back on those years when I played in the mid-to-late 70s, we were clearly a better team than the British team so it wasn't a matter of whether we were going to lose or win. I don't mean for this to be boastful or talking down the other team, but we had 12 really strong players and not quite as many from the other side. So making our team was very much a pride thing. There was no money in it so it was really the pride of being able to make the U.S. team. I think the players really enjoyed the camaraderie and the bonding that went with being on a Ryder Cup team. There was a lot of effort to make the team and then once there, the pride factor certainly set in because I know I didn't want to be on a losing team. I think we were all motivated in that sense.

After making four teams from 1975-'81, I then had a 10-year hiatus before I made my next team and in that 10-year period, they had taken on the European players rather than just the U.K. players. They had become a much stronger team and were in fact winning the Ryder Cup. When we met in 1991 it was a new experience and a new era playing with some new guys I certainly knew for a long time, but for me it was still a personal challenge to play with these players at the age of 46. To be able to play at that level at that age was very meaningful to me. There were some guys I had not seen or played with in awhile so it was very, very gratifying for me to play again.

Looking back, I remember the first match I played was at Laurel Valley and Arnold (Palmer) was the captain and I was paired with Gene Littler. I've never played with a player before then or since that played the shots and the yardages for the shots almost the way I did. We were almost identical in how we approached playing the game. For me for first match out playing with Gene it was really, really good. He was an experienced player and he really helped me a lot. He calmed me down because I was as high as those mountains in Latrobe. I was ready to rock and roll. He was a great partner.

Of course, who can forget the matches I had with Langer (Bernhard) in 1991 to our benefit, but I really don't look at that as someone losing or winning because Bernhard played well and I played well and it came down to one putt that didn't fall in and we happened to keep the Cup. It was a very difficult time but he was a class guy. I can never look at that and say that he lost. Never, never in my life would I ever do that. We just happened to draw. That was very meaningful and one other memory I have from that same Ryder Cup happened later that evening. We were going to the presentation and I remember seeing Ian Woosnam, who we all know is a very strong guy and is known to tip back a few. Payne Stewart and I had just gotten out of the bus and next thing I know Payne is above my head. Ian had walked up behind us, crouched down and got hold of Payne's legs and lifted him up and got him up on his shoulders just with brute force. I've never seen anything like that nor would you ever. Those are some of the fun things people never see. I don't know why that sticks in my mind but it just does.