Well what an amazing week at The Ryder Cup. 

It started on Sunday night at The Hilton Hotel at Heathrow prior to the flight out on Monday morning when I found myself discussing the pairings for the week with Pete Cowan and Captain Darren Clarke. 

I didn't win any prizes for the Rose and Stenson to lead out the Europeans! On the Tuesday I went with my fellow PGA board members to the Junior Ryder Cup where team USA set the theme for the week winning 15½ to 8½. Wednesday I played in the PGA Board match and managed to hole a 6 foot putt on the last to win our match and Europe managed to win 17 - 15. 

I was assigned as the observer for the second Foursomes match on Friday that saw Rory McIlroy and Andy Sullivan take on Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler. This meant that I was on the 1st tee for the first tee shots on Friday, to say the atmosphere was incredible would be an understatement. As ever with Phil it was exciting as he struggled to hit the diver on the course. 

I was called into action to inform the referee that his drive was out of bounds on the 6th hole, and then had to tell Phil to wait for the referee as he was asking for a drop from the boundary fence - "that's a no Phil... play right handed!" 

On Saturday I was with the third foursomes match of Justin Rose and Chris Wood against Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson, not much action as an observer as they all hit the ball pretty straight, but was involved in only the second match to go to the 18th hole, team Europe winning on the last hole. On Sunday I was with the Snedeker and Andy Sullivan match. It was pretty typical of the difference between the team as Snedeker just out putted a brave Andy Sullivan to finally win 3 & 1. 

Much has been said about the hostile crowd, but from inside the ropes yes it was vocal, but really the abuse was from the smallest of minority of the crowd. Yes there were a few drunken idiots that were not golf fans, but with crowds of 50,000 plus it really was a very small minority. 

Team Europe were always under dogs, and their chances of winning giving Team USA a 4-0 start on Friday morning made the task nearly impossible. Unfortunately our Ryder Cup seniors of Westwood and Kaymer didn't perform; maybe Captain Darren made a few mistakes not playing Wood and Cabrera Bello on the Saturday four balls. 

Easy in hindsight - in summary for once the USA out putted the Europeans; we've done it for the past few years. 

All in all an amazing week, the highlight of which meeting my golfing hero of 45 years and managing to snap a selfie with him!

http://www.pga.info/growing-the-game/improve-your-game/latest-articles/improve-your-game/expert-eye/ryder-cup/watching-brief-for-moortown-pro-heggie.aspx

Back at the ranch Jo and Tom held the fort brilliantly while Eddie and I were in Minnesota. 

Unfortunately the fog loomed more than it did for the first few matches at The Ryder Cup and the annual medal had to be postponed and will be replayed this coming Saturday. 

Anyway it's back to reality and down to my VAT return!!