Ryder Cup 2012:‘I didn’t worry about Kaymer – look at Germans in penalty shoot-outs!’

HAVING watched Germany win so many spot-kick deciders in football over the years, Craig Connolly was confident his boss, Martin Kaymer, had the nerve to hole the six-foot putt that retained the Ryder Cup for Europe.

“I was very confident,” insisted Connolly, one of two Scottish caddies on duty at Medinah. “Ask yourself this: ‘How good are the Germans at penalty shoot-outs?’ When it comes to the crunch, they hold their nerve. He rolled it right in the middle.”

The Glaswegian also used football parlance to describe how Kaymer, who can expect a hero’s welcome at this week’s Dunhill Links Championship, had bounced back to win his singles against Steve Stricker after the bitter disappointment of being left out of Saturday’s two sessions by Jose Maria Olazabal.

“He was so disappointed about not getting to play on Saturday because he didn’t think he played well on Friday,” he added. “But I didn’t have to pick him up. He was saying to me that he had to get out there and support his team-mates, stay positive and make the most of Sunday. He did that – he was magnificent.

“I suppose it was like being dropped for a cup semi-final but still getting the chance to play in the final and score the winning goal.”

Kaymer hit the back of the net with Connolly at his side for a second successive Ryder Cup. In total, it was the Scot’s fifth taste of the intercontinental contest and he used all his experience to try and keep Kaymer calm as his match turned into one of the crunch encounters on a dramatic afternoon at Medinah.

“Everybody wants the chance to do what Martin did,” he said. “You can play in three, four, five Ryder Cups and never get that opportunity. It is a real team event, of course it is. But it’s human nature to want a little bit of personal glory, so why shouldn’t he enjoy the moment.”

“When he hit the first putt, I just thought to myself: ‘Why didn’t you just lag it up’. I looked up and around at the thousands of people standing around the green and thought: ‘Christ’. But those situations are what Martin and the rest of guys work for. To get the chance to hole the putt that wins the Ryder Cup doesn’t come around for too many players, so he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“Of course, there’s pressure but you don’t get to world 
No 1 and you don’t win a major championship [the 2010 USPGA title] if you can’t handle pressure. That’s why I wasn’t too worried when he stood over that putt.

“I knew he would have the nerve to hole it. It was an amazing feeling. I made sure I plucked the ball out of the hole then joined in the celebrations.”

They’ll continue, no doubt, throughout this week, when Kaymer will be bidding to claim the Dunhill Links title for the second time in three years, having won at St Andrews straight after the 2010 Ryder Cup win in Wales.

“Martin’s back will be sore with all the pats on the back he’ll get, but he’d settle for that every day of the week,” said Connolly, summing up the significance of what the German achieved on the outskirts of Chicago on Sunday.

• BOOKMAKERS were left counting the cost of Europe’s amazing Ryder Cup fightback.

The visitors had been quoted at 33-1 for victory ‘in running’ when they trailed 10-4 during Saturday’s fourballs matches.

Bet365 spokesman Steve Freeth said: “USA looked home and hosed on Saturday evening but Ian Poulter’s heroics gave Europe backers hope and that’s when we saw the first signs of belief in a fightback from Olazabal’s men at fancy prices.”

Along with many golf fans, bookmakers William Hill are in shock after seeing one of the biggest swings in sports betting history. With a book heavily weighted in Europe’s favour, they were cheering home a USA victory or the tie but the turnaround was little less than spectacular, with Tiger Woods’ final miss costing Hills alone over half a million pounds. As the players made their way to the course on Sunday morning, the odds suggested it was a forlorn hope, with the USA 1-12 for victory and Europe 8-1 outsiders, while the underdogs even touched 14-1 during early play.

It was a similar story at Ladbrokes as Europe defied in-play odds of 33/1 with that firm on Saturday evening, while Poulter was also heavily backed to be the top the overall points scorer at 14/1 as well as the leading European at 8/1. Europe have been installed as early favourites at 10/11 for the next Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, with the USA 5/4 and a tie 10/1.