Battle of the Belt Buckles on the 1st Tee

By Paul Mahoney
At Ridgewood Country Club

It was the Battle of the Belt Buckles at The Barclays. Last group out were Dustin Johnson and Martin Laird. Keeping ones pants up in style these days it seems is as important as swinging and winning. Laird won for style, originality, patriotism and the personal touch. His silver Scottish Saltire flag beat the three-stripes Adidas brand extension that looked like a claw. Fans in the bleacher behind the tee unravelled a Scottish flag, too. Must have been his family. Johnson was suffering from a cold earlier in the week. He still had a croaky cough on the tee. Nothing croaky about his opening drive, though. Straight down the middle.

He looked relaxed chatting to officials in blazers and the president – not that one, the one from Barclays, Bob Diamond (that's what it says by his parking lot space. It's Robert E Diamond Jr on the company's website). One name is for golf; the other is for negotiating business deals. Presumably. Laird is from Glass Cow, Scotland according to the announcer. Never heard of it. Polite applause for the Glass Cowgian. Slugger Johnson is the fans' favourite. He's from Columbia, South Carolina. No problem with that name. Johnson got all the whoops.

His wedge flew past the flag but didn't get any zip back. Par. Laird almost pitched in with his wedge. Tap in birdie from one inch. Europe 1 up on the USA. As soon as they left each hole, it was clean up, put away and clear out time behind them. It feels like they were the last couple at the last table in a restaurant as the staff are hovering around them waiting to pounce and to tidy up, put up the closed sign, and get on home. Chairs were folded, ropes taken down, concession tents pulled down and packed away, flags removed and stacked on the back of a greenkeeper's buggy.

Meanwhile, in the other talking point of the day, two groups ahead, Kate Rose was following her husband Justin. She was busy texting. Rose failed to get a wildcard for the Ryder Cup. She said European captain Colin Montgomerie called him while he was on the range at Ridgewood shortly before his final round. "You can tell he's gutted," Kate said. "His shoulders are slumped and his body language just says he's disappointed. It's a real shame. He's won twice on the PGA Tour this year. I don't understand how he didn't get picked."

Paul Casey missed out, too. Monty picked Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington and Edoardo Molinari, who birdied the last three holes at Gleneagles, Scotland to win the Johnnie Walker Championship. Donald said he found out he had been picked on the 10th hole. He had just played the front nine in 28 then made back-to-back bogeys. "It did throw me off a little bit," Donald said. "This has been one of the craziest selections for a Ryder Cup ever. Guys in Top 10 didn't know if they were going to be playing. There were very anxious moments. Relieved and excited to be back on the team. Obviously I feel bad for Paul and Justin.

Europe has to look harder at the qualification system and whether it's the correct way to do it or whether there's a better way. Golf really is becoming a world game and I understand they want to protect the European Tour but at the same time, the top guys are going to want to play against the best players in the world no matter what and shouldn't be penalized for that. Paul Casey, No.9 in the world, finished second at the British Open, and nearly top 10 at the PGA, great match play record - to see him left off the team was disappointing. Obviously my brother (Christian) is on his bag, too. I am disappointed for him as well."

Back at The Barclays, a Scot was leading entering the back nine and he was the only European on this New Jersey course who had no interest in Monty's wildcard sub-plot. Laird lives and plays on the US Tour and is not even a member of the European Tour so he can't even qualify for the Ryder Cup team. Shame. Monty would have loved Laird's Scottish belt buckle. Oh, and it's Glasgow, not Glass Cow, by the way.