The Ryder Cup: Beware the Tiger feats

Andrew Longmore meets the man who hates to be reminded of a famous deed

When the cream of Europe's golfers take on Tiger Woods and the Americans at Valderrama, the man who holds the secret of success will be playing in a scratch foursomes at Worplesdon Golf Club. Gary Wolstenholme was the last man to beat Tiger Woods in matchplay, a feat which has earned him eternal - at times, irritating - fame at bars and dinner tables. "The man who tamed the Tiger" is a reasonable epitaph for a golfer who was still touting a handicap of 23 at the age of 18, but, as Geoff Hurst would probably tell you, answering the same question a thousand times can tax the patience.

"What was Tiger like and what was the Masters like? That's all people want to know about." He has a stock answer to the first, which goes something like this. "He's somewhat introverted because everyone wants a piece of him. He doesn't mix a lot, which is not surprising. His life has been very sheltered. He's not really had the chance to go out and have a few beers with the lads. It's the penalty of earning the sort of money he has." Wolstenholme would fancy a slice of the money, you suspect, but not the gilded cage.

If the moral of the tortoise and hare was to be illustrated in sport, Wolstenholme's victory over Woods on the final green on second day of the 1995 Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl provides the perfect picture. On the face of it, Wolstenholme had no chance. Three-times US junior champion, three-times US amateur champion, Woods crossed the Atlantic with a prodigious reputation. Wolstenholme took up the game late, learnt fast, but was giving away 16 years and a lot more yards. The day was windy, Woods was unused to links golf, Wolstenholme was three up after five. The match was level at 13. Wolstenholme won 14, lost 15 and halved 16 and 17. At the 18th, Woods was 20 yards ahead off the tee.

"But he hit a seven-iron over the heads of the crowd," Wolstenholme recalled. "I missed the green right with a five-wood. My caddie said he thought it was out of bounds. I said: `It doesn't matter, we've still got to make four'." He did and the British had a two-point lead going into the final day. More importantly, for the spirit of both sides, Woods failed to appear at dinner that evening.

"I just played my game," Wolstenholme said. "A lot of people try to do too much. Monty talked a good game before playing with Tiger at the Masters, but he tried to play against him. Rocca did the same. I just ignored what he did, making birdies and that ground him down. He could've been doing cartwheels and I wouldn't have noticed.

"Often in matches as pressurised as the Ryder Cup or the Walker Cup, you don't have to play your A game; your B game is good enough because the tension is so great. When you look at the scores, they're nothing too shattering. A course as hard as Valderrama will not be beaten into submission, it will be a matter of playing steady golf. If our best players play their best, I am sure we can win."

Wolstenholme knows the Spanish course well, but still cannot understand why the committee should have picked the one course most suited to the Americans. "Tiger's length will be a huge advantage in the four balls, particularly if they pair him with a steady player like Brad Faxon or Mark O'Meara. At seven, you can open up the fairway with a long drive, but at eight, a short par four, he could reach the green, but be in all sorts of trouble if he misses."

Now 37, Wolstenholme will be too engaged in his own battles to watch much. His moment is captured forever in the pictures on his wall and in the familiar introduction he will be granted a few more times this week. "It gives me the incentive to keep working, to keep going out in the cold and the drizzle. Those pro boys get a bit spoilt, you know."