RYDER CUP: Ewen Murray interview

Whatever the outcome on Sunday September 30 Ewen Murray will bring the curtain down on the 39th Ryder Cup in his own inimitable style.

There will be little hype but his words will stay with us and the gentle Scottish lilt will serve as the perfect accompaniment to three long and blissful days horizontal on the sofa.

How did you make the switch from tour player to commentator?
When satellite TV came along I did some commentary in Dubai and Sky bought the commentary.
They needed a commentator to do 20 events and a lot were in England at that time. I was on trial for three months and I came through that and thought I could live off that. I was also still doing company golf days with likes of Tommy Horton and Carl Mason

How much training did you get?
I was on my own but had a producer John Killeen with me every week and he was wonderful. I was pretty poor to start with and John used to sit down with me in the evening and tell me what he liked and what habits to get out of.

I had him for two years and still see him. If I struggle these days I text him and he tells me what he thinks. I had one difficult morning at a Ryder Cup and I was a bit stuttery and he told me I needed to enjoy myself more, it was a Ryder Cup but there was no need to take it too seriously.

Who are your favourite commentators?
Jim Nantz, he knows everything but doesn’t come across like he does and only uses it when he thinks it’s necessary. Rugby’s Bill McLaren was brilliant; one day England were hammering Scotland and he was stunning. Next in golf would be Dave Marr – he was superb, he didn’t say much but what he did say was always worth listening to.
Darren rang and said Ian Woosnam had offered him a wild card but he didn’t want to be going there unless he had something to contribute. You were involved in getting Darren Clarke ready for the ‘06 matches. How difficult was that?
I was meant to go to Singapore to do some commentary but Darren rang and said Ian Woosnam had offered him a wild card but he didn’t want to be going there unless he had something to contribute. I told him there was no doubt that we could get his game sorted, what we have to remember is that your team-mates will be there with their wives and partners so how would he handle that.

We spent 10 days at Queenwood. It was fairly intense and he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to produce his best. His concentration was understandably wavering.
One day I stopped the car on the way home and we had had a bad day and I wondered if I was doing the right thing.
The next day he was on better form and we talked and I told him I thought he was nervous. He said ‘of course I’m bloody nervous’ and we laughed and from that moment he was OK.

What exactly did you work on?
His short game at that point was the best it has ever been. We spent a lot of time trying to change his spin from right to left to left to right and he had it off pat.
He rang me at 5am on the first day of the matches and you could tell he was worried. Then when he walked on to the 1st tee, with all the home support, I thought we had made the wrong move, I didn’t think he would be able to get the ball on to the tee.
He was baring his soul to the whole world. He hit it over 300 yards, wedged to 15 feet and holed the putt.

How difficult was that for you?
We had Nick Faldo in the commentary box and Butch Harmon and Bruce Critchley. Butch is a hard guy and was in Vietnam and he had turned his mike off, Bruce had done the same so I thought I’m going to have to say something.
But then I thought I’d just leave it, there was no need for words. You could see everything on Lee Westwood and Darren’s face, and DiMarco and Mickelson’s face, so we said nothing. If he hadn’t had Lee with him I think it could have been different as they have done absolutely everything together.

When do you decide on your words for the winning putt?
It is impossible to prepare it as you don’t know what’s going to happen. You have things in the back of your mind. “Monty’s Mission Accomplished” was Wales – as lead commentator it is a high pressure situation and you don’t want to be screwing it up. You also don’t want to use what the papers will use the next day like Elementary for Watson at Augusta this year. Sometimes I think about it in the car on the way in or if I’ve got some time off.
Pictures are so emotive, 20 years ago there were four or five cameras, now there are 30.