My Ryder Cup memories - and future ambitions!

I wrote recently that because I missed out on qualifying for The Open I didn't watch too much of the action from Hoylake. Well, the Ryder Cup falls into a different category.

I know that club golfers and the media get excited about the next Ryder Cup as soon as the last one has finished and although it's not quite like that on tour, I'd say there is a different buzz to it than The Open.

For example if I can get Sky Sports installed in my new flat in time, I'll definitely be catching some of the action.

Of course my girlfriend Jo might have something to say about spending hour upon hour of a rare summer weekend off sitting on the sofa watching golf, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

So, unlike The Open, I will be making a conscious effort to watch the action from Ireland. And the difference - and it's only small, but I believe it is there - is that in the tournaments just before the matches there will be some chat on the practice ground about what might happen.

I'm not expecting it to be like the scene in your clubhouse where you all pick your first morning's fourball pairings for Europe or argue about who you'd give our wild cards to, but there will be the odd conversation about what we think might happen.

There will of course be several players on our team playing at the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre a fortnight before the Ryder Cup so it will be interesting to see if the 1st tee nerves for The K Club have already kicked in!

The Ryder Cup is huge these days and for someone of my age it's impossible to remember a time when it wasn't the exciting, competitive event it is today.

I can just about remember Sam Torrance winning the Cup for Europe back in 1985 but my main memories are of the matches in the early 1990s.

The Belfry in 1993 and Oak Hill two years later are two which spring to mind and Nick Faldo's victory over Curtis Strange to swing the match our way is one of the great golfing moments.

I can also still remember Phil Walton somehow hanging on for the decisive point against Jay Haas having been dormie three-up but needing to lag a tricky putt on the last to claim victory.

Valderrama in 1997 is another I remember with fondness as it was apt that Seve should captain Europe to success in his homeland.

His partnership with Jose Maria Olazabal is probably the defining image in my mind of growing up watching the Ryder Cup.

They were so powerful the Americans must have felt two-down on the 1st tee. If Jose makes it onto the team it be great to see him back in European colours.

He will add something to what is an incredibly strong side, one I think America will find very hard to beat.

From top to bottom we have class players and the days of having weak links - on paper at least - are long gone.

The strength in depth must have America a little scared and I believe they face a tough task to regain the trophy we won so comprehensively at Oakland Hills.

It is a terrific reflection on the advances the European Tour and European golf in general - right the way up from the amateur scene - has made in the past 20 years.

It's such a difficult side to get into these days when you consider that someone of the calibre of a Miguel Angel Jimenez or a Thomas Bjorn will not be on the team.

Someone like that will miss out. It could even be Ian Poulter or Lee Westwood, a key member of the side in the past decade.

That just shows the task of becoming a European Ryder Cup player is a massive one - but Robert Karlsson has shown it is possible to spring from the pack and suddenly find yourself cemented in the line-up.

He has been a steady player for many years and upped his level at the right time to secure a debut he perhaps thought had gone when he just missed out in 1999.

I'm sure he will perform well at The K Club although to be quite honest his chance are likely to be fairly limited because deciding who to leave out of every series is going to be a tough task for captain Ian Woosnam.

Nevertheless Robert will experience the dream of playing in the Ryder Cup and it certainly gives me inspiration to try to emulate his charge to the team.

I've got plenty of opportunities to try to do so myself and I just hope on one of the even years I can make the leap - it would be the absolute pinnacle of my career.

Back to this year, and The K Club will I'm sure be a fitting venue. To be quite frank, anywhere in Ireland would because the crowds really will make this event.

They love their golf over there and will be a kind, courteous but unfailingly passionate and vocal audience.

My prediction? I think Europe will have too much strength in depth. I hope so!