Why domino effect can help Europeans topple Team USA in Ryder Cup

It was one of those moments that epitomised Team Europe when it comes to the Ryder Cup and, on this occasion, the person caught out by it was Bob MacIntyre’s caddie, Mike Burrow.

“Dominoes” shouted Matthew Joule, the Ryder Cup Europe press officer co-ordinating the official team photograph session on Tuesday morning, through his megaphone as the caddies knelt on one knee in front of the players.

The likes of Harry Diamond, Rory McIlroy’s looper, and Ian Finnis, who caddies for Tommy Fleetwood, knew what was coming but not Burrow, a first-timer this week, as they toppled over from left to right.

Team Europe have a bit of fun during the official photoshoot for the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black | Tom Russo/The Scotsman

Burrow was a tad red-faced as he picked himself up off the ground as everyone had a good laugh at his expense, even more so when he tried to wipe a grass stain off his crisp white top.

It was Team Europe at its best and, though the bid to hold on to the coveted trophy this week may come down to 12 players, this photo session showed why those individuals care so much about the Ryder Cup.

Donald’s dozen were pictured on their own with the captain then being joined by the caddies and then the vice-captains, namely Jose Maria Olazabal, Thomas Bjorn, Edoardo and Francesco Molinari and Alex Noren.

They were all then joined by every single member of a wider Team Europe, including Dr Andrew Murray, the DP World Tour’s chief medical officer, and his team, and other support staff working hard out here and you can see those players appreciate that.

It’s why the Europeans, unlike their American counterparts, are unlikely to ever need a monetary reward to play in the Ryder Cup, even if the bulk of $500,000 each player in Keegan Bradley’s team this week will be donated to charity and rightly so.

For the visitors’ first official practice round, Donald’s players wasted no time mounting a charm offensive with the US fans, something that was started in a big way by Bernhard Langer when he led his team to victory at Oakland Hills in 2004.

The European players, who were playing 18 holes on Tuesday before reducing their preparation to nine holes on both Wednesday and Thursday, started signing autographs at the back of the first green and were perfectly happy to do so.

Europeans are ‘bunch of really solid guys with good values’

“Yeah, we're the visitors,” said Donald, speaking in his second press conference of the week, in reply to being asked about his players engaging with the fans. “We're trying to just be respectful to the crowd and just do whatever we can to be our best selves and play our best golf.

“I'm very lucky as a captain; this isn't a team I've had to really try and form. But I feel like we have a bunch of really solid guys with good values. They're out there to be entertaining. They're out there to play great golf. They understand how important the fans are.”

With Burrow having regained his composure, MacIntyre was out with Sepp Straka, Rasmus Hojgaard and Viktor Hovald, with Bjorn keeping a close eye on that quartet and feeding back information to Donald.