Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart – who is now one of Sky Sports top golf pundits – thinks the 2020 Ryder Cup must go ahead – even if fans are banned because of the COVID-19 crisis

EX-Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart warned Europe’s top players they must play against the USA at Whistling Straits in September – because there is no guarantee the COVID-19 crisis could be over in another 12 months’ time.

So even if fans are barred from watching Padraig Harrington’s Europeean team go head to head with Steve Stricker’s American team at the Wisconsisn course, which hosted the USPGA Championship twice between 2004 and 2010, the Scot thinks the 2020 Ryder Cup must be played.

Coltart told Sky Sports Golf viewers: “Thomas Bjorn made a good point that we don’t know where we’re going to be in 12 months.

“We don’t know whether the vaccine is going to be effective or whether they’re going to have a vaccine.

“If the event has to be suspended again because of another spike… goodness me, the economic fallout of that could be catastrophic.”

It means Coltart is in the camp with Ryder Cup captains Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington who have called for the event to go ahead.

Meanwhile Ian Woosnam, the winning captain in Dublin in 2006, has said the Ryder Cup without fans in September would be a disaster.

Coltart’s view that the biennial contest – which has been won by Europe in seven of the last stagings since 2002, the last time the event was rescheduled following the 9/11 terrorist attack on New Year – is not universally popular with the prospective members.

The famous Ryder Cup trophy at Whistling Straits, in Wisconsin – the venue for 2020

Coltart: 2020 will go down in history

RORY McIlroy has led European calls for the event to be postponed – if fans are not going to be allowed at Whistling Straits.

Earlier this month, McIlroy was asked if he would consider refusing to play in a Ryder Cup without fans.

The World No. 1 said he would prefer the tournament to be played in 2021 – if it is not safe for fans to attend because of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: “Look, I love the Ryder Cup. But I can’t see it without fans.

“I think there are enough people in the game who don’t want the Ryder Cup to happen without the fans.

“So this year it will be played with the fans if we can do that, or we’ll have to figure out kicking it down the road to a later date.

But Coltart believes the players have an obligation to entertain the millions of golf fans who would watch on TV, in addition to the 40,000 crowds expected on all three days.

It would give fans all around the world something to smile about after all the death and disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think if we can go ahead with it we should go ahead with it,” said Coltart, who made his Ryder Cup debut playing against Tiger Woods in the Sunday singlesat the Battle of Brookline, in 1999.

Coltart added: “I totally accept that won’t be an opinion shared by absolutely everybody.

“But nonetheless I think the world has been through a tumultuous period, a very difficult period for a lot of people.

“Some people have come through unscathed, other people have been nowhere near as fortunate.

“Golf is a great opportunity to heal the world – not just the sporting world – but the world in general.

“And I think the Ryder Cup is a fantastic opportunity for that.

“What better than two continents going at it in the cauldron of the Ryder Cup?

“Yes, there won’t be the fans, but people back home are crying out for some sense of normality – something to help pick their lives up from what has been a very, very difficult time.

“I accept that it won’t be like the Ryder Cups of years gone by.”

Rory McIlroy thinks the 2020 Ryder Cup will be postponed until 2021

Rory: No fans, no Ryder Cup

RORY McIlroy has led European calls for the event to be postponed – if fans are not going to be allowed at Whistling Straits.

McIlroy was asked if he would consider refusing to play in a Ryder Cup without fans, earlier this month.

He said: “Look, I love the Ryder Cup. But I can’t see it without fans.

“I think there are enough people in the game who don’t want the Ryder Cup to happen without the fans.

“So this year it will be played with the fans if we can do that, or we’ll have to figure out kicking it down the road to a later date.”

Coltart was one of two players controversially left out of the fourballs and foursomes on the first two days in Boston by captain Mark James.

The USA stormed back from a 10-6 deficit to win amid incredible scenes.

But they sparked one of the biggest rows in Ryder Cup history with accusations of unsporting behaviour levelled at the US team by captain Mark James.

Coltart accepts that the 2020 Ryder Cup is also certain to stand out in the competition’s history – which dates back to the first unofficial match between two teams representing the USA and Great Britain and Ireland at Wentworth in 1926.

The two-time European Tour winner said: “It will be very difficult for them, as they’ll always be remembered as the players who played in that Ryder Cup, or captained that Ryder Cup.

“But I think there’s maybe an obligation to the world to get that game played and to try and get us back to a sense of normality.”

USA captain Steve Stricker and Europe’s Padraig Harrington have discussed playing the Ryder Cup even if fans are barred in September. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Captains caught on either side of Ryder Cup debate

THE debate over holding the 2020 Ryder Cup with or without fans, in September, has split Tour golfers down the middle.

Senior European Tour figures like past captain Paul McGinley and current captain Padraig Harrington have changed their tune since speculation began with the COVID-19 lockdown in March.

While they spent the last couple of months trying to bang the drum for a fan-less Ryder Cup, McIlroy has been consistent in his stance.

McIlroy said in May: “I think the majority of players would like to see it pushed back until 2021 – so that they can play in front of crowds and have the atmosphere that makes the Ryder Cup so special.

“The players are the ones that make the Ryder Cup. If they are not on board with it and don’t want to play then there is no Ryder Cup.

“I see it being pushed back until 2021 and, honestly, I think that will be the right call.”

Ian Woosnam: Ryder Cup is all about the players

RORY made his debut at Celtic Manor in 2010 and has won 13 out of 24 points so far in five appearances.

He was famously almost late on the tee for his Sunday singles at Medinah in 2012. Rory required a police escort to get to the course after getting confused by the US time zones, while watching TV coverage in his hotel room.

Rory arrived with 12 minutes to spare. He beat Keegan Bradley 2&1 as Jose-Maria Olazabal’s team came back from 10-6 down to win 141/2-131/2.

Woosnam, who played in eight consecutive Ryder Cups, said last week: “For me it would be an absolute disaster.”

The first and only Welshman to win the Masters in 1991, told a ‘Ryder Cup at Home Social’ – alongside Peter Baker and Paul Lawrie – last Friday: “It’s all about the fans – the atmosphere, being there.

“I can understand the corporate side of it – and television. But you have to remember the players are playing for nothing, and it’s all about the players really. Everyone wants to be there.”

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Scotland’s Paul Lawrie will captain the European team at the 2020 Junior Ryder Cup at Blue Mound Golf & Country Club, in Wisconsin four days before the Ryder Cup starts. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

PAUL Lawrie, the 1999 Open Champion and two-time Ryder Cup player, will captain Europe at the 2020 Junior Ryder Cup, which will take place at Wisconsin’s Blue Mound Golf and Country Club in Milwaukee.

The Scotsman, an eight-time European Tour winner, represented Europe at the 1999 Ryder Cup and will now lead Europe’s best juniors against their American counterparts in September.

Lawrie was also a member of the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ team, which staged a monumental comeback on the final day in 2012 to retain the Ryder Cup winning 14½-13½ on American soil.

The 50-year-old’s involvement in junior golf started in 2001 with the launch of the Paul Lawrie Foundation.

It provides opportunities for juniors to start playing golf. Its main goal is to encourage as many young people to play golf as possible.

The Junior Ryder Cup, held in the days before the Ryder Cup, sees the best male and female junior amateurs from Europe and the USA go head-to-head in a mixed event.

The biennial contest has seen many stars from world golf feature in the junior competition before excelling at the Ryder Cup and the Solheim Cup.

Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy both succeeded in the event before also winning the Ryder Cup, while Suzanne Peterson and Carlota Ciganda triumphed as amateurs before lifting the Solheim Cup.

“As soon as the call came in, I didn’t need long to think about taking on the role,” said Lawrie.

“To be able to lead a team of the best juniors in Europe against America will be a completely novel experience for me. In terms of how I see the game growing, it’s an important role.

“It’s going to be full-on over the next 10 months. I’m really looking forward to getting to some events during the year and watching the kids play.

“I’m absolutely delighted that I have been asked to captain the Junior Ryder Cup team.

“My wife, Marian, and I started the foundation to get as many kids into the game as we possibly could.

“I bring a huge enthusiasm for junior golf to the role. It’s where the game needs to be – sadly that still gets lost on some members at golf clubs not treating juniors how they deserve to be treated.

“Today’s juniors are tomorrow’s adults, and that’s an important message,” added Lawrie, who was one of Darren Clarke’s vice-captains at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine.

Paul Lawrie who helped Europe come back from 10-6 down in the Sunday singles at the 2012 Ryder Cup in the Miracle of Medinah. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Lawrie earned three-and-a-half points for the European cause in the infamous “Battle of Brookline,” with two-and-a-half points coming from his partnership with Colin Montgomerie.

He also defeated Jeff Maggert in the Sunday singles as America – captained by Ben Crenshaw – staged remarkable final day comeback.

The event was marred by the US players and supporters in the gallery inside the ropes surging on to the 17th green after Justin Leonard holed a long range putt before Jose Maria Olazabal had finished the hole.

The incident in Massachusetts combined with a hostile crowd that targeted the European team – and Colin Montgomerie in particular on Sunday – sparked further controversies when European captain Mark James published his account in Into the Bearpit.

Lawrie then earned his place in The 2012 Ryder Cup side at Medinah, winning Europe’s second point on Sunday, defeating Brandt Snedeker 5&3, as he and his teammates battled back from a 10-6 deficit to win the biennial contest 14½-13½.

Both the European and United States Junior Ryder Cup teams will feature six boys and six girls, who must not have turned 18 before January 1, 2020 – and must not be enrolled to play college golf in the USA during that year.

American stars to have featured in the Junior Ryder Cup include Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Lexi Thompson and Brittany Altomare.

In 2018, at Golf Disneyland Paris, Europe narrowly missed out on a first victory since 2006, as Team USA triumphed 12½-11½.

The hosts included Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgard, who are already playing on the Challenge and European Tours repsectively in 2020, and Stoke Park’s Conor Gough, who was crowned English Amateur Champion in August, at the age of just 16.

Surrey’s Annabel Fuller was also on the 2018 team, while Wentworth’s Annabel Dimmock, played in 2014 – and claimed her first Ladies European Tour victory this summer.

The selection process for the 2020 European Junior Ryder Cup team, including confirmation of qualifying events from The R&A and European Golf Association’s schedule for next year, will be announced shortly.

The match takes place at Blue Mound G&CC, from September 21-22, while the 2020 Ryder Cup takes place four days later at Whistling Straits some 70 miles away, from September 25-27.

•For more information about the 2020 Ryder Cup click here.

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Nicholas Colsearts has had three runner-up finishes since playing for the winning European Ryder Cup team in the miracle at Medinah seven years ago. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

NICOLAS Colsaerts will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Amundi Open de France after a Saturday round of 67 took him to 13-under, at Le Golf National.

The big-hitting Belgian claimed the last of his two European Tour titles in 2012, the same season he was part of the famous Miracle at Medinah when Europe came back from 10-4 down to win the Ryder Cup.

Colsaerts said: “I’m a bit on a mission. I have a lot to play for. It’s not like actually winning this tournament is at the forefront of my mind.

“I stil. have to play shots. It got a little bit easier at the end but it’s a difficult course to play. If you just lose a little bit of focus, which I think if I looked at the leaderboard and everything, I might do.

“I’m in control of a lot of things, my striking, my emotions, for whatever reason I can’t tell you. It would be amazing to win this thing.

“But like I said, if I stay away from thinking that, I think my chances will be a lot higher than if I see this thing right in front of me.”

Colsearts has had three second places since then and has finished inside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai Rankings every season, but is currently 114th and battling to keep his playing privileges.

South Africa’s George Coetzee’s round of 70 took him to 10-under, as he kept within touching distance of the lead despite a double bogey on the 13^th, which had followed a monster putt for birdie on the previous hole.

Coetzee, whose last win came in March 2018 in his native South Africa, said: “I was hoping it would continue but came to an abrupt halt on 13.

“Kind of the way I’ve been playing this week. It’s either hot off the blocks, or just hold on until you find something, and when you find something, just try and keep it.

“You’d think the putt on 12 was the best putt I hit today, but the putt on 13 for bogey was probably the best putt I hit.

“Because if I had not hit a good putt, I might have left myself a tester for about a double, probably would have been a triple.

“I’m reasonably happy getting out of that hole with a double. I guess I’ll have to play really good golf tomorrow.”

Jamie Donaldson is another Ryder Cup star battling to keep his card and the Welshman celebrated his birthday by  recording a 66 to sit one shot further back at nine-under alongside America’s Kurt Kitayama, who is seeking a third win of his rookie season on the European Tour.

Donaldson, who hit the winning putt at Gleneagles in 2014, said: “I played nicely most of the way.

“Very happy, being my birthday and all. You don’t really try to remember your birthday when you get to 40-plus, but yeah, a memorable day on my birthday.

“Just keep playing the way I’ve been playing the last three days, which is being aggressive. I’ve got a game plan, but I need to be pushing on to try to win the tournament.”

Kitayama, who is favourite to win the Siry Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award after his two wins in his first four months on tour, said: “I just didn’t make as many putts as I made the first two days.

“Still got plenty of opportunities. Just didn’t roll it well. I won’t think about it too much, just felt a little off today. Just look forward to tomorrow.

“I’m quite a few back, so going to have to stay a little aggressive and then, hopefully get off to a hot start, put on a little pressure early. See what happens.”

Dane Joachim B Hansen carded a remarkable 69 as he overcame a quintuple bogey nine on the 13th to get to eight-under alongside Ireland’s Gavin Moynihan and Scot Richie Ramsay.

Benjamin Hebert remains the leading French player at seven-under after rounds of 66, 71 and 69, alongside German Major winner Martin Kaymer and South African Brandon Stone.P

•For live scoring at Le Golf National click here.

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