Andrew Coltart played one Ryder Cup match during his golfing career – and it came against the toughest opponent possible.
The Scottish golfer, now a well-known analytical voice on Sky Sports, was a captain’s pick for the infamous ‘Battle of Brookline’ in 1999.
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Coltart was dealt one of the most unfortunate hands in Ryder Cup history back in 1999Credit: Getty
However, captain Mark James decided to bench Coltart for the whole of Friday and Saturday, giving him one chance to impress in the singles matches on Sunday.
When the draw came out on Saturday night, Coltart discovered his Ryder Cup debut would come against Tiger Woods, in front of the most hostile American crowd in recent memory.
“So I remember I was watching the Golf Channel that night when the draw came out, and they were all going through the matches, trying to figure out how America was going to turn over the deficit,” Coltart told talkSPORT.
“And a guy called Mark Lye – it’s interesting how I would never forget that – he said, ‘This is 9&8’.
“I thought, that’s a little bit disrespectful, given the fact that you’re one of the 12 best players in Europe. So you’d think you could maybe get the golf ball in the hole.
“But of course, he was also referencing how great Tiger was playing at that time.
“Those weren’t the words that you wanted to hear as you try to calm yourself down with the potential to sleep for about five minutes the night before.
“But I remember going into the team room, and Sam Torrance was there, arguably one of the best captains we’ve ever had.
“And he just has a habit of saying the right things at the right time.
Sam just said, ‘That’s brilliant. That’s absolutely brilliant. You can take him’.
“And look, over four days, no. But over one day, if he had a bad day and I had a good day, you just didn’t know. And that was match play.
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Woods was playing some of the greatest golf the world had ever seen in 1999Credit: Getty
“Anyway, I went to bed that night, at least thinking of Sam’s words.
“It didn’t work out like that. But it was still, you know, one of the best moments of my life.”
Coltart would ultimately lose 3&2 as Team USA pulled off a stunning final-day comeback.
Woods’ caddie at the time, Steve Williams, said afterwards that they could tell Coltart was nervous, and Tiger apparently told him: “I know you haven’t played. If it helps, this first hole doglegs to the left.”
When asked about that moment, Coltart told talkSPORT: “I can’t remember it. But then again, I was breathing out my ears as well at that particular stage. I was trying to concentrate on hitting the fairway down the first.
“It wouldn’t have surprised me because Tiger… that’s jovial. That is the Tiger that a lot of people don’t get to see. That was what Tiger was like. I’d played with him a few times.
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Coltart had to spring into life for the biggest moment of his golfing career after being benched for all four sessions on Friday and SaturdayCredit: Getty
“He was just trying to have a little bit of banter with me on the first tee. I honestly didn’t hear it. But it’s the kind of thing you’d probably have said with a fun bit of jest. There was nothing worse than that.
“I was just trying to hit the ball straight off the tee.”
Besides his own nerves and the caliber of his opponent, Coltart had to play against those who were supposedly on the golf course to help him.
After losing holes seven and eight, Coltart lost a drive left of the ninth fairway and marshals told him to look in the woods.
His ball was actually in the first cut of rough, 40 yards away from where he was directed, under the foot of an American cameraman.
Nevertheless, Coltart was allowed to go back to the tee for his third shot, in a moment that came to summarise the Americans as unsporting hosts that year.
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Rowdy crowds have long marked Ryder Cup clashes – but Brookline was on another levelCredit: Getty
“It was disappointing,” Coltart said. “There really wasn’t any need for it.
“And just trying to put it into context was there was no crowd down that hole. It was just the way the hole was designed.
“They were all over on the right and you drive over a dip. Now, I knew because of how I’d hit that tee shot that it couldn’t be where marshals were directing us.
“But nonetheless, marshals were directing us 40 yards away from where the ball was and we were all scrambling around trying to find it. I was two down at the time.
“Seven, eight, nine with the three holes he took off me and he’d end up beating me 3&2.
“But look, he’s always going to be a difficult one to beat.”
With this year’s edition of the Ryder Cup starting in New York on Friday, the story of Coltart, Woods, and Brookline feels more relevant than ever.
Watch every moment of the Ryder Cup exclusively live on Sky Sports and NOW from Friday 26 September. There’s no golf like it.