When Paul McGinley sat savouring Europe’s triumphant Ryder Cup rout at Gleneagles in 2014 and revealed that one of his many little fastidious fillips was the soothing presence of gold and blue coloured fish in the team room, the golf writers just about choked on their Cullen Skink.
No stone was left unturned, and no cheque-book was left unopened, as McGinley reinvented the word ‘meticulous’ but being the Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup skipper is a slightly different kettle of water dwelling creatures.
“I did ask for the fish but they just said ‘do you want them battered?’,” joked Elaine Farquharson-Black, the well-kent Aberdonian who will lead GB&I in the biennial battle with the USA at Dun Laoghaire in Ireland. “We don’t quite have the same funds available.”
The eight-strong team for June’s transatlantic tussle was due out today but, with no Scottish player likely to make the grade, it will be left to Farquharson-Black to carry the saltire. She is the first Scot to captain GB&I since the celebrated Belle Robertson 40 years ago and she is already revelling in the role. As a two-time Curtis Cup player and a past Scotland captain, Farquharson-Black has plenty of experience in the cut-and-thrust of team competition. She’ll do it her way but she’ll take on board the pearls of wisdom from those who captained their way.
“I love to read up on things about captains and I followed what Paul McGinley did and read Paul Azinger’s book about his approach to the Ryder Cup,” she said. “As a captain you’ve got the organisational side to it, whereas as a player you just turn up and do your bit. As a player you don’t realise how much the captain has thought about things. You only see it from your point of view and often that is ‘why are they not playing me?’
“When I started as a captain, I was probably more prescriptive. Then I realised the players are coming with their own game plan and what I need to do is to try and make sure they can play to the best of their abilities. Now, I try to retain their normal routine, which is one of the hardest things to do in team golf. How long do you like to practice beforehand? What do you like to eat? I’ll try and create that wee bubble with them.”
In an increasingly youthful women’s scene, the strong lure of the paid game continues to keep the amateur-to-professional turnover churning over at a furious rate. Farquharson-Black is hoping to make sure the players she skippers will take time to appreciate the moment and cherish the honour of being a Curtis Cupper. “I would like them to have a longer amateur career,” admitted the former Scottish Women's champion, who did have a brief flirtation herself with the pro ranks before being re-instated. “It’s a shame. You want them to do the Curtis Cup, the Vagliano Trophy etc, etc. Catriona Matthew did all of those things several times and then turned pro. When I first played in the Curtis Cup in 1990 I played against a player who was 51. That won’t happen now. There are no Carol Semple-Thompsons or Mary McKennas these days. A lot of them now play one and turn pro. The selection is just a stepping stone and then they disappear. What I want to try and get across to them is that they are part of something bigger, that they are among a series of illustrious golfers who many people will remember more than the rank-and-file professionals. Nowadays, amateur golfers get so much so trying to make this special, different and above everything else can be quite hard.”
Farquharson-Black’s second and final appearance in the Curtis Cup was as part of the winning GB&I team of 1992 at Hoylake. They retained it in 1994 with a draw on American soil and won again in 1996 at Killarney. Since that triple whammy, though, GB&I have won only once, at Nairn in 2012, but Farquharson-Black, whose team will be headlined by Ireland’s world amateur No 1 Leona Macguire, is anticipating a keenly fought fight. “Over the two teams, seven out of the top 10 in the world rankings will be playing and that’s pretty incredible,” she enthused. “I’m expecting it to be very close.”
And when it’s all over, there may just be enough in the kitty for a few fish suppers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here