2005    Moor Allerton, Leeds

England -  John Farren (captain), Paul Boross, Jeremy Wilson, Paul Baines

Catalunya - Esteve Varley (captain), Miguel Turner, Pep Riba, Pep Aragones

Christened the Mexican Gambit after it was used to such devastating effect on the England football team during the 1970 World Cup finals, the sleep deprivation and food poisoning strategy has been used many times, in many places but rarely with the professionalism, determination and attention to detail with which it was applied for this, the 2005 Ryder.

Those who didn’t spend an uncomfortable night on the toilet, following the ministrations of those two great Eastern poisoners, Samir Nella and Bo Chu Lee Sum, spent an equally uncomfortable time folded into a foam rubber sofa, trying to identify locomotive classes from the squeal of their brakes, the Doppler shift of their horn or the size of the pressure wave carried before them. Those who are impressed by such things, found themselves musing on the engineering brilliance which allowed the high speed trains to pass so close without actually touching the hotel walls; others, passed the time by wondering at what temperature human life is no longer sustainable. 

The ragged bunch at the first tee on Thursday morning showed just how effective the Mexican Gambit had been. Unfortunately, due to some misunderstanding of how the strategy should be applied, Farren’s back room logistics staff had booked the home team into the same hotels and restaurants as the visitors, and as the day unfolded it became clear that the debilitation had been evenly shared between the two teams. 

In a change to the traditional format, the match opened with foursomes.

Farren and Baines lost to Turner and Riba having been 3 up, while Boross and Wilson came back from 2 down to grind out a workmanlike 3 & 2 victory against Varley and Riba. 

In the afternoon fourballs, a very relaxed Baines put on a virtuoso performance which the Catalan pairing of Turner and Varley struggled to cope with. Meanwhile, in the other match, Farren and Boross were somewhat less relaxed but appeared to be equally dominant. Winning 4 out of the first 5 holes, England reached the turn 5 up and were probably starting to think in terms of an early glass of relaxant. Whatever they were thinking of, it clearly didn’t help their concentration for over the homeward holes Aragones and Riba reeled them back in, bringing the match to all square after 17 and knocking the stuffing out of the English pair in the process. The Catalan’s bogey 5 on the dangerous 18^th was more than sufficient to take the match and so close the day with the teams standing all square.  

The Singles 

Match 1

First match out was Farren and Aragones, a confrontation that gave rise to the expression Buggy Crash golf. With the responsibility weighing heavy, the English captain shanked his opening tee shot into the gallery and struggled to find his rhythm through the opening holes. By hole five he was 2 down but managed to settle himself to get back to all square at the turn and maintain this edge through the following holes. By 14 he was 2 up and stating to focus more on the triumphant open-top bus tour around Catford, than on his golf. Aragones didn’t need asking twice, he won two of the next three holes to take them to the 18^th tee all-square, at which point the bookies shut up shop….. 

England 2 – Catalunya 3

 Match 2

Behind them, but not closely, Boross had started to find the touch that was so absent the previous day. Varley won the first, but never again managed to gain a lead despite winning several more holes. Boross closed the match out on the 16^th for a 3 & 2 victory and England’s first point. 

England 3 – Catalunya 3

 Match 3

Wilson against Riba, a match which plumbed new depths of gamesmanship. Knowing that to win his first ever Ryder singles point would require something out of the ordinary, Riba opened hostilities by stealing Wilson’s lucky tee before the match started. An act which so unsettled Wilson that he found himself 5 down at the turn, and  felt forced to stoop yet lower. He invited his personal guru to join the match and coach him back to form. A move which looked like it might turn the match around as Wilson won the next 3 holes and Riba looked broken as he stood on the 13th, taking ever deeper divots with each practice swing and wondering how he was going to explain this to his team mates. He needn't have worried, his solid shot to the centre of the green was enough to take the hole and effectively end Wilson's challenge. Riba won the next 3 holes to finish 5 and 3.

England 3 – Catlaunya 4

Match 4

Playing fourth behind this slow moving caravan was always going to test the nerves of the jittery show pony that Baines has increasingly become. The problem was exacerbated by the early start and the lack of time to consume the correct dose of Werbenik’s Elixir (a beta blocker, the taking of which is not yet a crime). Baines did his best, but Turner, who has a reputation for not travelling well, had clearly packed with great care and had remembered to bring his A game with him this time. By the time, Baines’ half-way injection was starting to work its magic, it was too late, he was dormie 5 down, and Turner was able to close the match out at the treacherous 17^th.  

England 3 – Catalunya 5

The cards

Thursday morning - foursomes

	Match 1	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
		par	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
	Baines & Farren		5	-	4	3	5	6	4	6	7	6	5	6	4	7	5	5	6	7
	Turner & Aragones		7	6	5	4	4	6	5	7	5	5	5	5	4	6	7	5	4	5
	Match 1
			+1	AS	+1	+2	+1	+1	+2	+3	+2	+1	+1	AS	AS	-1	AS	AS	-1	-2
	Catalunya win 2 up

	Match 2	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
		par	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
	Boross & Wilson		-	-	5	3	7	-	3	7	6	5	7	5	3	-	5	5
	Varley & Riba		4	6	-	-	6	4	-	7	6	5	8	7	-	6	-	-
	Match 2
			-1	-2	-1	AS	-1	-2	-1	-1	-1	-1	AS	+1	+2	+1	+2	+3
	England win 3 & 2

Thursday afternoon - fourballs

	Match 3	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
		par	4	3	5	4	4	3	4	4	5	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
	P. Baines		4	3	5	6	-	2	4	5	4	5	4	4	4	6	4	4
	J. Wilson		7	2	4	-	5	4	5	4	-	6	-	6	3	-	4	-
	M. Turner		6	4	6	4	3	4	5	6	4	4	4	6	3	5	-	-
	S. Varley		6	4	7	5	-	4	-	-	-	6	3	-	3	4	-	-
	Match 3
			+1	+2	+3	+2	+1	+2	+3	+4	+4	+3	+2	+3	+3	+2	+3	+4
	England win 4 & 2

	Match 4	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
		par	4	3	5	4	4	3	4	4	5	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
	J. Farren		6	3	7	7	5	6	5	6	-	-	5	7	4	-	5	-	5	7
	P. Boross		6	4	-	5	5	4	5	6	6	6	5	-	3	-	5	-	-	-
	J. Aragones		7	4	-	8	6	4	6	6	8	5	4	6	4	6	5	6	3	-
	J. Riba		7	5	7	8	7	6	5	6	9	7	5	7	4	6	5	6	3	5
	+1
	Match 4
			+1	+2	+2	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+5	+4	+3	+2	+3	+2	+2	+1	AS	-1
	Catalunya win 1 up

Friday - singles

	Match 5	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
		par	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
	J. Farren		-	7	4	3	6	-	5	6	7	5	5	6	3	5	6	5	-	-
	J. Aragones		5	6	5	3	8	4	4	7	8	6	5	4	5	7	5	5	4	4
	Match 5
			-1	-2	-1	-1	AS	-1	-2	-1	AS	+1	+1	AS	+1	+2	+1	+1	AS	-1
	Catalunya win 1 up

Match 6	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	par	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
P. Boross		-	5	4	-	5	5	4	7	5	6	5	5	3	8	5	4
S. Varley		6	-	-	4	-	-	4	6	7	5	5	-	5	7	5	-
Match 6
		-1	AS	+1	AS	+1	+2	+2	+1	+2	+1	+1	+2	+3	+2	+2	+3
England win 3 & 2

Match 7	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	par	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
J. Wilson		5	8	5	5	8	7	4	8	-	6	4	7	-	-	-
J. Riba		7	6	5	5	7	6	3	7	5	8	5	8	4	6	4
Match 7
		+1	AS	AS	AS	-1	-2	-3	-4	-5	-4	-3	-2	-3	-4	-5
Catalunya win 5 & 3

Match 8	hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	par	4	4	4	3	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	4	3	4
P. Baines
M. Turner
Match 8
														-5	-4	-3	-2	-2
Catalunya win 2 & 1