September 2012: Having my phone ring after Europe had just won the 2012 Ryder Cup, coming from a four point deficit at the start of the day. “Right, John” said a familiar voice in the Times’ office in London. “You’ve seen a lot of Ryder Cups. [He was right. That was my 18th] “Put this victory into perspective please. Was this the best?” There was a pause and then he said. “800 words please. You’ve got 30 minutes. Get going.”
You don’t stop at times like this. You type as fast as you can and hope for the best.
I began my 800 words as follows: “Being a sportswriter is a pretty good gig but being a golf writer and setting off to cover the Ryder Cup, on whichever side of the Atlantic it is taking place, creates levels of excitement that should be illegal.” I concluded it as follows: “So where does this one stand in the pantheon? It was the greatest of the 17 I have seen, the most thrilling of all, the most remarkable of all, the most remarkable in the way it went down to the last man on the last hole and that man being Tiger Woods. It equalled the greatest comeback by either side. Even 200 yards away writing in an air-conditioned tent, one shivered. Was it the cold or excitement or both? What a remarkable competition it is.”
As I pressed the button on my computer to send my story to London, I looked at my watch. 29 minutes. Phew! I had done it.
John Hopkins was the Golf Correspondent of The Times from 1993 to 2010 and only the second non-American to be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism by the PGA of America
Memory added on February 16, 2021
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