Team USA’s Ryder Cup motivators: NBA legend Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps and a former President
- The European have boasted the like of Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola
- But Team USA has brought equally big names to inspire its players over the years
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Passion is never lacking at the Ryder Cup with both teams desperate to topple the other but just in case players ever need an extra boost, the captains often have a trick or two up their sleeves.
Drafting in motivational speakers in the form of athletes, celebrities and even politicians has become extremely fashionable over the years.
The Europeans have boasted an impressive range of big names to fire up their team. Legendary former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson left Rory McIlroy mesmerized, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola backed Tommy Fleetwood in 2018, while the spirit of Seve Ballesteros sparked their comeback charge during the Miracle of Medinah.
But the Americans aren’t without their own motivators, recruiting its own sporting stars, a president and even someone all too familiar with the competition.
Here, DailyMail.com takes a look through the Americans who have lifted the locker room spirit for Team USA.
Team USA has been inspired to victory by an number of star names over the years
Michael Jordan
NBA legend Michael Jordan is an avid golf fan and player himself, even hitting the course with Ryder Cup team member Rickie Fowler on occasion.
The former Chicago Bulls icon regularly attends the Ryder cup but he made a special appearance at Le Golf National in 2018.
The Wednesday before the tournament in Paris he paid a visit to the away team’s locker room, pulling on his own experiences of winning on the road to fuel their campaign.
‘Michael was talking about how he would always play on the road against tough opponents or crowds that were always against him,’ Brooks Koepka said, via The New York Post. ‘It’s just funny hearing a different athlete’s point of view or the way they would go about it, and then you can kind of take what you want from there.
‘He talked about how he didn’t hear the crowd. I took it as he couldn’t wait to shut them up, and the second he would go off … the quieter they are [and] you’re kind of laughing inside [and] you’ve done what you wanted to do. I thought that was pretty cool.’
Fowler said Jordan regaled Team USA with tales ‘about some of the teams that were the toughest to play, the guys that he faced and who he thought were the toughest, not just as a team but the individuals that he faced and how he kind of went about home games versus away games.’
NBA legend Michael Jordan is an avid golf fan and has regularly attended the Ryder Cup
One story in particular centered around the Bulls’ 1993 Finals series against the Phoenix Suns.
Chicago had failed to close out the series, losing Game 5 at home, and was forced to head to Phoenix for Game 6 and even a potential Gamer 7 decider.
The Bulls, of course won, sealing a three-peat but Jordan revealed to the Americans exactly what he had told his team before hitting the road.
‘He said he packed one suit and one bag and told the guys, ‘We’re going there for one job, it’s to go win,’ ‘ Fowler recalled Jordan saying of the Bulls’ first three-peat, which of course they finished in that Game 6. ‘It’s fun to have the chance to be around guys like him, guys that were very successful and guys that compete at a very high level.’
The former basketball star pulled on his 1993 NBA Finals win with the Chicago Bulls
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps knows a thing or two about winning. With 28 Olympic medals under his belt, who better to inspire Team USA to victory.
That’s logic Davis Love III had in 2016 as his ranks prepared to battle Europe on home soil at Hazeltine.
‘We had a very exciting talk from Michael Phelps,’ US captain Love said. ‘Michael talked to us a lot about the Olympic experience and Team USA and how much fun it was for him to have the four American golfers down there because he’s such a big golf fan.’
Phelps, like Jordan, pulled on his own experiences as a professional athlete but revealed a different motivation for winning.
The world’s most decorated Olympian expressed the importance of representing his country, something Team USA’s golfers have the chance to do at the biennial competition, while Europe plays as a continent.
‘I expressed how to me as a swimmer the only thing I really wanted to do as a kid was I wanted to represent my country. I’ve had that chance for 16 years and I kind of talked about how swimming’s an individual sport, but when we come together as a team we really do come together as a team like no other country when we travel internationally,’ Phelps said.
‘No matter where we’re from, we’re all together. I think that’s something that’s really cool for me to be a part of. I talked about that and about relays and how we have to come together, we have to work as a team, otherwise we’re not going to win. …
‘I said to them, “You guys can’t be individuals here. This is a team. We all look at you guys, you guys are going to have the Stars & Stripes on.” I kind of said, ‘I want you guys to go out and whup their ass.’
His message clearly got through to the Americans as they ended their drought of three Ryder Cups without a win by triumphing over Darren Clarke’s team in Minnesota.
With 28 Olympic medals under his belt, Michael Phelps was an apt choice to inspire Team USA
The former Olympic swimmer has even participated at the Ryder Cup Celebrity Matches
George W Bush
While enlisting other successful athletes to inspire teams makes a lot of sense, the tradition didn’t start with Jordan and Phelps.
In fact, it dates back to 1999 when George W Bush helped the team to a comeback victory at the Battle of Brookline.
Bush, then governor of Texas before becoming President two years later, didn’t deliver a speech as such. Instead, he read the famous letter from the commander of the Alamo, William B. Travis, in 1836 that ended with ‘victory or death.’
Perhaps a touch dramatic, but Bush’s tactics worked. The Americans went out for the Sunday’s singles and won the first six matches, sparking the comeback.
The scenes of glee – and the hideous polos the Americans wore – when the US clinched the victory at the 17th hole have become unforgettable.
The tradition dates back to 1999 when George W Bush helped the team to a comeback
The USA won the first six single matches, sparking the comeback at Brookline in 1999
Major Dan
Corey Pavin got a little creative in 2010, straying from the expected sporting stars and politicians, and instead, turned to the military.
Major Dan Rooney parachuted in with his rare combination of being a war hero and PGA Tour professional.
Pavin, the US captain at Celtic Manor, Wales, recruited Maj Dan to inspire Tiger Woods and Co. by talking about the importance of working as a team.
Maj Rooney was a three-tour veteran of Iraq, a two-time winner of the coveted ‘Top Gun’ award and the winner of the Spirit Of Attack trophy as the highest graduate in F-16 fighter training.
‘Among the specific stories I shared was the fact that in 2008 I was in Iraq watching that year’s Ryder Cup at Valhalla, and how the competition is much bigger than the team just playing over here in Wales,’ Maj Rooney told The Guardian.
Major Dan Rooney (R) brought a rare combination of being a war hero and PGA Tour pro
‘It’s also about what it means to the armed forces. We have a lot of people away right now that truly appreciate and are following what they are doing.’
Maj Rooney also revealed that he gave each of the US team specially-made flight jackets to help with team bonding.
‘I was sharing a little of my background and inspiration of what it is like to come together as a team for a bigger cause.
‘From the outside flying an F-16 jet looks a very independent act as it’s a single fighter plane. But when we go into combat we become one unit.
‘That was the overarching message I gave to the 12 players: about accountability, working together and ultimately having each other’s backs, which is what we do when we go into combat.’
Some in Europe claimed that the US was equating the Ryder Cup to combat and glorifying war.
However, they likely weren’t concerned at the end of Sunday after clinching a narrow 14 1/2-13 1/2 win.
Tiger Woods
Unlike the previous four motivators, Tiger Woods is the furthest thing from a stranger when it comes to playing the Ryder Cup.
The 15-time major winner has represented Team USA in eight editions of the Ryder Cup, dating back to 1997.
However, he hasn’t featured for Team USA since 2018 after his horror car crash in February 2021 and subsequent injuries have largely kept him off the course.
But that hasn’t stopped the 47-year-old from coaching from his couch and, even though he wasn’t physically present at Whistling Straits at the last Ryder Cup, Woods certainly made his presence known.
Tiger Woods has represented Team USA in eight editions of the Ryder Cup dating back to 1999
His motivation didn’t come in the form of a speech but rather text messages of encouragement and tactical advice to the individuals.
Yet, his perhaps most powerful message surely added fuel to the fire as the Americans charged to a dominant victory.
Captain Steve Stricker revealed that Woods had texted him as the Americans carried an 11-5 lead into the singles matches.
The message was short and sweet: ‘Now step on their necks.’
And it was certainly a bloodbath in Wisconsin as the US massacred Europe 19-9.
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