Golf: Ryder Cup: Mickelson Misses Perils of the Runaway Buggy

A careering, out-of-control golf cart came close to taking out a third of Europe's Ryder Cup team yesterday at Oakland Hills as the teams prepared for the 35th edition of the match.

Not that this was the latest attempt by the Americans to get the cup back at all costs, rather the failure of a marshal to adequately control his buggy. The incident occurred on the 12th where, after Darren Clarke, Sergio García, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Lee Westwood had teed off and were walking down the hill, the buggy began to follow.

The man driving it bent down to pick up what looked like a dropped towel and, in doing so, lost control and fell out. The buggy continued downhill and the players and their caddies were given shouted warnings of imminent danger.

The danger was never mortal; the cart was slowing sufficiently for the players and caddies to scramble out of its way, but at least one bag was dropped in the confusion. The cart continued through the rough, the ropes and the crowd before reaching the trees, where it stopped. By now, with any possible threat over, all concerned were laughing and afterwards the players dismissed the incident. "No harm done," they said.

There would have been no danger of the cart mowing down Phil Mickelson, given that the American chose not to be on the course at all yesterday. On Monday he had spent 7 hours re-acquainting himself with Oakland Hills and he decided that a rest day was in order. "I feel that I am ready for every pin placement that is possible," he said, "how I want to attack it and so forth."

Mickelson, who has won the US Masters and then finished second, third and sixth in the US Open, the Open and the US PGA this year playing with Titleist woods and balls, switched to Callaway two weeks ago. It was a strange move given that he had attributed part of his new-found major success to his equipment.

He changed his swing in order to be able to hit a fade and changed to a different type of Titleist ball to assist that shape of shot. Now all is abandoned and it is not for the money - or at least he says it isn't. "For me to play my best I need to be excited about what I have, and I am."

Mickelson also had some advice for Detroit's golf fans, 35,000 of whom will be present each day. In polite language it boils down to "Don't rile Monty". Asked about the effect the Scot seems to have on European Ryder Cup teams, Mickelson said: "Nobody was more impressed than I was at Brookline in '99 when he took a lot of ribbing and was able to perform at the highest level of anybody there.

"So maybe that's kind of a word to the wise that we shouldn't piss him off. Maybe we should downplay it a little bit and not agitate him so much."

They would be wise not to piss off Thomas Levet, too. The Frenchman was asked if he expected any heckling of the type he had received when playing in Florida at the time that France refused to join in the war in Iraq. "It's forgiven," he said. "I forget about it and I forgive them by doing that."

But, just for good measure he reminded his listeners that Canada was only a few hundred yards away across the Detroit River.

"They speak French over there," he said. "If there is trouble I call in the French mafia."

Levet, who once reacted to an attempted mugging by knocking out one of his three assailants, loves the idea of the pressure of a Ryder Cup. The debutant said yesterday: "I have played the Ryder Cup 6,000 times lately." In his imagination, of course. "On the range I imagine I'm hitting the first tee shot in the Ryder Cup, or the last putt at the Open, so that when the situation comes in I've been there a lot of times. I've seen people cheering for me, people yelling at me, l've seen the crowd jumping out of their seats and getting completely mad - so I'm ready for any situation at the moment."