For many golfers, earning a spot on a Ryder Cup team stands as the highlight of their career, with few events in the sport coming close to matching its unique atmosphere.
The best players on the planet are used to competing for huge prize money every week, but there is always something different about the Ryder Cup.
The event has a way of showing fans a different side of players that you rarely see during regular PGA Tour or DP World Tour tournaments.
There is Scottie Scheffler left in tears after suffering a historic defeat, and Rory McIlroy having to be ushered into a car following an intense confrontation.
There was also talk of division within Team USA and Luke Donald delivering what would become his first of two winning captaincies.
Pablo Larrazabal admits Jon Rahm’s comments piled the pressure on before the 2023 Ryder Cup
One European player ended up having to follow along from home, even though he had caught Donald’s attention earlier in 2023.
Pablo Larrazabal has played in over 460 events on the DP World Tour and has nine wins to his name. Two of those came that year.
But when it came time for Donald to make his six picks, Larrazabal was left out. This week, appearing on Life on Tour, he confessed that maintaining his form became tougher once he realised he was in serious contention for a Ryder Cup spot.
“The problem with my nine wins is they were too separated. Every two years, I had one, another one, another one. And then in 2022 and 2023, I got two each year. That was big. But the first year wasn’t a Ryder Cup year. The second year was a Ryder Cup year. Then I put too much pressure on myself,” he began by saying.
Larrazabal added: “It’s great, but it’s not great when Luke Donald sends you that message, ‘my eyes are on you, I would love you to play well’. Then suddenly, Jon Rahm talks to the media and says, ‘I want Pablo to play with me in the foursomes because I want a partner that if we have a nine foot putt to win the hole, Pablo has the ability to do it’.
“That pressure is not easy. Obviously, I was 40 years old. But that doesn’t matter. I play golf like I’m 15 years old. I play for fun and I have a lot of fun. But the pressure is there.”
Pablo Larrazabal struggled to find consistency after second 2023 DP World Tour win
After picking up his second win of the year at the KLM Open, Larrazabal hit a rough patch, missing five of his next seven cuts, including early exits from both the US Open and The Open Championship.
His final missed cut came at the Omega European Masters, a week that also saw Ludvig Aberg claim his first professional title in Switzerland. Not long after, Donald added Aberg to the team.
It turned out to be a smart move. The Swede made an immediate impact, impressing in both foursomes sessions at Marco Simone.
Meanwhile, Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton formed one of Europe’s strongest duos. They have now won all four of their foursomes matches together.
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