Backspin - The Vines 1997

Martin savours victory in 1997.

No-one knew it at the time but when The Vines Resort & Country Club - venue for this week's Johnnie Walker Classic - hosted the 1997 Heineken Classic it was to witness the first scene in one of the least distinguished episodes in the history of the Ryder Cup.

Going into the final round Spain's Miguel Angel Martin held a three-shot advantage over New Zealander Frank Nobilo, but as the final round wore on it was the American Fred Couples who emerged as the biggest threat.

Martin was no rookie - he had won the 1992 Open de France and would become the first continental golfer to complete 500 European Tour appearances in 2005 - but he was the archetypal journeyman and once Couples closed the gap most observers expected the Spaniard to fold.

Which made Martin's winning birdie four at the final hole all the more impressive, not least because this was a Ryder Cup year and the £568,000 winning cheque more or less guaranteed his place on the team.

Moreover this was no ordinary Ryder Cup year for Spanish golf - it was the year the event was to be played at Valderrama with the European team captained by the great Severiano Ballesteros.

As things stood in February Martin's participation would even, Sports Illustrated claimed, "spare Seve's Ryder Cup blushes" because, with Jose Maria Olazabal injured and other players out of form, it was being whispered that the only way a Spaniard would play at Valderrama was if Ballesteros picked himself.

At the English Open in May Martin's form remained solid enough for him to talk positively about his imminent debut under the captaincy of his "hero" Seve and say: "The Ryder Cup is like the Olympics for golfers. A lot of players are thinking about being on the Ryder Cup team."

Unfortunately those words were to prove horribly prophetic.

It would seem that a lot of players had started to think about Miguel Angel Martin being on the Ryder Cup team - and not many of them liked the idea.

Things started to go wrong in July when he ruptured the tendons in his wrist, but just as important was growing realisation in Europe that Ballesteros was going to be forced to select just two players from the three he felt were essential for victory: Nick Faldo, Jesper Parnevik and Jose-Maria Olazabal.

Martin's injury offered Olazabal the opportunity to overhaul him in the rankings and solve the dilemma - but when he came up short there would appear to have been something akin to panic behind the scenes.

Nothing else quite explains the behaviour of those in charge of selection. "Unfortunate" would be a positive spin on what followed; "ugly" another.

Almost immediately the team was announced there began a concerted campaign to have Martin demoted.

Ballesteros claimed that his compatriot was "competitively unfit" and European Tour Executive Director Ken Schofield added that Martin had rejected the opportunity to prove his fitness so the Cup committee had no choice but to replace him.

John Garrity in Sports Illustrated observed that, "Schofield neglected to mention that Martin had more lances in his back than a bull had after a run-in with a picador."

Martin himself argued that he was being asked to prove his fitness less than a week after removing his plaster. He pleaded for time.

Many rank and file European Tour players were appalled but amongst his team-mates only Ignacio Garrido spoke up: "You don't even have to play golf to know what is right. There's no rule that you have to be fit three days after the team is announced."

Martin refused to fold. "Playing in a Ryder Cup is a dream of mine," he said. "I will not just lie down and allow it to be taken from me."

If matters had so far been awkward, they now got personal with Ballesteros calling Martin "that little man", a "square-head" and concluding that, "he was not welcome before so what makes you think he is welcome now?"

Whilst observers squirmed in their seats (remembering, perhaps, that Olazabal had been given all the time he wanted to prove his fitness two years earlier), Martin called his lawyers.

Ultimately a tawdry fight in the courts was averted when Ballesteros and Schofield reinstated Martin to the team "without playing privileges".

No-one was fooled least of all Martin who, having accepted the compromise, went home.

On the day of the opening ceremony Martin was 500 miles away in Madrid where he played 12 holes in front of a small group of press men, hitting every green and fairway in regulation whilst collecting five birdies.

As he stood over his final putt of the day he looked up and said: "This putt is for the Ryder Cup."

He drained the 8-footer before muttering sadly, "I could have done that in Valderrama."

Three years later he won the Dunhill Cup for Spain, ironically alongside Olazabal- something of a consolation for the anguish of 1997.

But his memories of that year must rankle with him to this day and the Tour's return to The Vines will surely remind him of the feverish anticipation of Ryder Cup glory he must have experienced following his win there - and the unnecessarily cruel way in which his dreams were thwarted months later.