subject: Vaughan Was Gripped by Ryder Cup [print this page] Now retired from cricket, Michael Vaughan is one of the sports stars playing with them in the Dunhill Links Championship starting tomorrow.
"The only way you get through real pressurised situations is by routine and trust in your game," he said at St Andrews before a round with Sir Ian Botham and former Australia skipper Steve Waugh.
"You practise so you can produce it under pressure. It's very difficult if you have never done it before."
"If he hadn't won the US Open he probably wouldn't have been put at number 12 and might not have produced that birdie at the 16th."
"It's so rewarding and you could see it with the captains in their speeches. Corey Pavin sounded like he wanted to burst into tears. That's what sport is all about, pure passion. It was nothing to do with cash. It was all about the honour of winning something special."
"When you get in a situation like that the people under the most control and the calmest are those playing."
"If I think back to Edgbaston five years ago (the game England won by two runs) there was a panic on, but you can only do so much."
"I was quite cool. There were 20,000-odd crammed in, but if you start thinking about them you're certainly not going to perform."
"You just think purely about what is the best way to get the win. I've been involved in a few tight losses as well and you do think back about what you could have done differently."
"I cancelled everything to watch it. I had one 10-minute bit of filming for Football Focus, but that was at my house and apart from that I just sat and watched. I was enthralled by it."
"It was proper sport. Passion, tension. When Rickie Fowler was on the 18th I was almost willing him to hole it (as he did) so it all came down to the last match. Just brilliant. Great stuff."
