The legendary Michael Jordan – arguably the greatest basketball player of all time – is at Whistling Straits this week attending his 12th Ryder Cup. He hasn’t missed one since his first in 1997 at Valderrama in Spain.
It’s no secret that MJ loves his golf, but when it comes to the Ryder Cup, well, that’s just extra special.
“It’s the true competitive nature [of the Ryder Cup],” Jordan explained. “It’s not about money. It’s about pride and representing your country. Hearing the fans cheering. Very rarely do you get to see golfers deal with what we have to deal with where guys are yelling things from the stands that, most of the time we can’t hear it, but when it gets quiet, the players can hear it and yet we still respond, and it gets out juices up. To me, that’s intriguing and from a competitor – I absolutely love it.”
Jordan counts several the players on the U.S. team as friends and even golf buddies back home in South Florida. So, what kinds of advice does he give those players about dealing with tense moments in team competition?
“A couple of guys have asked me in terms of playing team sports, because they come from a sport of individuality. But, keeping it simple is the most important thing. You have a tendency to come out sometimes and do more than what you’re capable of doing. But I always found it’s very easy when I’m playing a big game is to keep it simple. You’ve been doing it your whole life. Now I’m going to try to do something I haven’t been doing my whole life? Keeping it simple is the best advice I can give people.”
