First tee nerves at Valhalla

Lee Westwood makes a points to captain Faldo during practice yesterday

At any other time, it’s a no-brainer driver off the tee but the opening hit on the first hole at the Ryder Cup is the most pressure any professional golfer will ever feel. Even Nick Faldo says so!

“It was the first time my stomach churned,” Europe’s captain recalled of his debut in 1977 at Royal Lytham and St Annes, where the first hole is a par-3.

Faldo addresses his troops at the first hole

“Every time I’ve played (five times), I’ve been shaking and sweating over the ball,” said Lee Westwood, who remembered he had difficulty placing the ball on the tee. “There’s no way to calm down. You just have to hit it quick, hope you find the fairway and get outta there.

"The noise and atmosphere just builds. The pressure is like facing a crucial putt on the last green of a tournament when you have a one-shot lead.”

At just over 400 yards and a sweeping dogleg to the left with an undulating fairway, the first hole under normal circumstances, would provide a relatively simple opportunity to get off to a comfortable start.

But this is the Ryder Cup and Faldo took the team down to the first tee when they arrived at Valhalla to familiarise them with the scene from the elevated tee and to give his players a chance to pass on their experiences and proffer some advice.

And, presumably, to dilute some of the fear factor.

Rookie Oliver Wilson with coach Peter Cowan during practice

Ian Poulter remembered watching the horror stories unfold as he sat out the first day on his debut at Oakland Hills in 2004.

“Wow, I tell you, when I stood there and saw Tiger Woods hit it 50 yards right of the fairway and then Phil Mickelson hit it 50 yards left, it didn’t matter what I did,” Poulter laughed.

? “That settled me down a treat. The No.1 and No.2 players in the world were shaking. Mind you, had they striped it down the middle, it might have been a different story.”

Faldo, as we might expect, had the best advice for his rookies: “Don’t miss it,” he said. "Simple as that."

First tee nerves? Why the fuss?