Is it possible that the only person on the USA side in the Ryder Cup who will not hit a single drive, line up one putt, play out of any bunkers or have his name written on a solitary page of the Ryder Cup record book could end up playing one of the most pivotal roles this week at Medinah Country Club?
It does not require an extreme bend of the imagination for such a scenario to come true, at least not in the mind of the USA captain, Davis Love, who is stirring a special ingredient into his team mix – a bald, 49-year-old, cigar-chomping, billionaire former basketball player named Michael Jordan.
He plays neither pro basketball nor Ryder Cup golf but make no mistake, Jordan's presence as one of Love's assistants will somehow affect the outcome. We've seen this before. This is not the first occasion that Jordan, the one-time superstar of the National Basketball Association, has been brought on board by a USA captain in international golf competition. Fred Couples had Jordan as an assistant in the 2009 Presidents Cup, a 19–14 victory for USA over the International team.
Couples said Jordan had one mission to accomplish and one mission only. "His role was to have fun with the guys," Couples said. "That's it. He's certainly not telling them how to hit a chip shot." And Love envisages a similar outcome happening again, this time on the tree-lined layout of Medinah's famed Course No3 in suburban Chicago. "Air Jordan," said Love, invoking Jordan's nickname earned by the manner in which he seemed to play the game above the court. "Michael's going to be hanging around … and be an influence."
Working out the details on exactly how that happens is probably going to be more extemporaneous than planned. At best, Jordan, motivator extraordinaire, is on hand to keep the players loose, to serve as possibly the greatest role model for success in sport and to pass out cigars. At worst, the USA lose for the fifth time in six Ryder Cup matches since 1999 and the Michael Jordan Experiment comes to an abrupt conclusion.
Jordan and the Ryder Cup began their association in 1997 at Valderrama, where USA's captain, Tom Kite, plucked Jordan out of the gallery, invited him on to his golf cart and spent a great deal of time driving him around the course.
Europe won by one point and one of the lasting images is that of a worried Kite behind the wheel chauffeuring Jordan while Europe's captain Seve Ballesteros charismatically steered his team to victory through sheer will.
Of course, not everyone feels that way. Love thought the Jordan-Kite thing was an inspired moment then and continues to do so now. "I thought one of the neatest things I ever saw in the Ryder Cup was Michael riding in the golf cart with Tom Kite," Love says. "One of the coolest things. I want him to be seen and I want him to be in our team room."
Certainly Jordan's influence has been broad and even unprecedented, not only in the world of professional sport, but also in the world of commerce, brand marketing and global reach. Jordan's brand of Nike sneakers have surpassed $1bn in sales and made Jordan a major contributor to Nike's $19bn worldwide empire. It was Nike who took a gamble in 1984 on the first-year pro basketball player when it signed the 21-year-old Jordan to a 5-year, $25 million contract.The more Jordan's legend grew, the more success he had, his fans wanted a piece of him, and so that translated into sales of his sneakers. A phrase arose, 'Be Like Mike.' And one of the best ways to be like Mike was to wear the shoes he wore
With Jordan as the star attraction, the Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships, he was the league's most valuable player five times, a 14-times All-Star and he also led the NBA in scoring 11 times. Jordan was considered a great team-mate, although he demanded excellence of others, because he made his fellow players better. The Lakers' Magic Johnson was the same. Jordan brought out the best in his team-mates, perhaps in no greater case than that of Scottie Pippen, a little-known college player who went from a bit-part performer to a Hall of Fame career that never would have happened without Jordan's influence bringing it out of him.
Although he has not had much success in his current job as head of basketball operations for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats – their 7-59 record last season was the worst of any team in NBA history – Jordan remains an iconic figure and enjoys cult status, which is important to Love. And he retains a love affair with golf, which is important to Jordan.
His only public stumble in recent years was possibly his 2009 speech when he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, curiously turning the occasion into an opportunity to say something bad about everyone he perceived to have wronged him somewhere along the way.
But in the golf world Jordan is unassailable and also valuable for what he seems to offer to captains such as Love and Couples. Jordan is devoted to golf, he represents success and he gains even more traction with the players because he is both instantly recognisable and authoritative. He established a bond with the younger USA players Sean O'Hair and Hunter Mahan at the Presidents Cup, although neither are in the team at Medinah.
Tiger Woods, however, is in the USA team and Jordan was one of Woods' earliest friends and boosters, largely because of their business affiliation with Nike. Woods still refers to Jordan as MJ and considered him a close confidante because of their shared superstardom in their particular sports. They are no longer as close, largely because Woods tightened his inner circle after his personal meltdown in 2009.
But as the ultimate professional from a team sport, this week Jordan may fill a major need to help bring together as a team golfers who are accustomed to playing the game purely as individuals.
As for Jordan's view of what he brings to the table, he offered a rare insight into his thoughts about individuals in sports and team sports at the Presidents Cup. "When I walk away from this … I know that as a team you have leaders, you have followers, you have certain role players within a team … any championship team I ever played on, everybody makes their own contribution," Jordan said. "That means a lot when you talk about winning. It's about bringing that guy up … to take guys who had not really been successful on certain days … giving them confidence to help them rebound and get back to their game form. That, to me, symbolises what a team is all about."
That may be the way the play is drawn up on paper for the USA side. If Jordan can influence one extra putt to disappear into the hole, it may all be worthwhile and he will be then free to pass out more cigars.
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