Thursday 29 September 2016 07:10, UK
Andrew Coltart is amazed at the ill-timed article written by Danny Willett's brother ahead of the Ryder Cup, and fears it will have an adverse effect on the European team...
Nobody can comprehend the sheer scale of a Ryder Cup until you've played in it, and that's when you fully understand what it's all about. But that does not, in any way, excuse Danny Willett's brother for what he has written.
It is hard enough for the players to produce their best golf in this event and this kind of distraction just makes it harder, particularly when someone has caused offence to the home players and fans.
And, given what's happened, it's even more difficult when the Ryder Cup is over here. The timing of this article is incredible, just a few days before we get started.
Pete Willett clearly has no idea of the effect his comments will have on the American team, and the American crowd, and did he give any thought to how this would affect Danny, and the whole European team?
The last thing we want this week is a hostile atmosphere, and I speak from experience as I was in the European team at Brookline in 1999, and we didn't give them any reason to be abusive!
Danny was out there today, and he seemed to have good support from outside the ropes. But when the event kicks off on Friday, and it's "us against them", the 13th man for the Americans becomes so important.
They traditionally make it uncomfortable for the European players, but this has just added fuel to an already-raging fire.
Danny has handled it well and did the right thing in apologising personally to Davis Love III, his players and Americans in general.
Let's just hope we don't see a repeat of what happened in Brookline, where some of the abuse was quite shocking and directed at, not only the players, but their partners and families as well.
When we were inside the ropes, we were actually sheltered from it in a way, but there were a lot of nasty, pointed and direct comments. We'll probably see that a little this week I would imagine.
There will almost certainly be a few home fans who will struggle to keep it all in, and they will do their best to make sure the European players can hear them.
