Congratulations to the European Ryder Cup golf team on beating the USA rather handsomely, yet again. A superb event, with thrills, skills and some supreme courage. No doubt Darren Clarke will get all the headlines tomorrow for playing (and playing well) just a few short weeks after losing his wife to cancer. Kudos too to the Americans. Taking defeat is difficult, but they were all supremely humble and were first to point out that the best team won over the three days. Sport is trivialised by many, and I have to say golf probably has more critics than most, but I’m sure Darren Clarke will say it’s been a cathartic last three days. Watching him close out his match and let the dam break on his emotions was tough to watch – the loss going through his mind, along with the joy of winning and not letting his team down and the relief that it was all over.

It’s a strange phenomenon indeed how sportsmen turn in their best performance on the back of massive personal tragedy. I wonder how this happens, perhaps they play because they have nothing to lose, that the game isn’t bigger then their tragedy or they simply want to vent their anger and frustration in a positive way. In any case, I’m still stuck with the picture of Clarke’s caddy and the tears in his eyes. Tiger Woods too, who apparently begged Clarke to play (Woods lost his father earlier this year) and gave him a lot of support. Like the Ashes last year, it was ferocious sport with both teams having massively talented players with a huge will to win, but at the end of it was mutual respect and the game played in a fantastic spirit. It’s watching on days like this that makes your heart feel glad and that whilst the concept of many sports is stupidly trivial, it matters a huge amount in people’s lives.

On a massively more trivial note, treated myself to a new widescreen 19″ widescreen monitor. Some small fiddling in YaST to get it going, but it looks good now and a bit of a shock to the eyes!