There was the bare arse at Gleneagles, the stolen buggy at Oakland Hills and being given the cold shoulder by Darren Clarke for 24 hours.
The stories come thick and fast from the mouth of Billy Foster, caddie to Matt Fitzpatrick, and European Ryder Cup folklore can barely have enjoyed a more colourful character.
Much is made about the atmosphere inside Team Europe’s dressing room at Ryder Cups. Foster will be the most experienced head there this weekend having made his debut as the bagman for Gordon Brand Jr in 1987 and having missed just two Ryder Cups since.
He was absent in 1995 after a falling out with Seve Ballesteros while the Miracle of Medinah played out with him on his sofa after doing the cruciate ligament in his knee. He has caddied 15 times, one other time acting as an assistant to Thomas Bjorn and Lee Westwood.
At 58, he knows his opportunities in the event are ever diminishing and he has no idea if this will be his last – he hopes not – but he is certain of one thing.
“I’ve done some stupid things over the years and I won’t be behaving myself this time,” he tells Standard Sport.
Not that captain Luke Donald should be unduly worried. While Foster has been guilty of the odd bit of misbehaviour, he lives and breathes the Ryder Cup to the extent he has twice dobbed his player into the skipper during the event when he felt they weren’t playing well enough.
He says he will do the same again in the unlikely event that world No8 Fitzpatrick’s game begins to fall apart in Rome.
He famously advised Ian Woosnam to drop Clarke – he was his caddie at the time – at the K Club in 2006 after playing poorly. Woosie duly obliged and somehow the story got back to the Northern Irishman.
“I told him it was the best thing for the team and if he had to sack me then sack me,” he recalls. “He didn’t speak to me for 24 hours. That was the worst 24 hours of my caddying career. I thought I were gone.
“The other time I did it was at Hazeltine [in 2016]. I was caddying for Westy [Lee Westwood] and he was really struggling. I go to Thomas Bjorn [the vice-captain] and get him dropped for the afternoon. I’ve not spoken about that before. I’m not sure Westy will thank me reading this but, at the end of the day, I would do it again for the team.”
It was the K Club with Clarke, despite the earlier frostiness, which remains the undoubted highlight after he won the cup in the singles just weeks after his wife Heather had passed away.
It is that moment that will forever be Foster’s career highlight, even eclipsing his first major win as the bagman for Fitzpatrick for his US Open win.
Foster’s four holes where Ryder Cup will be won and lost
The 15th
A very tough hole. It’s a long par-four up the hill at Marco Simone Golf Club and there’s going to be lots of bogeys. It’s the start of a really good finish to each round.
The 16th
A very driveable par-4 over the water, so you’ll see a lot of guys taking that on. You might see some splash into the water for a six or else coming away with a two.
The 17th
A really tricky par-three, with a narrow green and some water on the left. I’d imagine there will be plenty of action playing out there as the weekend goes on.
The 18th
The final hole requires a driver and wood or else driver and long iron. It caps off a tough final four and you’ll see plenty of toing and froing with the scores here.
As for the lows, there are two, Brand Jr missing a putt at the last at the Belfry, which resulted in a tie, and being consigned to watch the drama of Medinah unfold from afar.
In all, he says there are four or five highs and lows from every edition of the cup he has experienced, and there are no shortage of funny moments either.
“I remember I pinched Bjorn’s golf buggy at Oakland Hill and this was like Lewis Hamilton or something, it was twice as fast as everyone else’s,” he says. “I jumped on it standing up with my bag over my shoulder.
“It was like a scene from Benny Hill with six guys chasing me. As I put my foot on the accelerator, the momentum of the buggy slung me off and I triple summersaulted onto the fairway. The buggy carried on going driverless at 15mph into the crowd.
“I’m on my knees thinking I’m going to kill people or at least get them hurt but it was like a parting of the sea at Galilee. Darren Clarke was shouting and screaming, ‘You f***ing idiot’, while Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood were laughing and crying.
“Then there was the team photo at Gleneagles, I went up on the hill, dropped my trousers and flashed my arse so there was this lovely background of my bare arse hanging out!”
Onto the more serious side of this week’s event, he highly rates Europe’s chances thanks to a surge of rookies like Ludvig Aberg but also a return to form of some heavy hitters in what is a new-look Europe line-up.
Foster is of the view that LIV pariahs Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter should have been involved such is their experience and expertise but, at the same time, understands the exclusion.
Win, lose or draw, he will end the final day the same, packing his bag in the immediate aftermath and going straight to the team bus the following morning of the after party.
“I don’t think I ever go to bed, I just don’t want to miss a second of such an event,” he adds. ‘I don’t think I’ve missed many over the years.”
