24 September, 2007
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The PGA
In the final installment of his blog, the 2007 Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup captain Gary Alliss looks back on the biggest week of his golfing career.
The matches were going so close, and that's special.
It was a fantastic week of golf. We're obviously terribly disappointed to have fallen just a point short, or a half a point if you like, from retaining the trophy, but the guys did me proud.
If there was a reason for us coming up short, it was certainly nothing to do with their play. Maybe a slightly different pairing in a foursome, a four-ball, I don't know. We can reflect on it, but our hosts have been magnificent, they've been generous. Reynolds Plantation and the Ritz-Carlton have just been fantastic.
We've enjoyed the experience, but at the same time we're very sad. At the end of the day nobody died, we had a great time and everybody will be up for a little bit of a party tonight.
You could say we won a couple of the days almost. We led after the first day and then today we won the singles by a point, but it was a point too short. We unfortunately went in a couple of points behind, which I knew was going to be tough. I really felt that the guys were good enough players to win the singles. I don't think it was anything to the play or the pairings or anything, but as captain I fully accept responsibility.
I wouldn't want any of my players to blame themselves and think they didn't do the business. If we could have squeezed one more half out of yesterday when we did lose in the afternoon and went down 3-1, maybe it was there. I'll have to live by that.
The most memorable moment for me as captain has to be, I think, consoling the players who wanted this probably more than me. And I wanted it with a passion.
The matches were going so close, and that's special. I'd like to stress, it was a special moment saying 'well done' to players who had won a great point - like Danny Taylor against Mike Small - and the disappointment for the players who didn't manage to bring home a point.
I have to congratulate George Ryall. You could say, "Well, there was your biggest mistake. You left George out in the first set of matches on Friday," and I would hold my hand up on that first morning. George won all four of his matches in great style. Not to single him out, but he's a more senior player. That experience showed and he's a great competitor and a great friend.
Overall, we're sad not to have won, but it was a fantastic week.