Ryder Cup Corner: Bubba brings the noise to feel right at home

Understandably, most players demand absolute silence when they are on the tee, especially the first tee of a Ryder Cup, but not Bubba Watson. Before his first shot in the fourballs yesterday, the self-confessed "goof", his caddie and team-mates encouraged the crowd to make as much noise as possible. A brave tactic, but it paid off. Bubba drove straight and true down the middle. But then, if you can chip balls unsighted into your jacuzzi from behind your garage – as Bubba posted himself doing on YouTube – then what's the first tee at Medinah?

England's bad reception

There is arguably no better sport to watch on TV than golf, and there is arguably no better golfing spectacle to watch on TV than the Ryder Cup. So spare a thought for England's cricketers currently playing in the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka where, apparently, the coverage is less than excellent. Graeme Swann tweeted: "The Ryder Cup is on here, but the reception is worse than my mum's ability to work a VCR. This is devastating."

Watch out, Tiger's about

Another day, another spectator with a bump on his head courtesy of Tiger Woods. Having thwocked a member of the crowd on Thursday in his final practice round, Woods did it again yesterday during the foursomes (below). It capped a poor first round for the Tiger, who could be seen time and again looking forlorn as he shanked the ball from bunker to rough and back to bunker. There were unconfirmed reports of a spike in crash helmet sales in the west Chicago area yesterday evening.