Ryder Cup veteran Stewart Cink has sympathy for Danny Willett
By Matthew Treadwell
Last Updated: 29/09/16 5:45pm
Ryder Cup veteran Stewart Cink has played down the potential impact of comments made by Danny Willett's brother ahead of the Ryder Cup, live on Sky Sports.
Comments made by Pete Willett critical of American fans and players appeared in a magazine article, threatening to heighten tensions between the two sides ahead of the start of the competition on Friday.
But Cink - who represented USA at five Ryder Cups - insists the comments will not fire up home fans at Hazeltine any more than usual ahead of such a highly-anticipated sporting event.
"I don't think they will really react. It's disappointing that someone had to put this down into a document that was released to the public," Cink told Sky Sports News HQ.
"I don't think there need to be any more ratcheting up of intensity or energy on either team, we have both got a lot of that already.
"It's unfortunate for Danny. The one person I thought about when I heard about all this was Danny. I was very disappointed for him.
"I have played with Danny before and he is a very nice guy to be around and I wish him the best because this has tainted his Ryder Cup debut."
The action begins with the fourballs on Friday and Cink is intrigued to find out what pairing USA captain Davis Love III will settle on.
"The fourballs is a really interesting format. It's fun to pay but a little bit nerve-wracking," he added ahead of the captains' announcement of their pairings on Thursday night.
"You have to mix the talents and personalities up the right way. You just have to try and know your players the best and both captains this year I think will have no problem at all doing this.
"There are so many requests that come in to the captain. He will listen to everybody. It will be interesting to see what Davis does with all the information he has.
"We learned a lot about what Davis is like as a captain in the 2012 Ryder Cup. He did a great job and it was one of the most heart-wrenching defeats that the USA team in sport has ever suffered.
"There's no way you can blame the captain in a situation like that. They played some pretty good golf, it's just that the European team came out on Sunday and took care of business."