Bernd Wiesberger, history maker for Austria

• golf

When Bernd Wiesberger and Viktor Hovland stand on the tee for the first time at Whistling Straits, it will be as history makers for their respective nations. Both men, who automatically qualified for Team Europe, will be the first players from their countries to compete in a Ryder Cup: Hovland for Norway, and Wiesberger for Austria.

Ryder Cup, Bernd Wiesberger and Viktor Hovland

Until this year’s Ryder Cup, there had been 12 different European nations represented by golfers in the Ryder Cup. Leading the way in number of appearances since the 1979 Ryder Cup is England (80), followed by Spain (42), Scotland (35), Northern Ireland (17) and Ireland (16).

Following them are Germany (14), Wales (10), Italy (7), Denmark (5), France (3) and Belgium (2) – which is made up of Nicolas Colsaerts, who represented Europe in 2012, and Thomas Pieters, who was part of the 2016 team.

With the addition of Norway and Austria’s first appearances through Hovland and Wiesberger, the total list of European nations moves up to 14. A new career as a mental coach, alongside some of the best golfers in the world to drag them to success and support them in times of difficulty.

This is what Michael Phelps, the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympics, seems to have undertaken (also in the name of friendship). A great golf enthusiast, many now define him as the "secret weapon" of green totems such as Jon Rahm, number one in the world ranking, and Jordan Spieth, the Texan who, after a long period of crisis, is back in 2021 to amaze.

"He's a good guy, he's been through a lot as a sportsman and he's the greatest Olympian of all time with a lot of tricks up his sleeve. I'm not going to reveal what I asked him but I can say that he has helped me a lot in the last period.

". These are the revelations of the Spaniard Rahm. For the legendary swimmer, nicknamed 'the Baltimore Shark', important words also came from Spieth, today 12 / o in the world ranking. "The mental aspect is something I've worked on a lot with him lately.

I'm really lucky to have him around. Besides, he's a great lover of golf and having him now more and more in our world is an added value." This is the opinion of Spieth who yesterday, alongside Phelps, played the Pro-Am of the BMW Championship, the second event of the Play-Offs of the Pga Tour starting today in Owing Mills (USA), Maryland.