The Ryder Cup's emotional fuse was lit in 1991 on Kiawah Island in 'War by the Shore'

It’s 1991 in late September and the Ryder Cup is about to commence on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina. The setting is blissful, bucolic, beautiful, a place of peace and relaxation.

In this place what had come to be known as the “War By The Shore” was about to begin, a Ryder Cup that would forever define this contest between Team USA and Team Europe as an emotional powder keg.

Before the matches began, highly respected veteran Ray Floyd, known for his ego-melting glare and his poise in the hot seat, confided his to teammate Paul Azinger: “Zinger, I’ve won four majors but I’ve never faced any more pressure than there is in the Ryder Cup.”

Now jump to Sunday afternoon, the final day of singles competition, and Bernhard Langer has a six-foot putt on the 18th hole that would determine the outcome of this Ryder Cup. Make it and Europe retains the Cup. Miss it and the USA reclaims the Cup for the first time since 1983.

All day, all week, the overwhelmingly American crowd had been boisterous, exceptionally loud and sometimes unsportsmanlike. They were decorated in the red, white and blue, seemingly fueled by the nationalism of the Gulf War with Iraq at the start of the year. Some Team USA members wore military style camo caps as an honor to American forces.

American team captain Dave Stockton, at a dinner including both teams, showed a highlight reel of Ryder Cups that basically showed the American victories which didn’t exactly endear himself to the European players. And a local disc jockey had somehow obtained the hotel phone numbers of the European players and was encouraging early “wake up” calls.

The very first match on Friday was Azinger and Chip Beck versus Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal in foursomes. Ballesteros, the long-time heart and soul of Europe whose bad back had diminished his super powers, and Azinger had a long-standing dislike for each other. Ballesteros famously called Azinger “the king of gamesmanship” and once said the Americans were “11 nice guys and Paul Azinger,”

The Americans were up by three after nine holes when Ballesteros, who was playing terribly, accused them of illegally switching balls earlier in the round and complained to the group’s rules official. But because he didn’t do it when it allegedly happened, and the Americans didn’t deny it, no penalty was assessed.

But the hissy fit clearly upset the Americans and the two Spaniards rallied to win the match, 2-1, when Ballesteros drained a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th. There was booing from the crowd, rare in the golf world, but it was exactly what Ballesteros was hoping for. And the outcome of that first match spurred Europe on, bringing it to the 18th hole in the last match of the day on Sunday with the German Langer against the American Hale Irwin.

Mark Calcavecchia’s earlier match could have decided the outcome with the American up by four with four to play against Colin Montgomerie. But Calcavecchia lost all four holes and ended up with a half. And he ended up on the beach crying into his wife’s shoulder, just some of the many tears of joy and exasperation shed that day.

Langer had been two down with four holes to play against Irwin, whose tidy game was becoming undone. Langer had evened the match with a long putt on the 17th and now the entire focus of the Ryder Cup was on that match as they traversed the long and treacherous par 4 18th.

Irwin’s tee shot was a big pull headed into the dunes. It remains to this day a mystery to Irwin and Langer how that ball ended up on the edge of the fairway. Both players missed the green on their approach shots, with Irwin hitting a poor chip that stopped 20 feet short. He would miss that putt to make bogey.

Langer chipped to six feet with a par putt to win the match and the Cup. As Newsday’s golf writer I was on my knees inside the metal fencing that held back the raucous crowd from the 18th green. I had covered a lot of major championships and certainly felt the excitement of huge moments, but it was nothing like this. It was gut wrenching.

Langer’s putt missed low and the crowd went wild. It almost didn’t seem like joy, but an explosion of the enormous pressure that had been building.

“That was just too much pressure for anybody,” Ballesteros would say later. “I don’t think Jack Nicklaus in his best time makes that putt.”

Coming down the final holes, the pressure had Irwin, a three-time U.S. Open champion, around the neck.

“When you hear ‘USA, USA, USA’ . . . I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t swallow . . . The sphincter factor is high,” he said.

And that’s what it’s been like ever since. The Ryder Cup has become an emotional cauldron and when it begins on Friday at Bethpage Black it will be on full boil.