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Emotional scenes such as Team Europe's Darren Clarke weeping in Team USA captain Tom Lehman's arms following Clarke's singles victory at the K Club in 2006, make the Ryder Cup classic television.(Photo: Getty Images)

By Melanie Hauser, Special to PGA.com

Tommy Roy was only half paying attention to the live feed from the press center that Saturday night in Brookline, Mass.

His mind, and therefore the minds of everyone on his production crew, was already scripting the opening to the final day of the 1999 Ryder Cup. The opening. The assignments. The storyline -- which had the Americans trailing by four points going into Sunday's singles and no team had ever come back from that large of a deficit. And then there was Ben Crenshaw shaking a pointed finger and saying something about believing in fate.

And, yes, he got Roy's undivided attention.

"It was pretty compelling stuff," Roy remembered. "We decided we were going to open with it the next day."

And the rest? You know the rest. The comeback. Justin Leonard's 45-foot, heard-around-the-world putt. The champagne. The celebration.

"It was a day," Roy said. "I've never seen that much emotion out of 12 guys. It was thrilling ... it was electric ... it was a magical Sunday."

That may have been one of the best days in golf -- and in NBC Sports' coverage of the Ryder Cup.

The network prides itself on its coverage of match-play golf, something that may seem easy, but isn't. The Ryder Cup, in particular, isn't about one match, but rather all of them. It's about emotion and playing for your country or countries and playing both with a partner and as an individual. It's 28 tournaments within a tournament.

It's Leonard's putt. Darren Clarke's emotional comeback after the death of his wife. Brad Faxon and Payne Stewart's tears. Sergio Garcia's leaps. Tom Lehman pulling off his shirt and celebrating.

"The unscripted drama of the Ryder Cup reminds me very much of the Olympics, where unknowns can become stars," said NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol. "Athletes who week in and week out compete individually and often anonymously, now have the unique pressure of playing for their team and their country. That's what makes the Ryder Cup so great and one of the highlights of not only NBC Sports' programming but of the entire sports calendar."

It's must-see television in the middle of football season. And all over the world.

In 2006, more than 30 countries and territories aired all or parts of the telecast live. This year, the Ryder Cup will air in more than 150 countries and territories. It started growing in the late 1980s when the Europeans turned what had been a throw-down win every two years for the Americans into an incredible battle. And European dominance.

"With all the coverage we've done, the Ryder Cup matches have become one of the top three hottest properties in all of golf for TV," said Johnny Miller. "We've just been blessed with great matches, and great emotions, people crying, jumping, dancing, singing. I mean, the stuff that goes on at the Ryder Cup, you couldn't, if you had a bunch of paid actors, you couldn't pull it off the way these guys do, because of the raw emotion."

Roy has been producing Ryder Cups since 1993, when Tom Watson captained the U.S. to a 15-13 victory over Europe at The Belfry. He also oversees NBC's broadcasts of PGA Tour events and all major match-play events.

"That's our baby, doing match-play golf," he said. "There's a lot more emotion that goes on in match play than with stroke play. The sports psychologists these days teach the players to keep their emotions in check -- no highs, no lows when they're out there competing individually as lone wolves. But when it comes to match play and particularly team match play, all that goes out the window and we get to see these guys kind of as they were as kids.

"It's really compelling to broadcast it and to watch it."

At times, too, it can seem a bit daunting. It's one thing to cover the final group or two of a major. It's much more difficult to see the big picture with 12 singles matches on the course, find a Leonard and pull a reporter away from another match to get to his.

As Roy points out, NBC is covering a series of tournaments -- four mini tournaments each session on Friday and Saturday and 12 tournaments with singles on Sunday.He shuffles his reporters around as usual, but they don't always jump to a star player. Instead, they may show a tight match that's coming down the stretch.

And, since it's football season, they frequently do have to do what is called a reset -- an update -- when, for instance, a big college game is ending and that audience might be joining the golf broadcast.

"I said it's a challenge, but actually it's a lot of fun, too," Roy said. "There's a lot more energy. It's not just another second round of some golf tournament you're doing on Friday. You have crucial stuff going on from the first hour you're on the air until the last hour you're on the air and we're on for 10 hours a day on Friday and Saturday. Under normal circumstances, if you're at a major championship, you're pretty exhausted. But at a Ryder Cup, you've got matches that are coming to physically thrilling conclusions, so it's a really exciting thing to be a part of."

Miller, who played on two U.S. Ryder Cup teams, agrees, adding that no matter the amount of hype, no matter which team is favored, no matter how critical media is of lineups or Captains' picks, no matter how many superstars are on the two teams, it all really comes down to which team pulls together.

"Anybody who is good enough to make this team can be a hero, can be the best player this week if they just have the guts to do it," Miller said. "This might end up being the greatest Ryder Cup performance in history and forget about what it says on paper. This is more than paper. Nothing matters until they go tee it up."

Houston-based Melanie Hauser is a senior correspondent for PGATOUR.com. This story appears courtesy of the 37th Ryder Cup Official Journal.