It’s never been easy to warm to golfers, an overpaid, self-obsessed bunch who rarely fail to ask for more. And it’s even harder to warm to American golfers, who have now insisted on picking up half a million or so for playing for their country in the Ryder Cup. Nice, eh? And this weekend’s Ryder Cup, at the savagely hard Bethpage Black course on Long Island, could, in Donald Trump’s hyped-up MAGA-land, go over the top as it did in Brookline in 1999. On that occasion beered-up US fans (and players) behaved outrageously, swarming over greens, heckling Europe’s players and generally being obnoxious. Well, with a bit of luck this year will be very fruity, too.
There’s nothing in sport quite like a Ryder Cup: it’s a team event for individuals. It’s match play, not interminable stroke play. Golf, like tennis, darts, snooker and athletics, is a solipsistic endeavour. One man, or woman, in it only for themselves. So the individual misses out on the ultimate reward of a team sport: the joy of celebrating with teammates. Sure, at a major you get to hug your caddy (shortly before banking your cheque), but it’s not the same, is it? At the Ryder Cup your fate lies in the hands of others. That’s very different, and why so many golfers say winning the Ryder Cup is better than winning a major.
With its length and punishing rough, Bethpage Black is said to be one of the most difficult courses in the world. Par will win a lot of holes which means there will be lots of misses and mistakes to be ridiculed loudly by American fans. The tournament needs an away-win for the sake of the competition, but there could be an overreaction by US fans if Europe turn up the heat. American fans might be loud, but they can lack a bit of wit. Endless chants of ‘USA, USA’ can get pretty tiresome.
With the exception of Collin Morikawa, I don’t think any of the US team could be described as likeable. As individuals, the Americans may be slightly ahead of Europe, but the European players are hitting form. And they talk to each other. Tommy Fleetwood has just broken his USA duck winning the Tour Championship. Jon Rahm is playing very well, and Matt Fitzpatrick too. His parents, though, won’t be coming: last time they were watching their son battling with an American player when they heard a US fan offer the friendly greeting ‘Slit his throat’.
There’s nothing in sport quite like a Ryder Cup: it’s a team event for individuals
It was Hal Sutton who told European players to stop whingeing about Brookline, and compared them to a ‘bad marriage partner’. Well, he should know. Sutton was an oil-rich Texan playboy who accumulated so many wives he was known as ‘Halimony’, though probably not to his face. He captained the US team at Oakland Hills in Detroit in 2004, and presided over the biggest thrashing of the US in the history of the Ryder Cup. One of his captaincy masterstrokes was to pair Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson together in the opening foursomes and four-balls. They might have been the best players in the world, but they couldn’t stand each other and duly lost all their matches. Europe, led by Bernhard Langer, won by 18½ to 9½. Don’t you just love the Ryder Cup?
There’s not much fun in getting old, though you do sometimes meet someone who can light up your life. One such was the great broadcaster and journalist John Stapleton, who has sadly left us. He was kind, generous, wise, funny and a joy to be with. I met him with my good friend Simon Kelner: they were both huge fans of Manchester City and occasionally let me tag along. John died at the weekend, too soon; but at least he didn’t see his beloved City park the bus and play 5-5-0 against a sprightly Arsenal. Still, John would probably have said, ‘a tidy away point’.
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