No one is
really sure when it started. All that matters now is that it must be stopped.
Bad shots by the
enemy (whichever team arrived on Concorde) are getting the kind of cheers that
should be reserved for Sergio Garcia hitting out of a tree while blindfolded,
or Jack Nicklaus making a back-nine charge to win The Masters at age 70.
Players are called names
usually found on the walls of a truck stop bathroom.
Pressure in the Ryder Cup is said to be so thick that players have a hard time
working up a spit. That wasn't the case for one person at The Country Club, who
had no problem -- and apparently no conscience -- expectorating on the wife of
European captain Mark James.
"What
happened," James said before he departed Boston, "has left a bad taste in the
mouth."
The 33rd
Ryder Cup ended with a delirious celebration by the United States, which executed
the greatest comeback in the 72-year history of the event by winning eight of
12 singles matches and getting a halve in the other.
And what a half-point that was!
Justin Leonard's 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th will become part of golf lore,
just like Tom Watson's chip-in to win the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
What becomes of the Ryder
Cup is anyone's guess.
No doubt, the matches will create the same kind of hysteria when they return to
The Belfry in two years. Clearly, the stakes will be just as high, the pressure
mounting on Europe to exact revenge in a game once based upon sportsmanship, integrity
and honesty.
The
PGA of America promised that when the Ryder Cup was over, it would come up with
a plan to channel some of its $20-something million profits to the favourite charities
of the players who have made this event the most compelling in golf.
That can wait. The first item on the agenda at the next board meeting should be
something far more important.
It's time to save the Ryder Cup from turning into the Riot Cup.
The celebration on the 17th when Leonard made his historic putt was in poor taste.
Jose Maria Olazabal had a putt half that distance to halve the hole and let the
balance of the Ryder Cup ride on the 18th.
In hindsight, Leonard said he should have calmly walked over to his team-mates,
"which would have been very hard to do." No team had ever rallied from more than
two points down on the final day, and no team has ever been under this much pressure
to win. Such an indiscretion will be forgiven over time.
"If
that were over in Europe and Sergio made that putt, you don't think everyone would
have gone crazy?" said Juli Inkster, who took as much interest in the Ryder Cup
as her victory Sunday that put her in the Hall of Fame.
Hal Sutton pumped his fist. David Duval cupped his ear. Tiger Woods looked like
the exuberant kid who won the 1997 Masters, not the exhausted man who won the
1999 PGA.
On Friday,
the gallery waited a second or two after Europe missed a putt before cheering
that America won the hole. By Sunday, the fans began cheering -- and name-calling
-- before Europeans even hit their shots.
The bare emotions are a by-product of everything the Ryder Cup has become, which
is nothing Samuel Ryder had in mind when conceived of this friendly competition.
The intensity is what makes
the Ryder Cup so compelling. Take away the pressure, the pride and the passion
and the product looks more like the Presidents Cup.
Somehow, the PGAs of America and Europe have got to find a balance.
James suggested banning alcohol at the Ryder Cup, but he quickly acknowledged
the chance of that really happening.
"The
Ryder Cup is a huge corporate event," he said, the same words that got Duval in
trouble only a month ago. "You can't do a great deal of entertaining without giving
people a drop of the hard stuff."
Written reminders don't work, either.
In the pairing sheets each day was a message from James and U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw
that explained what the matches were all about and offered a guideline for gallery
behaviour.
"In order
to preserve this great tradition, there should be no excessive partisanship. While
all good shotmaking should be applauded, the prospective misfortunes of an opposing
player should never be celebrated. Nor should comments of any kind be made while
a player prepares to make his shot."
