With international bragging rights at stake, Ryder Cup fans ignore traditional golf etiquette, even cheering after poor shots.
By BOB HARIG
Published September 17, 2004
[Times art: Steve Madden]
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - The murmur in the crowd grew louder as the ball sailed through the air. As it became apparent that the shot would not reach the intended target, the noise increased. And when the ball finally landed in a greenside bunker, the spectators erupted in all-out celebration, a party for the ages.
That scene played out at the Ryder Cup in England two years ago when American Paul Azinger's shot to the 18th green at the Belfry missed the green. The European fans cheered as if their favorite soccer team had just scored a goal, the noise deafening.
A loss by Azinger to Sweden's Niclas Fasth would mean the clinching point for the European Ryder Cup team, and the fans who swarmed the 18th green smelled blood.
Welcome to the Ryder Cup. In no other golf event are poor shots cheered with such abandon, and good ones all but ignored - if they are hit by the wrong team.
"The Ryder Cup is totally different," said Germany's Bernhard Langer, captain of the European team that begins the 35th Ryder Cup matches against the United States this morning at Oakland Hills Country Club. Langer has played in 10 Ryder Cups.
"People are for one team and against the other, just like other sports. It's not a U.S. Open or British Open where they applaud and cheer for every good shot no matter who has hit it, and they kind of keep quiet when somebody hits a bad shot. It is different."
This behavior is accepted, to a point, at a Ryder Cup. Players expect fans to root for the home team. If they are on foreign soil, they expect their bad shots to be cheered. It is part of what makes the Ryder Cup unique, when golf, the so-called "gentleman's game," shows its wild side.
But what nobody wants is a repeat of five years ago in Brookline, Mass., where fan behavior became nasty at The Country Club. Such a situation was building as the Ryder Cup had become so competitive over the past decade. The U.S. team had lost the two previous Ryder Cups and faced a huge final-day deficit before rallying for an improbable victory.
Ryder Cups being dubbed "War By The Shore" in 1991 and "The Battle at Brookline" didn't help.
"I think it was a little bit over the top," Langer said. "It's not a war. We're not shooting bullets. We're not trying to kill each other. We are competing in a great contest."
"It's going to get ramped up to a fever pitch," said Davis Love, a member of every U.S. team since 1993. "We just hope the fans treat both sides the same, that they let us play the game. It's been the same every year. The fans cheer a little too hard for the home side, the players get a little too excited."
For some, playing in the Ryder Cup can be a bit jarring. It's not like a regular golf tournament, where almost everything is greeted with polite applause. Golfers are not used to their bad shots being greeted with glee.
"I heard it my very first time that I played at Walton Heath (Surrey, England in 1981)," said Ben Crenshaw, who played in three Ryder Cups and captained the '99 U.S. team. "It was sort of a mild cheer. It wasn't offensive, but it's something you're not ready for. (Captain) Dave Marr told us it was going to happen. But until you hear it, you have to steel yourself for a reaction. Partisanship will come out."
"I've heard it on both sides of the Atlantic," said Mark James, the European captain in '99. "That never bothers me. It's an instant reaction to a bit of an advantage to your team. There are times of stress, with a lot of excitement in the air. You don't want to let it get out of hand.
"I think something worse happened with the Brookline crowd. They started to abuse the players. That was too much."
Alcohol and the Americans' big comeback were part of the problem. Scotland's Colin Montgomerie took the brunt of the abuse. Things got so bad that Montgomerie's father felt it necessary to leave the course. Sweden's Jesper Parnevik, who lives in Florida, later said he felt embarrassed for the American friends he had in the crowd. Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez said he would be reluctant to play again in a United States Ryder Cup.
One of the headlines in Britain: "United Slobs of America."
"I think the world is a different place, a better place, since then," Montgomerie said. "I don't think we'll have that situation at all.
"Of course the cheers will be louder if an American putt goes in and that's obvious; we are playing away from home. I do hope that good golf will be applauded, and that's why this competition is what it is. There are two great teams playing, very well-matched. It would not be a competition if it wasn't for the other side, and we have to remember that."
The best thing, especially for the Europeans, is to hit shots that quiet the American crowd. That's exactly what Azinger did two years ago in England. With the fans itching to celebrate a Ryder Cup victory, Azinger holed that bunker shot to the sound of stunned silence, denying Europe the clinching half-point. The only cheering was by a few members of the American contingent.
It only served to delay the celebration, which occurred one group later when Ireland's Paul McGinley holed the clinching putt.
"I'm hoping our fans are extremely rowdy," said Jim Furyk, who was on the receiving end of McGinley's putt two years ago. "When the Europeans hit good shots, I expect nice, polite claps. And when we hit great shots, I expect deafening roars."
