Birdies best way to silence the yobs

He may call Chicago his kind of town but not even local resident Luke Donald was immune from the cheers when his tee shot plonked into the water at the par-3 13th hole last night.

For all the talk about chivalry between the two sets of players this week as the Ryder Cup thankfully moved another two years distant from the infamy of Brookline in 1999, nobody informed Chicago sports fans of what is and what is not acceptable in this most passionate of golfing contests.

Shouting “Fuck you, Seve” at the top of your lungs, as one American did after a Dustin Johnson tee shot on Saturday is about as low as anyone’s behaviour could get in any situation. The audible disapproval at the outburst against the late Seve Ballesteros from the Americans around him proves the slack-jawed idiot is thankfully at least still in a minority in that regard. Yet this week’s play at Medinah has witnessed some pretty boorish crowd behaviour that should have no place on any golf course.