Birdies best way to silence the yobs
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.
The tee shots over Lake Kadijah on the par-3 holes provided this Ryder Cup with plenty of drama over the three days but have also given vent to screams of “Get in the water” every time a European takes his turn.
And it was not just on tee shots. Sergio Garcia was forced to back off a putt during his Saturday afternoon fourball with Luke Donald against Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker as autumnal leaves dropped on to his line, prompting unwarranted jeers from around the green. And yesterday, as Justin Rose addressed his fairway bunker shot at the 12th, a remark from the gallery broke his concentration and prompted him to confront the offender, with opponent Phil Mickelson also intervening, before they returned to business.
It was another unwanted incident that brought memories of Brookline back a little too closer for anyone’s liking.
Cheers for missed putts were coming a little too promptly after the ball rolled past the hole, the appropriate gap to begin encouraging American players shortened out of existence as roars erupted around greens across Medinah’s No 3 course.
Was it having an effect on the Europeans? Rose aside, Jose Maria Olazabal’s team were creating enough problems of their own but there is no doubt the noise generated by the majority of the well-behaved 40,000-plus daily crowds had an energising effect on the Americans.
Hosting a Ryder Cup now seems to be a distinct advantage for the home team. Of course there is noisy support at the tournament when held on European soil, there has been for some considerable time. European fans may not need telling how to get behind their teams, so steeped are they in football terrace culture, but US captain Paul Azinger recognised the need for American fans to match that fervour and even organised a pep rally in downtown Louisville on the eve of the 2008 matches at Valhalla to rally a similar kind of support.
And boy, did it work. Azinger may have out-thought his rival captain Nick Faldo but the Kentucky crowds roared their approval at every turn, buoyed by the antics of Bubba Watson and Boo Weekley.
Watson has been at it again this week as American players have been just as proactive in encouraging the noise at Medinah. Keegan Bradley, a rookie, has had the bit between his teeth this week crossing the bridge between practice putting green and first tee to gee up the fans well ahead of the first tee time. Such has been his energy that Bradley’s killer putts have prompted a supercharged celebration that has spread to the galleries and given the Americans momentum.
It was therefore incumbent on the visiting Europeans to play well and shut them up. Over the first two days of competition that just did not happen until late into Saturday evening as Ian Poulter led a one-man rescue mission with those remarkable five birdies in a row to win his and Rory McIlroy’s fourball match against Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson.
And as Donald picked up the baton yesterday as he quickly got on top of Watson, he, in the process, took the crowd out of the equation, suffocating the American wall of noise purely by sinking birdies.
Sometimes the problem has a simple solution.
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