NO LAME EXCUSES
Ex-skipper McGinley raps stars saying no crowds will make the Ryder Cup too boring
FORMER captain Paul McGinley believes it’s a “lame excuse” to oppose playing the Ryder Cup because of a lack of atmosphere without crowds.
US skipper Steve Stricker (top right) this week said he would hate to hold the biennial clash in his home state of Wisconsin behind closed doors, and said: “It would almost be a yawner of an event”.
And the top three players in the world – Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka (all three right) – have helped set the agenda by saying they don’t want to play without the usual raucous atmosphere, while golf authorities have remained silent.
European Tour boss Keith Pelley has promised a decision by the end of the month.
And now McGinley, who is on the European Ryder Cup Committee, is leading a counteroffensive in a bid to see the tournament go ahead at Whistling Straits this September.
Before the return of the PGA Tour at the Charles Schwab
Challenge next week, the victorious 2014 captain told Kingdom Magazine: “I will say this very strongly.
“For the players to say that without a crowd, without the atmosphere, we can’t have a Ryder Cup, that’s a lame excuse in the current climate. I don’t want to hear it. If we are going to cancel the Ryder Cup, I want to see it cancelled for the right reasons.
“Every other sport is going to be played without crowds. The NBA is making plans to play behind closed doors, the Premier League is going to continue behind closed doors and so are other sports.
“The right reasons to cancel could be health and safety concerns, financial issues or government regulations. But cancelling because of a lack of crowds and atmosphere in these times – when every other sport is playing their biggest events behind closed doors – would reflect badly on the sport of golf.
“We need to move away from the narrative about atmosphere.”
Former Open champion Henrik Stenson, who has played in five Ryder Cups, has become the first top player to say he would rather tee up behind closed doors than not play the event. The Swede said: “For the atmosphere and for the feeling, it would be something that you can’t really imagine at this point.
“Then looking at the bigger picture, if that’s the only way that the Ryder Cup can go ahead, and if it’s not an option to play it next year with crowds, with fans, then I would prefer to play a Ryder Cup than to not play a Ryder Cup.”