Golf: a rousing Ryder Cup victory for “boorish” US
The US went into the 43rd Ryder Cup – originally slated to be played last year – having lost this biennial competition on four of the last five occasions. “Their response could barely have been more emphatic,” said Ewan Murray in The Guardian. At Whistling Straits, by Lake Michigan, Steve Stricker’s team steamrolled Europe 19-9 to earn one of the most comprehensive victories in Ryder Cup history. The US dominated the three opening days and went into day four with an 11-5 lead, giving it the feel of “an epilogue”, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. In the first of the day’s 12 matchplay singles, Rory McIlroy briefly raised European hopes by beating Xander Schauffele 3&2. But there was to be no miracle comeback: the US required only four more matches to pass the victory threshold of 14-and-a-half points.
Inevitably, there’ll be an inquest into why Pádraig Harrington’s team performed so badly, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. The truth, however, is that at the moment, the Americans are simply “much, much better”. Theirs is a team dominated by “young guns” who aren’t intimidated by Europe’s legends, and who don’t bear scars from previous defeats. Nothing encapsulated this spirit better than the “monstrous” tee shot with which Bryson DeChambeau opened his match against Sergio García. On the 364-yard par four, the muscular American became the first player all week to reach the green in a single shot. When he duly putted for an eagle, “he seemed to be speaking on behalf of this young US team. Get used to it, he was saying. We’re going nowhere.”
That may well be true, said Simon Briggs in The Daily Telegraph. With a golden generation of golfers at its disposal, the US could dominate the Ryder Cup for years to come. But what a shame that the American players – and sections of the crowd that supported them – felt the need to indulge in such boorish behaviour, said Oliver Brown in the same paper. Ahead of play on Saturday, there was the unedifying sight of Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas – rested for the afternoon – “chugging cans of beer” around the first tee. Chants of “F*** you Europe” regularly rang out from the crowd, and it was painful to watch several US players spitting all over the pristine Whistling Straits course. By far the worst offender was Brooks Koepka, who at times seemed “like a one-man sprinkler system” as he expectorated “during his saunters down the fairways, and again on the fringes of greens”. Spitting has become “grimly normalised” in US sports – baseball players do it all the time – despite it being repulsive and unhygienic, and serving no useful purpose. The European golfing authorities are quite right to frown upon it – and it’s time the US ones followed suit.