Telfer's Thoughts 29.9.25

To paraphrase the immortal words of my dear friend Peter Montgomery, has the Ryder Cup now become the Rowdie Cup?

Never in the history of golf have we seen anything like the spectator shambles that unfolded at the 2025 Ryder Cup in New York.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to liken the vile behaviour of the American fans at Bethpage to the violent thuggery that has plagued international football matches in Europe for decades.

But at least the players in a football match inside a large stadium are shielded from any off-field violence, whereas at a golf tournament fans can get to within a few feet of golfers when they’re playing the ball from outside the fairway.

At times, listening to and watching the crowd behaviour, it was hard to know if you were at a golf tournament or a MAGA rally (Making American Golf Atrocious).

Constant vile, deeply personal and offensive remarks were hollered at Europe’s leading players. On top of this, Rory McIlroy’s wife was copping it as she followed her husband around the course supporting him. On one occasion a jug was hurled at McIlroy and his wife Erica when they were walking in front of the crowd together.

So extreme was the abuse directed at McIlroy and his playing partner Shane Lowry on Day Two that Lowry had to be physically restrained from marching into the crowd to settle things with someone who had profoundly upset him with comments about McIroy’s marriage.

Unfortunately a few of the American players must shoulder some of the responsibility for this appalling fan behaviour. For example, on the day before the Cup began, Colin Morikawa publicly called for the home fans “to go crazy when the Cup begins, we want absolute chaos.” Well his fans delivered that and more. Sadly and predictably I guess, the plan backfired, as Europe once again won the Ryder Cup.

Why an apparently level-headed person like Morikawa would become an advocate for such awful fan behaviour is beyond my comprehension. And the American hothead Bryson DeChambeau with his cringing physical and verbal incantations to incite crowd craziness every time he won a hole or sank a putt was just plain embarrassing. It overshadowed some exceptionally fine golf that he played on the back nine, coming back strongly with a string of birdies after losing five holes on the front nine. Rory McIroy made the perfectly valid point after the Cup was over that it’s perfectly fine

for home fans to scream their heads off with their support for their players, but don’t indulge in abusive behaviour towards opposition players. Furthermore, as he said, “Trying to line up a shot and play it while a chorus of personal abuse is being hurled at you from close by is just not golf”.

Unfortunately this adverse reaction to opposition players is now so deeply ingrained in the DNA of this event, it’s hard to see much changing at future Ryder Cups. It doesn’t take much to imagine what the American players are likely to be in for in two years’ time at the next Ryder Cup, scheduled for, of all countries, Ireland.

The contest itself, if rather overshadowed by crowd behaviour, nonetheless produced nothing short of breathtaking golf on each of the three days.

Europe stamped its authority on this Ryder Cup on the first morning and again in the afternoon fourball. Up by 5 ½ to 2 ½ after Day One, everyone was waiting and expecting this powerful American team to hit back hard on Day Two, but no, Europe again did the heavy lifting by winning by an even slightly bigger margin than Day One. So after Day Two Europe led 11-5, hence needing only 3 points to retain the Cup from the 12 singles matches left, reduced to 11 after Victor Hovland pulled out with a serious neck injury.

Somebody then woke this giant called the American Ryder Cup team up, and they ripped into the European one, shredding their lead with alarming ferocity. Uncle Sam’s unabated hunger saw them win 6 of 11 singles and draw 4 of the remaining 5 matches. All up they lost only 1 of those 11 singles matches, a record unmatched in recent Ryder Cup history.

Here’s one odd feature about the Ryder Cup... why are two days of this competition taken up with two of the dying relics of golf, foursomes and fourballs?

The late great Peter Thompson, winner of British Open titles, once told me during an interview prior to a Ryder Cup that he couldn’t understand the odd fascination with four balls and foursomes, particularly the latter and offered this wry observation… “Look, the only people who play foursomes these days are veteran ladies over 9 holes on a Tuesday morning.” But ah! Who would dare tamper with any part of this global sporting phenomenon after the dramas of the last three days!