For most people my age, their most vivid sports memories include the Red Sox breaking the curse, Elway winning the Broncos’ first Super Bowl, MJ winning six titles, and Vince Young taking over the Rose Bowl.
My most vivid sports memory as a kid: The Battle of Brookline.
Anyone confused? Thought so.
On Sept. 26, 1999, the United States Ryder Cup team completed the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history to overtake the European squad by a count of 14.5 to 13.5 and claim the title at The Country Club at Brookline near Boston. The American team ran onto the green after Justin Leonard sunk the clinching putt to celebrate before the European player had putted out, fueling the fire that is the rivalry between the Americans and the Euros.
Still confused?
The Ryder Cup is an international team golf competition that pits the best golfers from America against the best golfers from Europe every two years. Originally, it was only Great Britain against the U.S., but it was changed to include Ireland in 1973 and again in 1979 to include continental Europe. Being an avid golfer and follower of the PGA Tour, I was always fascinated with the Ryder Cup.
Flash forward to Monday.
The 38th installment of the Ryder Cup wrapped up Monday after rain halted play Sunday, which would have been the final day of play. The 2010 American team had a chance to repeat history, this time in Wales.
Trailing by four total points heading into Monday, it almost did the unthinkable. The Americans ended up winning the Monday session seven to five, but it wasn’t enough to overcome their dismal performance in the third session, where they amassed only half a point. They lost by the same score that they won with in 1999: 14.5 to 13.5.
Because the Cup was being played halfway around the world, Monday’s final singles match teed off at 3:17 a.m. Pacific Time. I stayed up to watch the singles matches in their entirety, ready to take victory laps around my dorm room as I had in my living room 11 years earlier. I was disappointed in the finish but pleased that I got to see most of the Cup even if it meant staying up all night.
I fear, however, that I’m one of the only ones on this campus that was emotionally invested in the Ryder Cup. Since that astounding comeback in 1999, the popularity of the Cup has slowly declined, even with the Tiger Woods revival in the mid-2000s.
This comes as a shock to me. I know golf isn’t the most popular of sports, but the Ryder Cup presents one of the rare opportunities Americans have to cheer on their country in a team event. The Olympics don’t get the TV ratings they probably should, and the Davis Cup, an international men’s tennis competition, has certainly lost its relevancy.
Fans of the European Ryder Cup Team, however, seem to be much more passionate about the competition and take a lot of pride in the victory.
“I feel like it’s more of a big deal for the Europeans than it is for us,” UCLA junior and second team All Pac-10 golfer Gregor Main said.
He was right.
Pontus Widegren, Main’s sophomore teammate and a native of Sweden, gushed about his love for the Cup. Widegren played in the collegiate equivalent, the Palmer Cup, this summer. Widegren said he and teammate Pedro Figueiredo of Portugal are glad to have bragging rights over their American teammates.
“Golf is a pretty big sport in Sweden so a lot of people follow it.” Widegren said. “Being a part of a Ryder Cup team has always been one of my biggest dreams.”
Main, a second-team All Pac-10 selection last season, suggested that Europeans might do better in the event because their junior golf leagues are engineered more toward team and match play.
When posed with the hypothetical of winning one of the PGA Tour’s four majors or sinking the winning putt at the Ryder Cup, the two teammates answered differently.
“Definitely win a major,” Main said.
“Holing the winning putt for Europe would be bigger than winning a major,” Widegren said.
I’m not trying to paint Gregor as a selfish guy, because he’s one of the more humble people that I know, but I think their responses illustrate the difference in attitudes that are instilled in junior golfers. Widegren also told me he sees American golfers as being more competitive amongst themselves, a reason multiple experts have named for the U.S.’ poor showing in the Cup.
I don’t know that the American golf faithful will ever match the sense of pride European fans have in their team, which seems contradictory because the American team is more unified as the players only come from one country.
Maybe the reason the Ryder Cup isn’t popular is because we have more major professional sports to follow in the U.S. Maybe it’s because we view golf as an individual sport. Maybe it’s because the Americans haven’t been too successful lately.
Maybe, just maybe, European players are taking over the PGA Tour, and indirectly, The Ryder Cup. There have been more and more non-American flags sneaking up the leaderboards at PGA Tour events. This year, Phil Mickleson was the only American to win a major. Graeme McDowell of England and Martin Kaymer of Germany won the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship, respectively.
Main shared an interesting perspective from his experience on UCLA’s team with Widegren and Figueiredo.
“Europeans are definitely hard workers. I don’t know if it’s just the European mentality, but we could definitely learn from them,” Main said.
I was fortunate enough to attend the U.S. Open this year at Pebble Beach, and McDowell had a cheering section of rowdy British chaps that was unrivaled in enthusiasm. Sure, more people were following Tiger and Phil’s groups, but it was pretty clear to me that the PGA Tour didn’t belong solely to American’s anymore.
Whatever the reason for the lack of American interest in the Cup, it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon, and I don’t like that one bit.
Were you up at 5 a.m. watching the Ryder Cup? E-mail Strong at sstrong@media.ucla.edu.