Has the Ryder Cup lost the plot? Bethpage edition testing its limits

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The Americans have lost the thread here, along with this absurdly hyped, way too crowded, eye-poppingly expensive 45th Ryder Cup. We’re the hosts here. I say this as a proud native son of Long Island: We should act like hosts.

When your team is trailing by a touchdown (and PAT) in a golf match, you should be able to hear a tee fall out of a pocket. The crowd heckling here is wildly misplaced. It has not been funny, it has not been original and it is so not golf.

Rory McIlroy was greeted by a profane chant on the first tee in the afternoon session, and it continued, in various forms, pretty much unabated for the next 17 holes. Did these jingoistic chanters think this is going to do anything other than make him dig deeper and play better? So not golf.

McIlroy’s playing partner, Shane Lowry, who plays ready-golf as well as anybody in the pro game, got serenaded with a verbal shot clock when he prepared to play a delicate pitch shot. So not golf. Secondly, do you think your counting is going to rattle this guy? Have you seen him up close? Lowry grew up on Gaelic football. You’re not getting in his head. 

The Ryder Cup actually has become way too big. I don’t know how the PGA of America expects large numbers of ordinary fans with ordinary tickets — kids, normal-sized people, fans old enough to remember Ryder Cups from the 1970s — to comfortably watch this event. They’re not inviting you to buy a ticket and watch a golf tournament. They’re selling you the promise of a spectacle, and the opportunity to watch the event on a massive outdoor screen. Golf fans come to golf tournaments to watch golf. Staring at the back of some guy’s neck for a whole day is so not golf.

As for the actual competition, six captains’ picks feels like the wrong number. I would say eliminate the point system all together and give the captain 12 picks — or return to the old and sensible standard, 10. Twelve might be better. The ultimate beauty of professional golf is that the golfer earns his place in the game.

Let each captain have one assistant. That will force the players to make more decisions for themselves. They’re adults. They play golf for a living at a very high level. They know what they’re doing. The players, some of them, just seem so entitled. You’re good at golf. Don’t get carried away with yourself. 

Here’s the biggest thing of all. The Ryder Cup really is an exhibition for bragging rights. That’s a great deal but that’s all it is. A Ryder Cup is not a war. There was never a War by the Shore. There was a thrilling team golf event in 1991 at Kiawah that showed how truly hard golf is, and how truly thrilling it is when it is played well.

But since then, the hard part and the thrill part have taken a backseat to war. The PGA of America, and to a lesser degree its European counterparts, have been marketing war. We all know what war looks like. Millions of people are living through wars and dying in wars. This Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black has no sense of balance. It’s up to us, the hosts, to get in back on track. Sunday at Bethpage would be a good place to start.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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