In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

fourteen This Has Nothing to Do with Money The Ryder Cup and International Rivalry in Golf J O H N N A U R I G H T The atmosphere is something I cannot explain.We would play 100 holes and we would not be tired because the spectators would carry us in their arms. —Ignacio Garrido, Spanish Ryder Cup European team member Grown men wept. The jubilant crowd overflowed onto the green. Fans waved huge American flags and sang The Star-Spangled Banner. What played out that Sunday afternoon on the venerable fairways ofThe Country Club may go down in history as the greatest victory the golf world has ever seen. —Bob Bubka and Tom Clavin, The Ryder Cup: Golf’s Greatest Event We have seen in this volume many cases of rivalries in sport, but within individual sports such as golf and tennis we often think of personal rivalries such as Arnold Palmer versus Jack Nicklaus or Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal, Chris Evert then Steffi Graf versus Martina Navratilova, etc. While golf is primarily an individual sport, the Ryder Cup has become perhaps the most hotly contested golf event both in terms of players and of spectators. Unlike the Davis Cup and other cup competitions in team sports, the Ryder Cup is a single event pitting the same two teams against each other in alternate years. The Ryder Cup is unique in that it also provides the first instance of a pan-continental identity which centers on the European team. Indeed, the Ryder Cup is the only competition in which 1WIGGINS_pages:Layout 1 2/11/10 3:26 PM Page 305 Europeans unite in a common cause in sport. Can you imagine any other place where English and German sports fans would be on the same side?1 This is a fairly recent phenomenon, however, as for much of its history the Ryder Cup was a rather low-key gentlemanly affair between American golfers and their British and Irish counterparts. The competition became so lopsided in favor of the Americans, however, that Jack Nicklaus suggested , after the 1977 event, that the British and Irish team should be expanded to include the rest of Europe. Indeed, other than 1957, the British and Irish team had not held the Ryder Cup since 1933. The European Tour, Nicklaus argued, was gaining in quality players, and the addition of stars such as Seve Ballesteros of Spain would both expand the competition and interest in it and make it more competitive. In its first iteration, the European team in 1979 only added British Open champion Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido, both of Spain, to the usual cache of British and Irish players. The U.S. team continued its success in 1979 and 1981. The 1983 competition at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, however, went down to the wire with the United States winning only by 14½ to 13½. Since that time the European team has won or retained the Ryder Cup in 1985, 1987, 1989, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2004, and 2006, with the 2004 and 2006 events being won by large margins.2 Since 1985 the American team has only won in 1991, 1993, 1999, and 2008. The score line since 1985 reads thus: seven wins to Europe, one draw in which Europe retained the Ryder Cup, and only four wins for the United States.3 This chapter examines the history of the Ryder Cup with particular focus on the period since 1983, when the new European team became more competitive, and then perhaps even dominant over the America team, the 2008 result notwithstanding, and how this heated battle has emerged as one of the most intense rivalries in international sport and certainly the most intense in golf. Despite the individual dominance of Tiger Woods and the high ranking of teammates such as Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, the European team appears to coalesce better as a team and among fans. Perhaps surprisingly, Woods, Mickelson, and Furyk each rank among the worse players based on record among Americans who have played fifteen or more matches in the Ryder Cup. Indeed, the American triumph in 2008 was achieved while Woods was out of competition due to injury. Why this apparent anomaly should be the case will be explored, and it may allude to much more than mere friendly sporting rivalry as was originally intended. The chapter runs from the 306 JOHN NAURIGHT 1WIGGINS_pages:Layout 1 2/11/10 3:26 PM Page 306 [3...

Share