the digest LEADERBOARD
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THE EXCHANGE
As a spectacle, the Ryder Cup trumps the Presidents Cup
The big problem with the Ryder Cup is simple: there
no are no Australians. It also lacks Asians, Africans and
South Americans – more than 70 per cent of the world’s
population. But that won’t bother my flippant colleague, who has a
penchant for supporting events of minor importance.
With a superior format that builds to a crescendo over four days, the
Presidents Cup features a greater number of the game’s best players
(according to the official world golf ranking). The Internationals have
access to a burgeoning talent pool across Asia. The recent success
of South Korean Y.E. Yang at the US PGA Championship illustrates this
growth, an indication the Internationals no longer rely upon Australians,
South Africans and Kiwis. In contrast, the Ryder Cup is predominantly
an Anglo-Saxon affair, enlisting Continental Europeans to curb the
one-sided contest that it was for much of last century.
The Ryder Cup may be big for Americans and Europeans, but
unfortunately its popularity brings out the worst in human nature.
Frenzied media coverage likens the event to war. Player behaviour
stoops to unsavoury lows, some displaying complete antipathy toward
the rules and etiquette. Unruly fans spoil the occasion as nationalistic
sentiment rears its ugly head. They greet good shots from the home team
with unbridled joy, while there is overt cheering for the mistakes of the
enemy. It’s a sad reflection of the generosity offered by Samuel Ryder.
The Presidents Cup epitomises good sportsmanship. Take the 2003
encounter in South Africa where fading light jeopardised an immediate
conclusion to a Cup-deciding playoff between Ernie Els and Tiger Woods.
With an inordinate weight of expectation upon both men, rival captains
Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus declared the match a draw. A fitting result.
The Ryder Cup is squandering golf’s values and traditions. Thankfully,
the Presidents Cup is upholding them.
– Rohan Clarke
Rohan Clarke is the senior writer for Australian Golf Digest.
Ugly scenes marred golf a
decade ago at the Ryder Cup.
20 Australian Golf Digest octobeR 2009
There is a rumour going around that a guy seen in Hyde Park
yes wearing a sandwich board reading, “Hannibal Lecter was
framed”, was actually Australian Golf Digest’s senior writer.
If it turns out to be true, no one will be surprised. For him, defending the
indefensible has become an obsession.
But even allowing for this masochistic tendency, it is hard to
believe that he doesn’t have a less problematic cause noir to champion
at present.
If he were in the room, I’d ask him just a single question. Off the top
of his head, is there one memorable moment that he can immediately
recall from a decade-and-a-half of Presidents Cup battles? Struggling
with that one? Don’t rush, take your time. Maybe it will come to you.
Then again, maybe it won’t. Then I’d ask him the same question in
relation to the Ryder Cup.
If he’s truthful, he’ll admit that it’s hard to know where to start
when confronted with a kaleidoscopic montage of some of golf’s
greatest moments.
Perhaps he’d recall Jack Nicklaus conceding Tony Jacklin ‘that’ putt
in 1969? Or Bernhard Langer’s missed five-footer to lose the Cup in ’91?
Or possibly his mind will flash back to the foursome and fourball heroics
of the symbiotic Spaniards, Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros,
over more than a decade of competition?
Shall I go on? What about the cacophonous, spine-tingling,
emotionally charged roar that reverberated through the grounds of the
K Club in 2006 as local lad Darren Clarke was introduced to the tee, only
five weeks after losing his wife to cancer?
The outpouring of emotion was part empathy, part distorted
chauvinism, but the evolving sense of tribalism that now defines
the modern era of the Ryder Cup was also an important contributor.
Significantly, this has become the influential factor that separates it
from the Presidents Cup.
Both continents involved have embraced the
Ryder Cup. Europe has united against a common
‘enemy’. The US has responded in kind, its bellicose
home crowds rising to the challenge. For both
teams, the pain and fear of losing is tangible.
This self-evident passion lends their biennial event
its legitimacy.
On the other hand, the Presidents Cup has the
feel and energy of an exhibition. It is a concept
still trying to find its raison d’être, which it almost
certainly will in time. At the moment, though, it’s an
event rather than a true spectacle.
STEPHEN MUNDAY/GETTY IMAGES
– Grant Dodd
Grant Dodd attended the 2006 Ryder Cup in Ireland.
What do you think, yes or no? To lodge your
vote – and to explain why – e-mail us at
golfdig@newsmagazines.com.au