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 'A mob demonstration' Fallout continues over Ryder Cup atmosphere
Posted: Tuesday September 28, 1999 09:46 PM
LONDON (AP) -- European golfers may refuse to play in another Ryder Cup in the United States because of the abuse they were subjected to from American fans last weekend, outgoing European captain Mark James says. James, whose wife was spat upon by a spectator, said he feared that fights will break out unless action is taken to curb the behavior by players and fans that tainted the Americans' comeback victory in Brookline, Mass. "A lot of players will not be bothered competing in American again," James said in remarks published widely in Tuesday's British newspapers. "Certainly that is the case with me. It's not something I would look forward to. We don't need to be treated like this." James' wife, Jane, said a young fan spat at her on Sunday on the final day of the three-day competition at the Country Club. "It was just awful," she said. "There were lots of incidents of people telling us to go home." Mark James said the incidents left a "bitter taste" and called for an alcohol ban at major golf events, including the next Ryder Cup in 2001 at the Belfry in England. That idea was backed by Colin Montgomerie, the target of much of the heckling. "I learned over the weekend that Michelob beer is to be the next official drink at the next Ryder Cup," Montgomerie said in a column in Tuesday's Daily Telegraph. "To me, that does not make sense. They should be thinking in terms of orange juice." The European team and British media kept up their scathing criticism of the celebrations on the 17th green Sunday by American players, wives and caddies after Justin Leonard made a 45-foot putt that eventually decided the outcome. The wild scenes came as Europe's Jose Maria Olazabal still had a chance to keep Europe's chances alive with his own long putt. He eventually missed. James said the incidents at the 17th green "pale in comparison" to the behavior of fans toward the European players. "If I had been playing myself, I might have lost my temper completely," he said. "Cheering when you miss putts or hit into bunkers is one thing. But personal abuse is something different. We are going to get into a situation where fights will break out if we don't stop this thing now." Montgomerie said his 70-year-old father, who had traveled from Scotland for the event, left the course Sunday because of the merciless heckling of his son. "I cannot tell you the number of occasions I had to back off a shot" because of fans shouting during his backswing, Montgomerie said "Personal attacks should never happen -- and it's not just me on the receiving end of them nowadays. Most of the Europeans had a taste of the treatment over the weekend." Michael Bonallack, secretary of the Royal and Ancient, the St. Andrews, Scotland-based guardian of golf rules and tradition, likened Brookline on Sunday to a "bear pit." "I felt embarrassed for golf," he said. "It went way beyond the decency you associate with proper golf. I love the Ryder Cup and I don't want to see it degenerate into a mob demonstration every time we play it." U.S. Ryder Cup captain Ben Crenshaw, who apologized after the tournament for unruly behavior, did so again Tuesday but added that European galleries also are traditionally tough. "Obviously, Boston was swept up in this emotion," Crenshaw said from Austin, Texas. "To suggest Europeans are not vocal is wrong. They are. "Ryder Cup is about partisan support. Believe me, it's no different than from when we're over there. Just ask some of the players who played at Valderama. It's not like this has never happened before," Crenshaw said. A tirade of anti-American sentiment continued for a second day in the British papers, with headlines like "United Slobs of America Spat on Mark James' Wife." "The behavior of the American team, and not just on the 17th green, might have been juvenile, but it certainly wasn't surprising," Daily Telegraph columnist Martin Johnson wrote. "This is a country which is so insular that most Americans still believe that the Second World War was won by John Wayne." Some columnists took a more moderate approach. "I found myself feeling faintly jealous of America's capacity for emotion," former Telegraph editor W.F. Deedes wrote. "We shrug our shoulders a lot. They really care. They want to win. They hate to lose. And this carries them beyond a golf game at Brookline. ... The right response now is to shrug our shoulders." That didn't stop some commentators from getting downright nasty and personal, ridiculing the appearance of the wives and girlfriends of the American golfers. "Many observers would have sworn that every man on the American team had married the same woman," Evening Standard columnist Kate Battersby wrote. Crenshaw said some of the criticism probably comes from frustration. "When you lose over there and they come out with soccer chants, it stings you. That's what they heard this time because we played so convincingly," Crenshaw said. "They knew they were in trouble because those cheers reverberated across the golf course. It's tough to take but that's what was happening."
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