LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
Twelve Plus One Equals Sixteen and a Half
by Brian Manzella
What two thousand outnumbered european fans started in 1987 at Muirfield Village Golf Club, came back to haunt the 2008 European Ryder Cup team at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky at the 37th match.
Buoyed by the unprecedented vocal support of the "thirteenth" man of the bluegrass state's rabid sports fans, the underdog American team soundly defeated the dazed dozen from across the pond 16 1/2 to 11 1/2.
Led by the unlikeliest of heros—Boo Weekley, he of redneck, RedMan, and red numbers—the Yanks started fast, and finished strong to take the cup back to the USA for the first time in nine years.
The red, white and blue team finally out-putted the Euros, and the toughness encouraged by victorious captain Paul Azinger, was evident throughout.
Eschewing the usual Saturday night cry session behind team doors, Azinger had his players ready to play hard, loose and to the home crowd.
Lee Westwood, obviously forgetting the gamesmanship and crowd enticing antics the euros have successfully employed since the days of Seve Ballesteros, and continued by fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia, complained that he was "abused" the the Kentucky fans.
Quite simply, what happened was some of the putts that have fell for the euros for the last few "Cups," just burned the edges, and the USA's fresh faces, including Weekley, Anthony Kim, and J.B. Holmes, just refused to get bum-rushed like the Tiger-whipped generation one their senior has.
But at the end of the day it was the fans. They came in record numbers well over the official number of 40,000. Tired of watching their boys lose, living in a sports crazy town with no pro sport teams and no regular Tour events, they were encouraged at a pre-match pep rally to be the "13th man." Super-charged by having two of their own, Holmes and fellow Kentuckian Kenny Perry, playing for their country, they shouted for the home team, chanted over the Ole-Ole-ers, and pumped up the six US rookies to play to their maximum capabilities with all the gusto of a college "Game Day" crowd.
The Euros will try to shame the American fans they way they successfully scared the players who celebrated the '99 Justin Leonard putt, but the reality is, they just got out played, out-putted, and counter-cheered for all the Oles since Muirrfield.
So I take it you condone personal abuse directed towards players and green invasions during a match still in progress ?
I have asked this on other forums and not been given an answer, has any American Ryder Cup player had to endure any personal abuse during a match ? I'm find that chants of "Ole, ole, ole" are just as annoying as the "USA, USA" thing, and pretty much cancel each other out. However, once again an element of American fans just can't help themselves. Westwood had insults about his mother shouted at him, and I know at least 2 players (Casey and Jimenez) had people shouting out during putts.
What can you expect when Azinger was urging the crowd at the pep rally to cheer when Europe missed a putt ? Not cheer when America win a hole, but cheer when Europe miss; classy. Maybe he should have taken a leaf out of Payne Stewart's book, who was one of the only Americans to show some class at Brookline when he conceded to Montgomerie due to being so embarassed by the abuse hurled at Monty during the match (but hey, that was probably OK too because you won that Cup as well).
I hope to be there in person in 2010, and will be interested to see if I am missing something regarding the European fans behaviour.
