"Garrulous and unseemly noises always seem to break out whenever golf and New Yorkers are adjacent. The organizers of the Ryder Cup have nevertheless brought the famously contentious event to Bethpage Black this weekend for the first time. This municipal course is just 33 miles from Manhattan, setting the stage for a sub-contest: How badly will etiquette collapse in the blood-rush of patriotism, combined with New York sarcasm, concessionaires peddling a vodka and grape-juice cocktail named the All-American Transfusion,"
"The 98-year-old biennial Ryder Cup, which pits America against Europe in three days of rare-for-golf team competition, is an emotionally combustible event no matter where it is held. "Tribal," the American golfer Patrick Cantlay calls it. For golfers accustomed to silence and solemnity, the Ryder Cup's home crowd is always an opponent in and of itself, along with the course, wind, rain, sand, and rival players."
"Most of the time, golf is a game of stillness, punctuated by the even paces of aloof, buttoned-up athletes who are playing as individuals, for their own wallets. But in the Ryder Cup, great geysers of sound go up. Bellows from the galleries roll across the fairways and right up the necks of the competitors, prickling their hairs. "There's so much noise that it's kind of hard to-you can't hear all of i"
The Ryder Cup arrives at Bethpage Black, a public course 33 miles from Manhattan, promising intense partisan crowds that differ from golf's usual quiet. Large numbers of New Yorkers, fueled by drinks and local sarcasm, are expected to test etiquette and create boisterous atmospheres that can rattle players. The biennial U.S.-Europe team event is emotionally combustible, adding pressure beyond course conditions, weather, and opponents. Home crowds often act as an additional adversary, generating loud bellows that travel across fairways and prickle competitors. Concessions and corporate spectators may amplify a carnival-like tone, heightening the likelihood of disruptive moments.
Read at The Atlantic
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