For fifty long years Great Britain and Ireland suffered under the tyrannical yoke of United States golf. From the first formally organised Ryder Cup of 1927 all the way through until 1977, when the plucky Brits breathed their last, chipped and putted to pieces before being squashed under the spikes and cleats of the American boot, the United States triumphed in eighteen cup encounters compared to Britain’s measly three.
After 1977, it was clear that a change was going to come. It had to lest a glorious golfing concept be reduced to nothing more than a petty squabble across the pond. So Britain asked aboard continental Europe, and found itself nourished by generations of Spanish success. Seve Ballesteros, Antonio Garrido, José Maria Cañizares, Manuel Piñero, and José María Olazábal turned the tide in the Europeans’ favour, aided and abetted by the German Bernhard Langer, and Scandinavian brethren like Jesper Parnevik and Thomas Bjørn.
In recent years the Molinari brothers from Italy lent a couple of saucy pairs of helping hands, Spain has continued to flaunt its services thanks to Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Sergio García, and the continent has benefitted too from the meaty talents of Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson. Since 1979, Europe has won the Ryder Cup ten times and retained once following a draw, with just eight American victories over the same period. For a united Europe, that sounds like a job well done.
Sure British golfers have played their part, whether Englishmen like Nick Faldo, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald, and Justin Rose, Scots such as Colin Montgomerie, or Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, and Rory McIlroy from ‘Norn Iron’. But overfed on the captaincy, surfeited with too many trophies and too much fame, chummy to a fault, are the Brits now dead weight?
On the final day of this year’s Ryder Cup Team Europe needed 7½ points from twelve singles matches to retain their crown. The Swede Stenson, the impeccable Belgian Thomas Pieters, Germany’s Kaymer, and Rafael Cabrera-Bello from Spain each did their jobs proudly, and Sergio García at least managed a half. But all the English and the solitary Northern Irish fell to dismal defeats, as America routed their competitors by a final score of 17-11.
More than any other golfing competition, the Ryder Cup stirs the emotions. Too many boisterous ‘USA!’ chants or too much puttering about on the greens and there’s sure to be tears before bedtime. Even in this most genteel of sports, things can get rough. And as Britain rows hastily away from the European Union, leaving freedom of movement and thousands of immigrants in its wake, how are the likes of Kayme and Stenson supposed to feel?
Irate at a nation that not only foregoes its international duties, but has increasingly forgotten how to find fairways and greens, continental Europe now wants to turn the accord of 1977 on its head, excising Great Britain from the deal. Future Ryder Cups will therefore take place between the United States and a curtailed Europe, with the Republic of Ireland still applicable, and Scotland’s fate yet to be sealed.
