The Ryder Cup Divide
Bruce Selcraig writes about the religious and political divide between European Tour players and U.S. players. You won't don't want to skip this compelling read, which appeared in the Irish Times.
But there’s still one significant cultural divide that is so sensitive an issue most players simply avoid addressing it when they’re on the other’s turf. Simply put, many Euros and other international players are put off by the overwhelming number of American PGA Tour players who identify themselves as George Bush-loving Republicans who support the US occupation of Iraq.
“Every movie you see, every book you read is like, `America, we’re the best country in the world,’” German Alex Cejka told me in May at the Byron Nelson tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. “When I hear this [from players] I could throw up. Sure it’s a great country...but you cannot say we have the most powerful president in the world, the biggest country in the world...It’s sad that they are influenced by so much bullshit.”
The affable and well-read Australian, Geoff Ogilvy, who won the US Open and has lived in Arizona with his Texas wife for four years, says: “A lot of their conservative views [on tour] are way off the map...I think George Bush is a bit dangerous. I think the world is scared while he’s in office, [but] there’s less tolerance of diversity [in opinions] over here [and] people have more blind faith in their government.”
Various Euros have hinted that they have similar views, but say privately they’ll be crucified in American lockerrooms and newspapers if they publicly oppose Bush, his fundamentalist Christian agenda or the Iraq war.
“That’s the new way of American censorship,” said Parnevik, as he baked on the driving range in Fort Worth. “People get hurt very badly if they speak out.”
And...
Not coincidentally, the American pro golf world, which has been heavily influenced by corporate America and Republican politics for at least 30 years, now has such a strong element of Christian fundamentalists that the entire Ryder Cup leadership – Tom Lehman, Corey Pavin and Loren Roberts – are all self-professed born-again Christians. Roberts was even converted and baptized at a tournament.
In the book, “The Way of an Eagle,” Lehman says: “God has definitely used golf in a great way over the last several years. I think of myself as a Christian who plays golf, not as a golfer who is a Christian. So whatever kind of job I do, there is a way for God to use that as a tool. In society at large, especially the way golf is growing, there is a huge platform for golfers.”
There are now official chaplains and weekly Bible study groups, or “fellowships,” on each of the four American pro tours, and various players either display the Christian fish symbol on their golf bag or wear a popular cloth bracelet that says “W.W.J.D” – What Would Jesus Do. “It’s not seen as so strange anymore for a player to be open about his faith,” former tour pro Bobby Clampett told Golf World. “They’re no longer called `The God Squad’ or `Jesus Freaks’ like we were 20 years ago. Now it’s cool.”
Well, until Bobby shows up.
David Feherty, the former Euro Ryder Cup member from Northern Ireland who is now a popular TV golf commentator in America, believes the very public display of fire-and-brimstone Christianity is still unsettling to most Europeans. “I think a lot of Europeans find that conservative Christian thing as frightening as conservative Muslims,” he says. “If you find any European pros who are in that Bible thumping category, it’s usually because they’ve been to the United States.”
Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 09:11 AM
Reader Comments (23)
Case in point: today's story on the publication, by The Dubliner, of phony Elin Nordegren nude photos. That, of course, was an internet myth that was debunked two years ago.
Of course The Dubliner is the same rag that published, with a straight face, an article entitled, "Did George Bush Plan 9/11?"
The Dubliner is not making any great strides in the little area of fact-checking, apparently.
Is this supposed to be the Euro tabloid press response to Brookline?
I guess I know which side he of the American culture wars that Mr. Selcraig has chosen, from this rejoinder...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=14666
My apologies to the bottom-feeding Euro press...
The tax increase passed, the budget was balanced, and an unrivaled era of prosperity settled over the country.
So the extra taxes that Cook paid due to the marginal rate increase were dwarfed by the extra taxes he paid on his ever-increasing investment portfolio.
Telling quote: "I don't know many liberals."
Controversy is a "rightful" part of Ryder Cup.
US pro golfers are generally republicans but that's not so true of European golfers. What a tremendous surprise that is, especially considering the golf demographics in the US and the generally leftward tilt of European politics compared to the US. That's the meat of Selcraig's point, dressed up in scary clothes and written for an Irish publication.
What's the point of writing an opinion piece like that? What does he hope to achieve? Apparently, he's disappointed Tom Lehman didn't tell him to f**k off, and he's doing his best to make it happen the next time they meet.
"John Huggan, the European golf correspondent for Golf Digest, recounts how Lehman confronted him angrily when he wrote about Lehman’s much-criticised behaviour in 1999 at the Ryder Cup outside Boston, when he led the ghastly American charge of players across the 17th green following Justin Leonard’s miraculous putt."
This perpetuates one of the great European myths about that moment: that Tom Lehman led a charge of players and wives across the 17th green, including across Olazabal's line.
Lehman never set foot on the 17th green.
And nobody crossed Olazabal's line.
Or this through-line.
Granted, it was inappropriate behavior, but it's about 1/20th as bad as the Europeans have made it out to be.
Now it's cool, you just have an affair with your neighbor, the two of you get divorced, and marry one another. Cool!
I'd find it difficult to believe some TOUR players are as right-wing as Cink, Verplank, and Lehman.
Tiger is among them.
Why is golf so darn right-wing, anyways?
Why is golf so darn right-wing, anyways?
Well, duh- most everybody slices.
Wikipedia is not a good source.
In Shackelfordian terms, Selcraig is the same kind of unbiased observer of political affiars as Peter Kostis is an unbiased expert on technology regulation...
Also, there is a bit of a difference between Feherty hypothesizing that Europeans find extreme religious ideology (e.g., conservative Muslims and conservative Christians) frightening and Wright insulting Laura Davies, questioning the physical ability of women to play golf, and stating that lesbians were taking women's golf to a "butch game."
No, I find the differences between the Feherty comments and the Ben Wright comments to be completely inconsequential!
Unless you are someone who thinks that wry, unvarnished commentary about some minorities (women, homosexuals, Muslims, etc.) is intolerable, while the same level of commentary aimed at other groups (conservatives, Christians, Republicans, etc.) is fine, I just don't see much difference.
Mind you, I am of the view that conservatives should never whine. It is unbecoming. We're better than that. But the hypocrisy, and the factual deficiencies on this subject are just so glaring...
So I say, don't fire Feherty for these comments. He does have a talent for commentary and this is the land of free speech, unlike Iran or Cuba or North Korea or Venezuela. I say keep Feherty. And, give Ben Wright back his job. With back pay.