Turns out that European is only the second-worst thing you can be at Bethpage this week. Luke Donald and his team may have been booed at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, but the reception they got from the tens of thousands of liquored-up golf fans who had hung around to watch was a warm welcome compared to the one they gave New York state’s governor, the Democrat Kathy Hochul, who was jeered so loudly that her short speech was just about drowned out. Donald should maybe think about bringing her in as a last‑minute vice-captain, just to draw the fire away from his team.
“Relax everybody, she’s not Roger Goodell,” said the master of ceremonies, Carson Daly, referencing the unpopular NFL commissioner. It didn’t help. “What should everyone coming here for the first time know about New York?” he asked Hochul. (“She has no idea! She lives in Albany!” bellowed a man standing nearby, “Get her outta here!” roared another.) Hochul, a rictus grin fixed on her face, said something about how “we have the most friendly people you will ever meet” and was immediately shouted down by the locals. “That went well,” Daly said, deadpan, after Hochul beat a retreat from the stage.
New York state’s governor, the Democrat Kathy Hochul (left), was jeered by fans at the Ryder Cup opening ceremony. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/PGA of America/Getty Images
Donald got off lightly in comparison. “New York is a place where if you show up with talent and a fighting spirit the city will get behind you” he said, gamely. “No it won’t!” someone cried back at him. He nearly broke out laughing when they booed him again for saying: “You’ll make us earn every cheer.” He couldn’t help himself but slip in a couple of subtle little digs at the USA team over the way they are being paid to play here this week, but they were so subtle you needed to speak diplomat’s English to pick up on them.
“We’re fuelled by something money can’t buy,” Donald said, a wry smile passed across his face while he let the comment settle, “by resilience, togetherness, and proving people wrong”.
You get the impression he has enjoyed every awkward question which has been fired at the US players about it this week. And there have been a lot of them, especially from the European journalists. Before he finished, Donald made a point of offering his thanks to Hochul, who was roundly booed again, just for having the temerity to be mentioned in someone else’s speech.
Keegan Bradley followed him on. He spoke about his formative memory of the Ryder Cup, which turned out to be one of the most infamous moments in its history. When he was 13 his father had taken him along to watch at Brookline in 1999, when the USA came back from four points back to win in the singles on Sunday. He was one of the people charging around the 17th green when Justin Leonard’s putt went in. Only he misspoke and told everyone it was Justin Rose. Given Rose is 46, and 1999 was his second year as a professional, he couldn’t have been so very offended by the suggestion he was old enough to have done it.
US Captain Keegan Bradley leads his team out on to the stage. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA
It was a good speech regardless. He told everyone the story about how he used to climb over the fence by the maintenance sheds to play here at Bethpage when it was supposed to be closed while he was a student at St John’s University, and how he once got busted by the park service while he was midway down the 17th, and how he used to work in the coat check room at the Wheatley Hills course, a few miles up the road. He’s a New Englander by birth, but a New Yorker by upbringing, and he closed with: “Go Giants!” The crowd lapped it up.
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The Americans are good at this stuff. The opening ceremony of the Ryder Cup is usually one of the most painful spectator events in all sport, especially when it’s held in Europe. This one moved along at a brisk clip, and was soundtracked by the Beastie Boys and Jay-Z, and studded with a helicopter fly-by which was timed to arrive during the closing notes of the national anthem, and a parachute display team who landed just off the 18th fairway. Actually, that last part might have been a better idea on paper, because it took them an awfully long time to arrive, even falling at 80mph, and there was a long pause to fill while everyone watched them drop.
US military helicopters perform a flyover at the Ryder Cup opening ceremony as the locals wave the Stars and Stripes. Photograph: John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
“This might take a while,” said Daly. “While we’re waiting, does anyone have any questions for the governor? Form a line.”
