Ryder Cup Thoughts on American and British History

I enjoy the Ryder Cup quite a bit.  It's interesting to see the top professionals play in a completely different format.  The crowds are certainly fun and get into it much more than a normal golf tournament.  Also, the players show more emotion than usual.  All in all, a fun week.

At the same time, I don't really ever look forward to the Ryder Cup.  I don't feel there is anything on the line, that anything important is going on.  I don't feel any real legacy is being created.  In other words, it doesn't even have a fraction of the juice of a major.

It was not always thus.  Up until around 1900, golf was a purely British sport.  It wasn't until Francis Ouimet's victory in the US Open in 1914 at Brookline that golf became popular at all in the United States. 

The history of golf since 1914 is the story of America gradually usurping British dominance over the sport. 

In fact, the history of the first half of the 20th Century is the history of the US usurping British dominance in just about every sphere of international economic, military, cultural and political life.  Golf was a kind of kind of microcosm of that overall trend.

The most stark battleground for this clash of golf cultures was the Ryder Cup.  It had enormous importance in the 20's, 30's and 40's.  The two sides basically broke even until WW2, which marked the final death knell of both the British Empire and British golf.

After the war, the matches became so lopsided that by 1979, the British were forced to ask for the help of the Continental Europeans in order to remain competitive. 

The Nicklauses and Palmers, who grew up idolizing the American Ryder Cuppers of the past, kept the old spirit alive as long as they could, but as they passed the torch to the new generation, those memories expired. 

Today, most of the "enemies" in the Ryder Cup not only compete against each other weekly on the PGA Tour, they are actually close friends and neighbors, many of whom live and practice together in Orlando year-round. 

Honestly, I think the Tavistock Cup between Isleworth and Lake Nona may have a more legitimate rivalry that today's Ryder Cup teams.  I mean, how much can you hate a guy when you married his nanny?