Opinion: Time to heal with divots of decency

Allowing fans to swill beer before the first tee off at 8am does little to discourage moronic behaviour at the Ryder Cup. PHOTO/AP

After a round of golf the other day I came across someone who reacted as if he had just shanked a shot off the fairway into the ocean.

An incredibly knowledgeable man he is when it comes to the sport but what got up his nose wasn't a lack of decorum from social hackers on the course.

No, it was the behaviour of the boorish gallery at the Ryder Cup tournament in the past few days.

"Are you going to write something about it, Anendra?

"It was bloody awful. I suppose they are the type of blokes who will be voting for Donald Trump," he said.

Perfect, I thought. I was a little bereft of ideas on what to serve up today so this was going to suit me just fine.

So here go my chip-and-approach shots from the fringes of insanity to, hopefully, the greens of rationality.

Does golf need vociferous crowds and are those playing the etiquette card just old fuddy-duddies who need to see the bigger picture?

An emphatic yes to the first question and a resounding no to the second, following what has unfolded at Hazeltine, although similar cantankerous behaviour at Medinah in 2012 suggests it doesn't come as a surprise.

The reaction of most of the Ryder Cup players showed even they fed off it, regardless of whether they were uplifting or antagonistic chants.

But there's a fine line between cheering fans and loudmouths who try to throw a golfer off his stride in the middle of his swing.

Jeering and willing players to miss putts as they are reading the lie or teeing off into the woods or the middle of a water hazard are downright deplorable.

It's true that golf isn't cricket, rugby or basketball but it can learn from codes where sledging is tolerated within limits of decency.

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy had every right to demand that some lout be evicted from the gallery for hurling obscenities.

Take a bow the likes of American Jordan Speith for impressing to fans that every golfer is entitled to a fair environment in playing a shot.

But McIlroy has to take it on the chin when pockets of fans start singing Sweet Caroline between shots after his unceremonious dumping of ex-tennis flame Caroline Wozniacki.

Golf needs publicity and exposure to spice it up as a spectator sport.

Conversely the Europeans have to accept that Peter Willett, brother of player Danny, rattled the cage of the Yanks with some pretty disparaging remarks.

I agree the in-your-face American culture embraces embellishment at the expense of realism.

I also accept, going into the Hazeltine Cup, of the 16 Ryder Cup matches, the Yanks had won five and all at home so it was desperate times.

But it's not the smartest move to yank the opposition's chain before they're teeing up on their mound.

Here are excerpts of what Peter Willett had to say:

"They [Europeans] need to silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling irritants stuffed on cookie dough and pissy beer, pausing between mouthfuls of hotdog so they can scream 'Baba booey' until their jelly faces turn red.

"They need to smash the obnoxious dads, with their shiny teeth, Lego man hair, medicated ex-wives and resentful children.

"Squeezed into their cargo shorts and boating shoes, they'll bellow 'get in the hole' whilst high-fiving all the other members of the Dentists' Big Game Hunt Society."

The older Willett, no doubt a wordsmith, went on to describe the hosts as "fat, stupid, greedy and classless".

Danny is right that American boof-heads proved his English-teaching brother's assertions right but it still isn't prescription for a diplomatic balm.

I hasten to quailfy that not every American in the gallery was swept away in the euphoric wave of patriotism to moronic proportions.

Just as a slim majority isn't likely to vote for Trump, when faced with two undesirable presidential candidates, there always is hope that more fans are willing to uphold the values of common decency.

It's highly conceivable that many fans, regardless of which team they support, will applaud an opposition player's dexterity.

With 50,000 fans reportedly worming their way through Hazeltine during Ryder Cup, it is a given that some drongos will sneak in to fray the fabric of civility.

It doesn't help that cup organisers allow fans to swill beer before the first tee-off at 8am.

Even cricketing venues wouldn't entertain that thought during internationals.

If golf clubs can bar people of different skin tones and women from becoming playing members for centuries thenpolicing alcohol at tourneys should be a breeze.

In trying to stimulate intelligent debate on a worthy subject a Bay golfing identity raised, I emphasise the sport has certain protocols that mirror the norms of society.

It goes without saying there are enough rational people in America who will feel obligated to go around maligned fairways to replace the wounds with divots of decency.

One can only hope European fans won't stoop to their level in a blind rage of retribution at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018.