There are few things more distasteful in the warp and weft of human relationships than witnessing families allowing themselves to descend into stupid, senseless, puerile bickering.
Harsh words are uttered, tossed away cheaply in a maelstrom of emotions.
The wounds can go deep and are sometimes never totally healed. It is sad, and futile, but it happens. Thus it has been within the extended clan of the PGA European Tour these last few months. Sad and futile it assuredly is, but it has happened and, like the smash-hit play on Broadway or Shaftesbury Avenue, the uncomfortable feeling is that it is set to run and run. The bone of contention that has created warring factions is nothing less than the Ryder Cup, the competition whose lifeblood is supposedly one of Corinthian values in which the pursuit of personal glory is subordinated to the common interests of team, country and, in Europe's case, continent.