Most Americans recognize that World War II was won primarily through the efforts of George C. Scott and Robert Mitchum. John Wayne, by comparison, was no more than a supporting actor. What any of this has to do with golf is unclear but not inconsistent, for the Ryder Cup is only tangentially about golf. In this respect, the biennial competition is strikingly similar to most other international sports. Field hockey is a blood sport when India and Pakistan play.
Soccer riots remain a global phenomenon, even in pious old England.
Golf ceases to be a game of grace and gentility when the players represent nations instead of corporations. American players understood this at least two years ago, when the Ryder Cup was staged in Valderrama, Spain. Since the world seems to grow more vulgar by the hour, the discourteous conduct that detracted from last weekend's competition at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., was both lamentable and predictable. Embarrassed for golf' European captain Mark James said a fan spit at his wife. Colin Montgomerie said his father left the course rather than witness any more of the abuse being heaped on his son.