Much of the hype leading up to this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black Golf Course revolved around the challenge the visiting Euros faced playing in front of a hostile New York crowd. While the New York fans did their best to get inside the heads of the Euros by heaping abuse on the players and their families, it did not produce the outcome they were looking for. It did, however, produce a somewhat predictable outcome. All of the rudeness, taunting, heckling and vulgarity did zero to throw the European players off their game and instead elicited some of the most inspired and exceptional play ever seen at a Ryder Cup event.
As an Indiana Pacers fan, I’ve witnessed this phenomenon many times before. Whether we’re talking about the Reggie Miller era or the Tyrese Haliburton era, there’s no greater feeling than watching the New York faithful choke on their jeers and insults as their championship hopes go up in flames. Even though the Pacers have yet to win it all, beating the Knicks and their fanbase year after year is a pretty awesome consolation prize.
The point is, all of the boorish and abusive behavior does nothing to throw a great player off his game. Great players feed off it and get inspired by it. They lock into states of concentration and focus seldom achieved under normal circumstances. Say what you will about Justin Rose, but on Saturday the dude was dialed into Matrix level mental and physical performance, willing the improbable into certainty time and time again. So, by the way, were his teammates, Tommy Fleetwood, John Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
This weekend, the European Ryder Cup team not only won the Ryder Cup but reaped the added bonus of sticking a golf cleat in the mouth of the vaunted New York fanbase. To his credit, Shane Lowry didn’t give the “choke” sign to the abusive fans after sinking the winning putt, but rather reveled in the victory. It was nice to see the pure joy of the moment pour out of Lowry and Euros. They could have taunted the crowd, but instead opted for class and dignity. Perhaps, in the future, some of the worst clowns in the gallery will do the same.
If there is something 