President’s Cup - Ryder Cup - Who cares?
Well the P.G.A. tour players are gathered together this week for the President’s Cup in Montreal … that’s in Canada for some of you less aware folks down south :)
Non or casual golf fans, might ask, “The President’s … what?
And although I’m a golf nut, when these “cups” are played, I couldn’t care less, and often I don’t even remember that they are being played that week.
The Ryder Cup is a particular turn off for me, probably because the American media likes to hype it so such. They build it up like it’s the second coming of “you know who”.
The hype, in fact is probably why I’m less than interested, and probably because of my stubborn side, the more I’m told I “have” to watch this, or at least get that message from the media, the more cynical I’ll become.
But the endless discussons of how the captain is going to pick the teams,.. who should he pair with who … all the so called “strategy”, makes me laugh.
And the whole “team camaraderie” ” thing, is enough to want me bring out the air sickness barf bag. The rest of the year these guys don’t give a rat’s a** about each other, but suddenly at Ryder Cup time their all best buddies.
Oh, and the walkie talkies / headphones in the Captain’s ears as they keep up to date with the action, so that they can do … what? … zoom over in their cart and ??? AFAIK the rules of golf only allow a player to receive advice from their caddie or their partner / their caddie (in team play).
Edit: Upon further (cough .. cough) research, I see that Rule 8-1 does permit the captain (or any other person designated by the team to give advice to the team members. (This btw I believe falls into my personal category of “dumb” rules. Stay tuned for an upcoming post on that subject !
Golf, and tennis and a few other “rich man’s” sports and activities can be pretentious beyond belief, but these “Golf Cup” events, are just too much for me to bear.
Don’t get me started on “reality T.V.” shows !
Mike
Tags: pga-tour, ryder-cupRelated Stories
POSTED IN: PGA
2 opinions for President’s Cup - Ryder Cup - Who cares?
Nolan Matthias
Sep 29, 2007 at 7:02 pm
I personally like the fact that these two tournaments bring a team element to a game that was designed to be an individual sport.
That, and I am pretty sure the rules allow for the captains to give advice in this sort of event.
Cheers,
Nolan
Mike
Sep 29, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Hi Nolan,
I agree that the team element of the matches is a refreshing change over the repetitive weekly
72 hole medal play.
I suppose my perception of the events is somewhat distorted, having never seen any of the events live, but rather having to depend on the television networks’s “golf show” format.
So, as I wrote in the article, it’s the hype that I have the problem with, though the “mute” button is a good cure for that I suppose :)
Mike
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