"BAAAH-BA-BAAH! It had just gone nine in the morning when the speakers started blasting out Village People's YMCA at Bethpage. Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1 had arrived on the putting green and everyone was whooping and hollering at him. Scheffler bumped fists with one of his coaches, wrapped another up in a hug and, BAH-BA-BADA-BADA-BAH!, walked on up and across the bridge to the practice ground where there was a crowd of 500 or so people waiting."
"They started chanting. YEW-ESS-AY! YEW-ESS-AY! Scheffler's a big man. By the time he made it on to the range he seemed to have swelled twice the size. There are a few hundred thousand reasons why the home team wins two out of three editions of the Ryder Cup. One of them is the nature of the courses, which, like the English language, are the same, but different either side of the Atlantic."
"The second is that the captains are allowed to tweak the widths of the fairways, the height of the rough and the speed of the greens to suit their own team. The rest are all paying upwards of $750 to attend. The Ryder Cup always draws the rowdiest crowds in the game. The tribalism, says the USA's Patrick Cantlay, has become such an integral part of this event, it's just to be expected."
Scottie Scheffler arrives at Bethpage to raucous applause, with songs blasting, chants of YEW-ESS-AY and a crowd swelling his presence on the practice ground. Ryder Cup courses favor home teams through subtle differences and captains can adjust fairway widths, rough height and green speeds to suit their players. Many spectators pay upwards of $750, producing the rowdiest, most tribal crowds in golf. Organisers face complex logistics and negotiations to funnel tens of thousands of fans in and out. Donald Trump's anticipated Friday afternoon visit looms over the event, raising concerns about gridlock, security and potential delays after a US Open match was previously interrupted.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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