Pro golfers’ careless behavior will jeopardize the Ryder Cup

Next week, the future of this year’s Ryder Cup will be decided. While most other major sporting events have cut their losses and delayed until 2021, golf’s biggest team event has been holding out, waiting to see if the contest at Whistling Straits, near Sheboygan, Wis., from Sept. 22-27, can still go ahead.

It’s not looking good.

Three of golf’s four major tournaments — the Masters, the PGA Championship and the US Open — have already been postponed, while the remaining one, Britain’s Open Championship, has been canceled. Certainly, most of the players due to be involved at Whistling Straits would rather it took place next year, especially if the fans can’t be there to watch it. “A Ryder Cup without fans is not a Ryder Cup,” said the world No. 1 Rory McIlroy during an Instagram Live event in April.

Meanwhile, many players are also putting the tournament in jeopardy with careless behavior. Played outside in wide, open spaces with little or no physical contact and ample room to keep socially distanced, golf should theoretically be the ultimate pandemic-proof sport. But, in reality, the game is all about backslaps and bonhomie, and players and caddies are having trouble adjusting their behavior, not least because most are multimillionaires who aren’t used to being told what to do. Watch any coverage of the weekly tournaments and you’ll see players on the practice ranges working with their coaches without a protective mask in sight. When Daniel Berger won the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 14 — the first PGA Tour event since its restart on June 11 — his immediate reaction was to hug his caddie.

Possibly as a result, a glut of players are testing positive for COVID-19 or displaying the symptoms of the virus, and have pulled out of the Tour. At last week’s Travelers Championship in Connecticut, for example, there were seven withdrawals, including four-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who pulled out because his caddie had tested positive. This weekend’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit has seen further withdrawals as Harry English, Dylan Frittelli and Chad Campbell all tested positive. In the last fortnight, there have been six positive tests among players, as well as several for caddies, too.

Last week, Ryder Cup player Justin Thomas told Golf.com that his colleagues are getting “a little bit lazier” in their approach to safety concerns and regulation.

At the same time, the PGA Tour has gone above and beyond in its attempts to ensure pro golf can still be played safely. They’ve helped players rent safe accommodation for tournaments and chartered planes to ferry the competitors around the country. Even members of the media are given saliva and temperature tests when they arrive to cover the events.

Last week, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan issued a directive to players, reminding them that “failure to comply with our safety protocols will result in disciplinary action.” But, in truth, there’s little the Tour can do to police the pros off the course. They can’t specify which gyms players use (even though they’ve laid on an official mobile gym for them) nor can they dictate what restaurants they dine at or bars they drink in. Put simply, it’s a question of trust.

As things stand, it’s very unlikely the tournament will go ahead, which will be a huge letdown not just for golf fans but for all Americans and Europeans, who together have lost more than 300,000 people to COVID-19. The Ryder Cup, after all, isn’t about collecting a hefty prize — it’s about demonstrating national pride. It’s a shame players can’t focus on that and make the tournament a success instead of putting their own selfish habits first.

Gavin Newsham is a British sportswriter and winner of the National Sporting Club Best New Writer award for his first book, “Letting the Big Dog Eat,” a biography of the golfer John Daly

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