Donald Trump has not been enjoying the golf. Normally, he relishes his contact with the game. But this weekend, his view of the game has not been a winning one. Far from it.
In the Ryder Cup being staged on the Bethpage course in New York state, Team USA, the side in which he invested so much personal capital, is being hammered. Eviscerated. Taken apart. Worse, for the Trump mindset, they are being put to the sword by the team from Europe, the very continent the president loudly proclaims as ripped apart by immigration, pervaded by Sharia law, hollowed out by wokeism.
It was not meant to be this way. Here in Bethpage, Trump was meant to be witnessing a vivid example of American exceptionalism. He turned up on Friday, at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of $12m in additional security, to associate himself with triumph. But instead of the spoiled multi-millionaires of the US circuit putting the Europeans in their place, they are being schooled. And that hurts. Because the Trumpian worldview does not do failure. As he demonstrated in January 2021, he does not take defeat graciously. Here is the sport he most enjoys, the one he reckons best embodies the Maga way of thinking, and his boys are taking a terrible beating.
As failure has become ever more imminent, in the grandstands surrounding the course, the mood has turned ugly. Golf, particularly in the USA, has never attracted what might be described as a diverse audience. And in an America divided socially, economically and politically, it is not hard to recognise which side of the grand societal canyon the home supporters at Bethpage belong. These are the Maga stormtroopers, taking advantage of a rare international sporting event involving their country loudly to proclaim their patriotism.
The Ryder Cup has long been a partisan affair. When staged in Europe, the home support is boisterous, one-sided and often very rude. But the Americans in Bethpage have taken the rivalry up a notch and turbo-charged it in the us-and-them tenor of the times. Clad in the stars and stripes, belting out their angry “U-S-A” chant, well lubricated by the local beverages, they had come to bellow out their triumphalism. Instead, they have been obliged to watch as one-sided a first two days of competition as has ever been staged in the Cup’s history. And, like Trump outside the Capitol in January 2021, the Maga boys are not equipped to take defeat. Fuelled by drink, as the slump to second place in a two-horse race became ever more clear-cut, so have they been ever more obnoxious.
The thing about golf is that spectators can get very close indeed to the participants as they play. Thus, there are certain unwritten rules of etiquette, like keeping quiet as the players address the ball. Observations, witticisms and heckles are restricted to the moment the ball has left the club. Not at Bethpage. Europe’s leading contenders like Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have been routinely abused in the most distasteful fashion, even as they line up their shots. McIlroy has been insulted about his wife, and Lowry about his weight. Even Justin Rose, the nicest man in golf, has been subject to unforgivable abuse. And that was from one of his opponent’s caddies.
For the PGA, the organisers of the tournament, it has been one long embarrassment. This is not the gentlemanly pursuit they proclaim. Not least when Heather McMahan, the MC the PGA hired to keep the crowd informed of what was going on, led the chants of “f*** you Rory” as Europe’s finest came out onto the first tee to play on Saturday (she has since stood down). And when McIlroy’s wife had a drink hurled at her when the grandstand flanking the 18th hole erupted into a drunken brawl after the close of play on Saturday, things had moved beyond ugly. As a demonstration of how the Maga way of thinking infects public life, it has been telling.
The intriguing thing is, the crowd’s behaviour seemed to have cowed the Americans and inspired the Europeans. As the final singles round begins, with the US team needing a miraculous turnaround to alter the direction of travel, there appears to be only one winner in it.
Trump, meanwhile, will not be there on Sunday evening to present the trophy and glow in US glory. He has no doubt turned his attentions to the next opportunity to gain personal kudos from American sporting success. And he will be right behind Team USA in the home World Cup next summer. Or at least he will be until the moment they get knocked out by Iceland in the Round of Sixteen.
