by The game of golf has many long-standing traditions. One of them is the Ryder Cup, “one of the last bastions of pure competition”, according to our correspondent Nick Rodger.
Rodger was writing yesterday about the news that next year’s U.S. team could be paid to play in the transatlantic fight.
Read his column here 👈
Today, one of our readers expressed his disdain for competition, saying golf is “individual torment.”
John Jamieson of Dunlop writes:
“Your golf correspondent Nick Rodger writes: ‘Yes, I know we can often get too misty-eyed, romantic and schmaltzy about the Ryder Cup and its precious ideal.’ As a long-time golfer, now semi-retired due to dodgy knees and back pain, I have to say I never got the hype of the Ryder Cup in the first place.
Golf has always been a battle against myself and my own sporting weaknesses. Even in matchplay, I was only vaguely aware of my opponent’s state and the flow of the match, which probably explains why I won so few matchplay competitions. The closest I ever came to sympathy or interest in how my fellow golfers were doing was watching my occasional partner and often adversary George line up a six-footer to win the pot of oozle, which could make me gain or lose a small fortune.
Golf for me has always been individual torture and frankly, I don’t care about the overpaid, over-hyped, homegrown Yankees who deign to play on our courses when they could be staying at home.
