Your One-Stop Ryder Cup Police Blotter
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Ah, now these are truly Ugly Americans...Chris Kilpatrick on the obscenities and other nonsense by fans directed at Graeme McDowell partner Kristin Stape, along with dreadful comments toward Justin Rose, Nicolas Colsaerts, and this one about Seve that has been posted on YouTube.
Though the catcalls were more fun when it came to Ian Poulter, at least in the instances documented by Shane Ryan in this Grantland.com salute to Europe's MVP.
**Scott Peddie with these comments from Peter Hanson at the Dunhill Cup today:
Ask if the treatment he and his teammates received was fair ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Hanson emphatically responded: "No. We expected it. I had never played a Ryder Cup in America and we had a great crowd with lots of support in Wales.
"We are used to the singing and all the songs but in America it is a bit more aggressive. But, I have to say, to be fair, the American players and caddies were really good because when it got out of hand and they were saying really bad stuff, they actually walked over to the crowd and asked them to stop."
**Paul Lawrie talked about the crowds as well and noted that the Americans get the same grief in European Ryder Cups. From an AP story by Bernie McGuire.
"I didn't get abused, but you get comments like: 'Top it! Shank it! You're going to lose.' Stuff like that on every shot you play," Lawrie said Wednesday. "Every single shot you hit last week, that's what you get. So apparently that's how it is."
"Jose Maria made it clear — don't even look at them, don't take them on. Certainly don't react. Don't make on as though it's hurting us. Just hit your shot and walk on. It's pretty tough when someone is screaming and blowing in your ear that you're a loser. But there's not much you can do. Which makes it all the more satisfying on Sunday night when you're standing there with the Ryder Cup in front of you and they are not."
Lawrie said it had happened to him before in the United States, but that Europe's fans could be just as bad.
"That was the same the last time I played in the Ryder Cup in '99, and I think they (U.S. team) said it's the same when they come here," Lawrie said.
