The 2020 Ryder Cup is in serious jeopardy. The fate of the matches planned for September at Whistling Straits will be decided in the next few weeks.
So said United States Ryder Cup Captain Steve Stricker.
“So far we’re planning it as a go, like we’re going to have it,” Stricker said this week. “But there’s some obstacles that we’re going to have to face, I think. The confidence of the people and the corporate people. It’s going to come down to probably the safety. And who knows, right?
The decision is forthcoming because, well, if they are going to play the matches, the wheels need to start turning shortly.
“They’re going to have to make a decision here probably within the next two or three weeks because the buildup to put up all the stands and all the corporate tents, all that kind of stuff, has to happen in June,” Stricker pointed out.
The matches have become a point of contention with suggestions they be staged without fans.
World’s No. 1 Rory McIlroy has weighed in on it and without fans, Rory’s a firm “no” as far as his vote goes.
He went a little farther earlier this week with his thoughts:
“My personal hunch is that I don’t see how it is going to happen, so I do not think that it will happen. I think the majority of players would like to see it pushed back until 2021 so that they can play in front of crowds and have the atmosphere that makes the Ryder Cup so special. The players are the ones that make the Ryder Cup. If they are not on board with it and don’t want to play then there is no Ryder Cup. I see it being pushed back until 2021 and, honestly, I think that will be the right call.”
So make that an emphatic “no” for Rory.
Captain Stricker isn’t on board with no fans either and he knows his home-state golf fans.
Stricker said playing without the vocal Cheeseheads at Whistling Straits would be a “yawner of an event” and a “crime” to Wisconsin fans.
American star Brooks Koepka casts his vote with Rory.
Koepka went on the record to say:
“I personally don’t want to play if there’s no fans. I don’t see a point in playing it. I get representing your country is an honor and it’s something that’s so much fun, but at the same time, the fans make that event. That’s why we get nervous on the first tee. You hear the chants. You hear everything that’s going on – the U-S-A- chant, all that stuff. That’s what makes it fun.”
One huge problem in moving the Ryder Cup to 2021 is the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour stages those lopsided Presidents Cup matches but they also mean big bucks for the greedy Sheriff Of Nottingham (aka tour commish Jay Monahan) and his Sinister Band Of Henchmen.
A 2021 Ryder Cup might necessitate a cancellation of The Presidents Cup. Keep in mind the Olympic Games (with golf included) have been rescheduled for summer of 2021.
Stricker said the Tour and the PGA Of America would have to work things out.
“That would be up to the PGA of America and the PGA Tour to hash that out,” Stricker said. “I think there’s just so much going on and there’s so much movement and fluidity that no one can really make an informed decision at this time.”
Calls us in a couple of weeks Stricksie.
Please.