Staging Ryder Cup Is Risk Not Worth Taking

So, when the U.S. State Department advises travelers to “keep a low profile,” what does it mean for the Ryder Cup?

What it means is that the Ryder Cup needs to be called off. There is no way Tiger Woods or any other player can keep anything even remotely close to a “low profile,” a posture that is impossible even under ordinary circumstances. The pros are reminded each week at tournaments that in no other professional sport are the players closer to the fans than in golf.

The fact is that playing the Ryder Cup in two weeks simply isn’t worth the risk, especially in light of the probability of U.S. retaliation for the deadly terrorist attacks Tuesday morning on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It’s clear that the sentiment among the U.S. players is against playing the event as scheduled, Sept. 28-30, at the Belfry, near Birmingham, England.

It’s also clear that it’s almost impossible to reschedule the event. Golf in England in November?

Besides, the players’ schedules probably wouldn’t allow it. And that’s not even taking into consideration the immense details of staging the event at a later date.

So that would mean no Ryder Cup until 2003. Chances are the people who make the decisions realize that’s something we can live with.

Be certain that intense discussions are underway about what to do. Whatever choice is made, it’s going to be a joint agreement between the PGA of America, the PGA European Tour and the European PGA.

Representing the players, Mike Bodley, the PGA Tour’s vice president of international affairs, says tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has spoken with Jim Awtrey, the PGA of America’s chief executive officer.

In a statement Thursday, the Ryder Cup board of the European Tour said they are working closely with police and other security services, but hinted for the first time that the competition could be affected.

“The tragic events are without precedent and quite obviously, we are currently reviewing all of our plans in light of the current situation.”

Later, Awtrey released a similar statement, but said it was the PGA of America’s desire to have the Ryder Cup matches go on as scheduled.

“Having said that, the magnitude of the matches requires many logistics which are impacted by the events of the week.”

Awtrey said the PGA of America would ask for input from the government.

End of the Line?

On Monday, he turned 72. The day before, he shot 82 and finished dead last in the Senior PGA Tour event in Des Moines, which makes it clear that Arnold Palmer is getting a lot closer to the end of his playing career than ever before.

It’s true that Palmer has been dropping hints all over the place for years that he would cut back his schedule to next to nothing if he didn’t start playing better, but the fact is he isn’t.

At the same time, it’s not as though Palmer has quit trying. Never one to really take any lessons, Palmer spent a couple of hours on the range with Gary Player at the Allianz Championship. What they apparently worked on was trying to keep Palmer from moving his head when he hit the ball.

The problem is that while Palmer can correct his swing on the range, he falls into the same bad habit on the course. That indicates his problem is more mental than mechanical and it’s obviously confounded the winner of 60 PGA Tour events and 10 Senior PGA Tour events.

Palmer is so beloved, his gallery doesn’t care how he plays, which is a good thing, because he hasn’t won since 1988. This has been one of his worst years, his best result a tie for 73rd at the FleetBoston Classic. In six senior tour events, Palmer is a combined 121 over par.

Last week at Des Moines, Palmer was 23 over, but that’s much better than his previous event, the 3M Championship in mid-August, when he shot 83-89-92 and was 48 over. Whatever ails Palmer, it hasn’t prevented him from playing golf, but from playing it well.

Palmer has not played this badly before, but he isn’t giving anyone the impression he intends to hang it up soon.

He is committed to only four events the rest of the year: The PGA Tour’s Pennsylvania Classic next week, the senior tour’s Transamerica in early October, plus special events the UBS Warburg Cup in mid-November and the Hyundai Team Matches with Bruce Fleisher in early December.

Palmer was checking out a potential golf course site for his design company Tuesday in Norfolk, Va., and was forced to drive home to Latrobe, Pa., because of the nationwide airport closure. It took seven hours. It was Palmer’s longest drive of the year.

Take a Deep Breath

This week’s award for the longest sentence goes to the lead in a Sunday story in the English newspaper The Observer: “Twenty two years after an inflamed Brian Barnes memorably hurled a tee box into a nearby meadow before suggesting to a posse of hacks that the Brabazon Course at The Belfry would be better restored to the gentle grazing of cows, the Ryder Cup venue finally has the opportunity to redress the balance and to answer those critics who still side with the old warrior and his carefully considered verdict of a course originally designed by Peter Alliss and Dave Thomas.”

If you’re keeping score, that’s 81 words.

Tough Turnaround

Thomas Bjorn, who had a sore shoulder at the European Masters and had to withdraw, is taking the week off, but he’s healthy enough to be playing the Lancome Trophy event in Paris next week, then the Ryder Cup.

Bjorn wasn’t at Bellerive, but he let it be known he was unhappy that the $5-million WGC event was to be played only three weeks after the last one, the $5-million NEC Invitational at Firestone in Akron, Ohio.

Actually, Bjorn has a point. It’s hardly the ideal travel schedule for a European Tour player-two events in the U.S. sandwiching three weeks of tournaments in Europe.

Note to Bjorn: Just wait until you hear the U.S. players unload when one or more of those WGC events are in Europe and they’re the ones doing the traveling.

Money News

The starter’s shed at St. Andrews that was being offered in an on-line auction went for about $86,000. The fee will be given to the St. Andrews Links Trust’s junior development program.

Like Brother ...

Remember Myles Byrne, the star of Caddiegate?

Myles is the wayward former caddie of Ian Woosnam who was widely criticized for keeping one too many clubs in the bag and causing Woosie to get penalized two strokes at the British Open ... and fired two weeks later when he overslept and missed Woosnam’s tee time at the Volvo Scandinavian Masters.

Now meet Dermot Byrne, Myles’ brother and also a caddie. Dermot didn’t show up for Stephen Gallacher’s tee time Sunday for the last round of the European Masters in Switzerland.

Dermot caught up with Gallacher on the third tee and said he had flu.

Advice to Dermot: Remember Nicklaus’ three rules for being a successful caddie: “Get up, show up, shut up.”

One out of three isn’t going to cut it. And for the line of work you’re in, you clearly have bad genes.