Ryder Cup legacy continues to grow

For those who thought the last major golf event of the season ended with Dustin Johnson standing in a sand trap he didn’t know was a sand trap, perk up. There’s a biggie left.

In 12 days — actually, 11 if you are on the West Coast — the 12 best golfers from the United States will take on the 12 best from Europe. It’s the golf war, our dirty dozen against theirs.

It wasn’t really a big deal until our guys started to lose to their guys in the 1980s. Before that, it felt like just another post-PGA, made-for-TV deal so Mercedes and Cadillac would have somewhere to advertise.

Its roots began to take hold when a seed merchant named Sam Ryder thought that the casual competition that had been taking place back and forth across the Pond should be more formal. He commissioned and paid for a solid gold trophy, to be awarded the winner in 1927. Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen took care of that for the Good ‘Ol USA, and a U.S. winning trend began.

Finally, when Sam Torrance made his winning putt in 1985, ending a 13-match streak in this every-two-year competition, and when Europe won again in 1987 — for the first time on U.S. soil — it was game on, and has remained so. Of its 10 wins overall in the 37 times they’ve played, Europe has won eight of those since Torrance stood on the final green at the Belfry in Warwickshire, England, face tearful and serious, arms held high in triumph.

Ryder Cup legacy grew even more when, in 1989, Jack Nicklaus conceded a 2 1/2-foot putt to Tony Jacklin on the last hole for a team tie. That sportsmanship resonated with the public.

Gradually, the Ryder Cup has gone from Page 8 of the sports section to a big deal. It’s so big that much of it will be on ESPN, the worldwide leader in telling everybody it’s the worldwide leader. NBC will have the prime-time telecasts Oct. 2 and 3. The first ESPN telecast will start at 11:30 p.m. PDT Thursday, Sept. 30.

Right now, more than a week out, the facts and fun are drifting in.

Jim McKenzie, director of golf at the course where they will play in Newport, Wales, says it is a sellout.

“We will have 45,000 people a day, for the three practice days starting Tuesday and the three competition days,” McKenzie says, by phone from Wales.

He says that sellout is a recent happening.

“We were behind budget,” McKenzie says, “and then they picked Tiger and it sold out overnight.”

Tiger, of course, is Tiger Woods, and if any question remains as to who still drives the bus in golf, McKenzie’s testimonial should end that. Ticket prices are $880 (with clubhouse access) and $660, giving access to all six days. For discussion, if all tickets sold at $880, that would generate $39.6 million. That’s a nice payday for PGA and European golf charities, especially since the players don’t get paid.

Corey Pavin, U.S. team captain, who made Woods one of his four captain’s picks, was surprised that ticket sales didn’t boom until after he tabbed Tiger.

“That’s not why I picked him,” Pavin said.

Nevertheless, the bean-counters thank him.

McKenzie says the weather in early October at his Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor should be fine.

“We’ve kept records of early August in this area,” McKenzie says. “It’s been pretty good, not much rainfall. Corey and Colin [Montgomerie, European captain] played a round here last Oct. 12 and went around in short sleeves and shorts.”

Pavin, asked about the weather, says, “Yes, we expect it to be 85 degrees and humid.”

Sarcasm is a necessity for a Ryder Cup captain.

Pavin says he knows his team is an underdog, that he expects the European crowd to boost the home team, and that, to his knowledge, none of his players has played the Twenty Ten Course, which, by its name, obviously was built specifically for this year’s Ryder Cup.

“As you drive onto the grounds,” Pavin says, “there is an old building, maybe from the 1400s. Weeds are growing through the roof. It is some sort of protected historic landmark. At Celtic Manor, they like to refer to it as the U.S. locker room.”

McKenzie calls the 18th a perfect finishing hole, a par-five into the wind that will be played at 575 yards.

“You have to come in over water,” he says. “If you go for it on your second shot, it is a carry of between 240-275 yards. If you don’t get it far enough onto the green, it will roll back down into the water. Same thing if you lay up and try a wedge.

“The boys around here love to stand on the balcony with a beer in their hand, watch their buddies hit short and roll back into the water and have a good old laugh.”

As we said, game on.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com