Even though golf started in the old country–Scotland–the U.S. has been the most golfing nation in the world after the twentieth century got under way. And this was always proved by Americans dominating the sport in competition, especially in professional tournaments. But no more.
Case in point: in the Summer Olympic Games in Rio last week, golf was re-introduced for the first time in 108 years. The format was individual competition in a standard tournament format of four rounds, thus 72 holes. And look at who came out on top. Great Britain’s Justin Rose (2013 U.S. Open winner) took first by two strokes to win the gold medal, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson (this year’s British Open winner) won the silver, and American Matt Kuchar won the bronze.
Yesterday, 21-year old South Korean Si Woo Kim won his first tournament on the regular PGA Tour–the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro, North Carolina–with a record tying 72-hole score of 259 that included a 60 on his second round.
On the LPGA Tour last year, five South Koreans were in the top ten money winners list at the end of the year. This sea change is due to some foreign governments like South Korea and Sweden emphasizing golf by creating more golf opportunities and implementing golf programs for youth that excel in instruction.
Or take the U.S. mens amateur tournament, which is the best competition in U.S. amateur golf. It was won yesterday by Australian Curtis Luck. He rallied by winning eight consecutive holes to defeat American Brad Dalke by 6 and 4 in their 36-hole match and become the third international champion in this event in the last four years.
But the faltering of the Americans in professional golf–or the rise of international pro golfers, however you want to look at it–is nowhere more apparent than in the history of the Ryder Cup. This two-team event has been conducted every two years since 1927 with the exception of a ten-year lull during the WWII period. And the venue rotates between the U.S. and Europe. Up to 1985, the two teams were Great Britain and the United States. From 1927 through 1933, each side had won two of those first four competitions. But from 1935 until 1985, the U.S. won twenty times, and Great Britain won only once. So, it was no contest; the Americans had a lock on the Ryder Cup. Because of that, the Ryder Cup was mostly just a fun thing the Americans did, and the world didn’t pay much attention to it.
Then PGA Tour superstar Jack Nicklaus and others began speaking up, saying the Great Britain side needed to be expanded to include all of Europe. So, it happened in 1985. From then on, the Ryder Cup really took off in popularity to become what is now one of the world’s major professional sports attractions. But guess which side has dominated since then. From 1985 through 2014, Europe has won the Ryder Cup eleven times, and the U.S. has won only four times.
Yes, expanding the team from Great Britain to include all of Europe made a considerable difference. But still, the history of the Ryder Cup shows that there has been a colossal shift in the dominance of professional golf in the world. It has created more television viewers of golf worldwide, and the golfing public has increased in some countries, though it has decreased in the U.S. in this century. And in televised sports in the U.S., the PGA Tour still ranks up there in fourth place in professional sports, thus behind the NFL, NBA, and MLB.
About five weeks from now, the Ryder Cup will be conducted at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, near the Twin Cities. That’s where the 1970 U.S. Open was held, which I competed in, and England’s Tony Jacklin won it to become the first European winner of that tournament in modern golf history. Many golf historians regard that European win as the beginning of the shift away from American dominance of professional golf, although it didn’t really surface much until the Europeans started winning the Masters many times.
As always in recent years, the Ryder Cup should prove this year to be an exciting competition. Europe has won the last three events. The American pros and their team captain Davis Love III have been holding meetings the past two years to strategize how their team can regain the glory by winning again. But as for them regaining the old glory days of pre-1985, it ain’t going to happen! Golf is just much more of a worldwide sport now. Still, I’m looking forward to the Ryder Cup.
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