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POST BREXIT - RYDER CUP FEARS OVER EUROPEAN DISUNION
reat Britain eventually left the European Union at 11pm on 31st December last year , severing over 50-years of political , economic and cultural co-operation having joined the year after the European Tour - the primary professional golfing vehicle for the continent - was formed . Six-years-later , after 25-years of USA domination over Great Britain & Ireland , the Ryder Cup was reconfigured to include players from mainland Europe , resulting in a period of intense , close competition where the balance of power shifted perceptibly towards a reinvigorated Europe . But now , with no Ryder Cup possible on UK
By Michael Wilson soil for at least a decade , Bunker Mentality examines what the impact of the political and economic isolation brought about by Brexit might have on both the European Tour and its cash-cow spin-off , the Ryder Cup and concludes that , whatever Wentworth might say , whilst ties with the UK will never be completely severed , the gravitational pull of the biennial transatlantic event may well drift away from the small island in the edge of Europe that Samuel Ryder called home . That the Ryder Cup has in the past found itself buffeted by crosswinds over which it and its two prime movers , the PGA of America and the European Tour have had marginal influence was already in no doubt , having found itself forced into a year-long delay in light of the horrors of the 9 / 11 attacks on New York , which unfolded on the eve of the 34th staging of the event in 2001 , and that was due to take place over 5,000km to the east in England , the postponement made – rightly so – on the grounds of safety , image and politics with a small ‘ p .’ Almost 20-years on and the Ryder Cup , this time scheduled for the US side of the Atlantic Ocean has once again found itself a hostage to fortune , postponed anew , courtesy of events entirely outside their control , this time , Coronavirus . The global pandemic that has already seen 100-million infected around the world ( a quarter of those in the 2021 Ryder Cup host country alone ) taking 2-million lives worldwide and counting , the grizzly landmark of half-a-million deaths in the USA alone recently passed , despite organisers insisting plans for the rescheduled 43rd Ryder Cup this fall are well underway , given the predictable unpredictability of COVID , with six-months to go , it ’ s still too close to call . Rightly so , sport in general and golf in particular are vulnerable to exposure to events beyond their control – World War II was the last significant cause before 9 / 11 – now with Coronavirus , it ’ s clear golf ’ s powerbrokers are becoming , by necessity bolder , more media savvy , prepared to be proactive where necessary , taking control of what fragments remain within their control . But 9 / 11 was relatively transient , a one-off , the passing of time blurring the immediate trauma and a year on from the New York atrocities , the 34th Ryder Cup was underway at The Belfry and a jolly fine event it was too , partly out of respect for the thousands killed in the World Trade Centre attack and in a far better spirit than the previous Battle of Brookline . However , the impacts of COVID , grim though they are may lighten somewhat as science comes to the rescue with fast-tracked vaccines and therapeutics , allowing mankind to work around and deal with the virus ultimately as an inconvenience . However , there is a fresh , dark storm cloud
lurking overhead for the Ryder Cup , one that is not a passing inconvenience but – potentially - a strike at the very fabric of the event . That ’ s Brexit , the departure of the UK from the European Union , under whose flag many of the 12 triumphs Team Europe has celebrated since 1979 when the inclusion of continental Europe had the desired effect of spicing-up an event that was dying on its feet . Following the surprise , narrow instruction by UK voters in 2016 for their government to exit the EU , the European Tour was at pains to play down the potential impact of the split , a ‘ Nothing to see here , move along ’ attitude taken , but fiveyears-on and a tortuous , acrimonious split by the UK from the other 27 members of the EU , the harsh realities of what was a very messy divorce are becoming clearer . That the next two Ryder Cups on European soil are not in the now-isolated UK but at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy in 2023 and , four-years-later at Adare Manor in Ireland is
That ’ s Brexit , the departure of the UK from the European Union , under whose flag many of the 12 triumphs Team Europe has celebrated since 1979 when the inclusion of continental Europe had the desired effect of spicing-up an event that was dying on its feet .
42 GolfPlus MARCH 2021