Get ready for the roller coaster of emotions that is Ryder Cup

Event turns dull golf into a must-win saga for Americans, Europeans

- By BILL DWYRE

NAOMI BAKER Getty Images

LUKE DONALD, captain of the European Ryder Cup team, lifts the trophy after the team captured the Sunday singles matches of the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome on Oct. 1, 2023.

For the uninitiated, the Ryder Cup is not something from which you drink coffee in your rental truck. Asa matter of fact, 15 years ago, this golfing classic was proclaimed by the locals to be the biggest sporting event ever in the country of Wales.

The newest edition of the Ryder Cup will find your TV screen Friday through Monday. It will be contested onLongIsland ona torture-chamber called Bethpage Black. They played the U.S. Open there in 2009 and it rained so hard and so often that there were rumors Noah was getting another arkready. Lucas Glover didn’t win that one. He survived it.

To be clear, this will not be the biggest sporting event in the New York area. Thursday afternoon Mets’ games create more stomach aches and fist pumps.

But it should not be dismissed or greeted by yawns.

This every-other-year, alternating-home-course event that matches the best golfers in the United States against the best in Europe, creates as much emotion as you can find ina sport that preaches controlling that.

Recently, British golfer Matt Wallace shed tears on camera after falling just short of qualifying. “I will never give up on the Ryder Cup,” he sobbed.

Rory Mellroy of Northern Ireland, one of the best players ever in the sport, made the mistake years ago of calling the Ryder Cup “mostly an exhibition.” He has been apologizing for that ever since.

Spain’s Sergio Garcia, a former Masters champion and an emotional leader of many past European teams, pulled out ofa European tournament immediately after he learned he would not be on this year’s Ryder Cup team. He said he needed to get away fora while.