The European board accepted the PGA of America’s request and announced the Ryder Cup will instead be played in 2002 at the same location.
The Ryder Cup is equivalent of the Olympic games for golfers and has grown enormously popular as the matches gradually became closer between the U.S. and the European teams. Because of the controversial nature in which the U.S. squad won the 1999 matches, the 2001 Ryder Cup was perhaps the most highly anticipated one ever.
Thus, any golf fan has to be disappointed that the golf’s greatest, if somewhat overheated, team competition is another year away. Yet, one cannot help but think that the PGA of America and the European Ryder Cup board have made the right decision at this juncture. The majority of the U.S. team members did not feel right and/or secure about playing overseas just two weeks after the tragedy. Some of the European players showed cautious preference for going ahead and playing the Ryder Cup, but in the end, the opinions of the American golfers mattered more.
The nature of the Ryder Cup, at least for the last two or three matches, has been “us versus them,” and the concept of friendly rivalry has been replaced by mutual antipathy. Some would argue that this year's Ryder Cup, under this sombre mood, would have been the opportunity to regain more gentle, friendly atmosphere from the past.
If the matches were to go on, however, the competitiveness would be non-existent. There isn't one player on either team who could be pumped about playing in what has become a passionate contest for bragging rights. The postponement makes even more sense given that America and Europe going up against each other in golf is likely the last thing on people’s mind with the imminent U.S. retaliation.
Meanwhile, the Presidents Cup, a similar biennial event matching the U.S. against the non-European rest of the world, is usually played in non-Ryder Cup years and is currently scheduled for Nov. 8-10 of next year in South Africa. The rescheduling of the Ryder Cup will affect the Presidents Cup, which has been slowly carving its own niche in the golfing world.
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