Jelly legs, Banana Men and Shane Lowry’s zombie chant
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Build it and they will come. Marco Simone golf course already has natural platforms thanks to its slopes and hilly terrain but that was never going to cut it for the first tee at a Ryder Cup. They needed to create their own amphitheatre.
This is Rome. That means the grandstand had to have grand arches, even if they are painted onto the back. It is a home Ryder Cup for Luke Donald’s charges so it must be royal blue, obviously. Everything else that makes the first tee special would come from its spectators. On Friday morning, they delivered. Magnificently.
The point of this tournament becomes evident just before that opening shot. It is supposed to be a funfair. So loud it made Ludvig Åberg’s legs go to jelly. He still enjoyed a sparkling debut. Drama and theatre go hand-in-hand. Viking claps and creative chants that organisers literally spend the week encouraging and promoting. Big screens around the venue play interviews with the diehards who don superhero costumes or ridiculous matching uniforms and bring tremendous colour.
The Guardians, the Marshals, Banana Man, Mario and Luigi. They walk while the rest gallop through the gates and up by the ninth fairway in a bid to secure a spot. The celebratory cheerleaders don’t need to run, they’ve a spot reserved already.
The race to the first tee. #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/QRo3t7UDdb
— Ryder Cup (@rydercup) September 29, 2023
Zombie’s revival has reached Italy. As Shane Lowry emerged, the chant grew and grew contagiously. Others realised the lyrics and joined in.
“On the tee, on the tee-e, “Lowry! Lowry! Low-ry-ry-ry!” The Irishman told us earlier in the week he carried with him an important learning from Whistling Straits. He had to control his emotions. It was a challenge, a fight with himself. He emerged as the group in front were approaching the green and watched as Norway’s Viktor Hovland holed a chip from off the fringe. Then Lowry lost it. Leaping and fist-pumping deliriously.
Not that it did him any harm. Rookie Sepp Straka, a two-time PGA Tour winner, was with him. Ice to that fire.
“It was incredible. Having Shane on my side was amazing,” Straka said after his round. “I wouldn't say he calmed me down... He did not, but he kept me comfortable. He kept it fun. We just had a really good time out there.”
There is something truly filling and pure and loudly memorable about the sounds of an enthusiastic crowd empowered to show it on a golf course. FOMO creeps up with every distant roar. The hills here trap that noise and reverberate it around all 18 holes. The bridge to the first tee crosses over the main thoroughfare in the Ryder Cup village.
The thunder starts there, directly behind the grandstand as Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton emerge and make their way out. One wave of clamour meets another and the lucky patrons who nabbed a seat in the stand sing and sway. Perhaps this is the only sporting event where a Mexican wave is actually tolerable?
Each pairing flashed up on the screen as they made their way across to the first tee and fans immediately rose to their feet. The sound of thousands of seats snapping shut formed a funny sort of harmonious entrance music. Spectators took over with their own voice from there.
Players can’t escape it. Why would they want to? Cheers or jeers, it is all motivation. This moment dominated the press conferences this week for players and both captains. America were keen to stress it is just a golf shot. One of 70 or so. Don’t overthink it.
“You suck, Scottie,” came the taunt before world number one Scheffler hits the first shot. It whistled down the dogleg left fairway and planted itself in the rough. A telling sign of how the day would unfold.
