We need to talk about the Ryder Cup
TetleysTLDR: The summary
The Ryder Cup at Bethpage has collapsed into a MAGA circus. What was once golf’s showcase of sportsmanship has been hijacked by Trumpism and weaponised nationalism. Donald Trump strutted into the event like a conquering emperor, fist-bumping Bryson DeChambeau, now hailed as MAGA’s golf champion, while crowds in red caps bellowed “USA!” as if they were at a rally, not a golf course. The atmosphere was ugly: Rory McIlroy and other Europeans faced heckling, personal insults, and jeers dressed up as 'passion'. The PGA shrugged, sponsors grinned, and the media treated it as just another storyline, normalising the takeover. Inflatable eagles, blaring 'America! F*** Yeah!' and flag-draped theatrics sealed the descent into spectacle. This wasn’t sport, it was propaganda in polo shirts, a cash-grab masquerading as patriotism. When fascism arrives, it won’t be in jackboots; it’ll be at the first tee, grinning from the VIP box.
TetleysTLDR: The article
Golf has its roots in medieval Scotland, where early forms of the game were played on coastal links land as far back as the 15th century, with the first written record appearing in 1457 when King James II tried to ban it because it distracted soldiers from archery practice. Over the centuries, golf developed formal rules and spread internationally, particularly through Scotland’s St Andrews, which became known as the Home of Golf. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, transatlantic competition was taking shape, with professional golfers from Britain and America often squaring off in exhibition matches. This rivalry eventually crystallised into the Ryder Cup in 1927, named after English businessman Samuel Ryder, who donated the famous gold trophy. What began as a contest between the United States and Great Britain grew into one of sport’s greatest team events, later expanding to include players from across Europe in 1979, cementing its status as a truly international showdown and one of the pinnacles of golfing history.
According to Wikipedia, Bethpage is a hamlet located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 16,658 at the time of the 2020 census.
It appears it has been invaded by a flock of MAGA, and it isn't pretty.
Bethpage Black, September 2025: a cauldron of red caps, “USA! USA!” chants, inflatable bald eagles, and the unmistakable arrival of Donald Trump. An elite sporting event long clothed in decorum, tradition, and whispered Southern glories has stripped naked in its latest edition. This Ryder Cup is no longer a contest of skill and pride; it is a spectacle, staged and weaponised: a MAGA carnival behind a veneer of golf. You cannot pretend otherwise. The stakes now extend beyond birdies and bogeys. This is about nationalism as performance, about whipping up a base, about co-opting even the most 'apolitical' arenas into the battle of culture. And the PGA, the sponsors, the media: every last one of them is complicit.
Donald Trump did not simply attend. He invaded. Walking hand in hand with Bryson DeChambeau to the first tee, he was greeted with a roar that sounded more like a presidential rally than a golf tournament. Fox News That handshake, that presence, was not accidental; it was a show of possession. It said: I own this moment.
It’s not a trivial detail. Trump became the first sitting (or former) president to attend the Ryder Cup, inserting politics, his politics, into an event that had long prided itself on being outside of politics. The Observer The mere fact of his attendance is now part of the narrative, unavoidable and the tournament seems constructed to accommodate him. The flags, the chants, the Lord of the Manor swagger of the VIP zone, it’s all calibrated. As one commentator put it, Bethpage “was seemingly designed for him.” The Observer
The MAGA flag, always omnipresent in Trump rallies, is now an accessory in the galleries. That the PGA or Ryder Cup organisers allowed this is no accident. They have become stage managers for the spectacle. Golf’s supposed detachment from partisanship is dead. What’s left is theater.
Bryson DeChambeau, once a polarising but mostly private figure, now courts the crowd with deliberate intention. His role in this spectacle is not incidental but central. He does not hide from it. He leans in. On the eve of the tournament, he admitted that he sees it as “his responsibility … to feed off Bethpage’s notoriously rowdy galleries” and to “get them riled up.” The Guardian
That is not the selfless patriot, it is the ringmaster.
In his arrival, he paraded a flag, fist-bumped Trump, and charged the stands with energy. Reuters When he failed to deliver points, critics laughed, but in terms of optics, he has already succeeded. His brand, his audience, his platform: all are elevated. Some have dubbed him MAGA’s golf champion. The Guardian
It’s not just rhetoric. Look at how he speaks, how he positions himself. He sees golf as content, media, spectacle. He talks about his YouTube presence, invites commentary, encourages banter rather than solidarity. Golf He threatens 'chirps' at McIlroy, reopening rivalries not for the sport, but for drama. Golf+1. In short: DeChambeau is the mediagenic avatar of this new MAGA-tinged Ryder Cup.
The gallery at Bethpage is no longer an audience, they are actors with scripts. From the first tee onward, the fans have heckled, cajoled, and berated European players with personal insults. Rory McIlroy has been called to 'shut up' mid-swing, taunted with insults about weight, Ozempic, and worse. Reuters He once responded with an expletive in frustration. Reuters Other European players have received heckles like 'get some cardio', taunts on introductions, or jabs at names. The Scottish Sun
Such behavior crosses from rowdy support into abuse. Yet the reaction has been muted. The US vice-captain Keegan Bradley defended the crowd as merely passionate, dismissing any suggestion of orchestration. The Guardian
That response is pathetic. It is admitting culpability by claiming innocence. By normalising the passion, Bradley whitewashes what is abusive, sexist, personal. European captain Luke Donald has pushed back, decrying the personal insults and interruptions as crossing the line. The Guardian But his words ring hollow if the oversights continue. Even the sport’s own stewards are paralysed. Rules exist against distraction, abuse, interference but applying them means alienating fans, cutting TV moments, risking sponsorship backlash. S o the PGA lets it pass. The message: controversy is more profitable than control.
The Ryder Cup was always nationalist: flags, anthems, cheering for home advantage. But nationalism is a double-edged sword. In 2025, it’s been weaponised. The chants of You-Ess-Ay! are no longer mere team suppor, they are battle cries. The crowd does not just root; it roars with conviction, with ownership. The symbols are not subtle: red hats, star-spangled backdrops, all the staples of Trump’s imagery. The inflatables, the DJ playlist (America! Fuck Yeah!), the spectacle, they all feed one narrative: America dominates, America asserts, America corrects perceived slights. The Observer
When Europe appears not just as an opponent but a political other, the atmosphere turns from athletic contest to grievance theater. The crowd, already primed, delights in seeing foreign bodies flounder, hears insults as triumph. The patriotism becomes exclusionary. This is precisely how the we’re better than you narrative spreads. Build the wall, protect the borders: now projected onto golf courses. The game becomes symbolic battleground. Have non-whites, non-Americans, or the politically disfavoured place themselves? In this realm, they are suspect. It doesn't matter that some European players have US residencies, fan bases, or American heritage. On this stage, they become alien. Their slights are not just sporting, they become cultural. The crowd yells at McIlroy about US Open losses. It mocks weight or medical drugs. These are personal, they are violence masked as banter.
The shift is not organic. The turn toward spectacle has been long in the making. First: the money. In 2025, for the first time, US Ryder Cup players are being paid, $500,000 each, to be donated to charities. The Observer That may seem like a noble move, but it also dismantles the romantic fiction that players solely compete for national pride. The veneer cracks: money always mattered. Meanwhile, ticket prices have skyrocketed—$750 per day for cheapest seats, volunteers paying hundreds of dollars to work, beer at $15 a cup. The Observer The event is monetised to the bone.
Second: the spectacle. The staging is theatrical: circuses of flags, DJs, over-the-top theming, inflatables, staging to maximise broadcast drama. The imagery is saturated in red, white, blue, and star motifs, all calibrated for camera angles. The crowd noise is amplified, cues are given, showmanship prioritised. The PGA has sold us not a golf match but a scripted drama.
Third: the Faustian bargain with right-wing audiences. The PGA, sponsors, networks all see a rising demographic: fans inflamed by culture wars. Why dissuade them? Why lose ratings, clicks, money? The gamble: give them the show they want, even if it turns the sport into a propaganda tool. The consequence: golf becomes complicit in the culture conflict. Spectators are not invited; they are wagered upon. We are part of the show. And every ticket, every ad break, is another bet that the message will land.
Defenders will say: “Hey, it’s still sport. National pride is fine. Let the fans support their team.” They’ll point out that earlier Ryder Cups had heckling; that crowd noise has always been part of the atmosphere. But what’s happening now is structurally different: the amplifications, the performance, the intentional alignment with a political personality, the support and complicity from organisers all conspire to break neutrality. Passionate fans is a lie. The constant, repetitive personal attacks are not passion. They are ideological weapons disguised as cheers. Keep politics out of golf is now ridiculous. Politics is already on the course. It’s in every flag, in every chant, in every handshake with Trump. The choice now is not neutrality but resistance or collapse. Europe’s captain recognised as much, denouncing personal insults crossing the line. The Guardian But that will not be enough if enforcement remains weak and complicity remains strong.
If sport becomes just another front in the culture war, the values of fair competition, respect, integrity, mutual challenge all evaporate. What’s left is the roar, the spectacle, the narrative. The man at the VIP box matters more than the chip shot.
What we see at Bethpage is likely a preview of sports’ trajectory: small arenas, local leagues, Olympic events, everything will be pulled into the vortex. It’s not just golf. Here's some warning signs:
- Media normalisation: The media presents Trump’s appearance as just another storyline. The narrative is not resistance but adaptation he’s just another influence. That normalises co-option.
- Athlete acquiescence: If more golfers choose to lean into the spectacle, accept the crowd, make noise themselves, the appetite will grow. DeChambeau may serve as template.
- Silence from sponsors: Corporate sponsors will not protest. They want exposure. They want audiences. They don’t care if the choir they serve is radical or reactionary.
- Weak enforcement: If the PGA, players, and officials refuse to crack down on abuse and disruption, the boundary between fan and heckler collapses entirely.
- Fan radicalisation: The more fans feel they own the event, the more they treat opponents with contempt. Sport devolves into gladiator theatre.
This direction erodes not just traditions but possibility, the possibility that sport can be a space for unity, for transcendence, for being better than your opponent rather than negating them.
This is not just a critique. It is a warning. The Ryder Cup’s transformation should raise alarms for all of us who believe in spaces that resist partisanship, that resist conversion into political platforms.
Let golf fans, media, sponsors, players stop applauding spectacle at the expense of sport. Let there be accountability. Let the PGA stop staging crowd cues, stop letting Trump co-opt the event, stop ignoring abuse. Let players refuse to be props for political theater and let us remember that sport is not magic, but it can be better than this. It can belong to talent, to grit, to respect. It can rise above the flags and the noise but only if we push back, because once your sport becomes someone else’s rally, you cannot reclaim it by apathy.
So yes, the Ryder Cup is now a MAGA pageant. Deny it if you must but know that while the shots are being measured in yards, the real score is in influence and the score is trending.
If I could hate Golf any more than I did it's exactly this.
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