Us Against Them: An Oral History of the Ryder Cup

Us Against Them: An Oral History of the Ryder Cup

The Only Oral History of the Ryder Cup Since Its Genesis in 1927 Us Against Them recounts how the Ryder Cup grew from the brink of extinction to become the most compelling and controversial tournament in golf. The popularity of the Ryder Cup, played every other year in the fall (alternately in the United States and in Europe), has soared in the last ten years. Its worldwide television audience is now the largest of any in golf, and the last tournament, in 2002, was viewed by an estimated 100 million fans. The story of this meteoric rise -- and all the rich history that predated it -- is told in the actual voices of more than forty players and other participants, including Ryder Cup players and captains Curtis Strange, Dave Stockton, Sam Torrance, and Tony Jacklin; American legends Hale Irwin and Billy Casper; U.S. network television commentators Peter Alliss, David Feherty, Peter Oosterhuis, and Jimmy Roberts; Tour players Peter Jacobsen, Tom Lehman, and Brad Faxon; and such names from the past as Dow Finsterwald, Johnny Pott, and Tommy Bolt.More than recalling simply the play-by-play, Us Against Them also goes behind the scenes -- to the Ryder Cup tournament director whose participation almost ended in his own bloody death, to the matches in Britain that nearly ended in blows, to the car crash that some say decided the outcome of one of the matches, to a small plane carrying players that almost fell from the sky, and to the prominent American network golf commentator who introduced himself to a U.S. president while dressed in a large plastic garbage bag! The Ryder Cup, in which 12 top golfers from the U.S. play 12 of the same from Europe, is headline news these days, but it wasn't always so. U.S. domination of the biennial competition made it a nonevent until the 1980s, when it was decided to pit all of Europe, rather than only the UK, against the Americans. With the inclusion of Seve Ballesteros and Jose Marie Olazabol from Spain and Bernhard Langer from Germany, the Ryder Cup became competitive, and the game was on. This engaging oral history follows the cup from the early days of Hogan and Snead through the hotly contested recent matches, including the Americans' come-from-behind win at Brookline in 1999. The facts will be familiar to golf fans, but the incidental commentary is fresh and fascinating. Here is Jack Nicklaus in 1975 telling Arnold Palmer what he thought of Latrobe Country Club's no-women-in-the-dining-room policy: "Never mind the rules and all that crap, Arnold. If my wife is not sitting down to have lunch with me tomorrow, I'm going home." Must reading for golf fans anticipating this year's Ryder Cup. Bill Ott Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved The Only Oral History of the Ryder Cup Since Its Genesis in 1927 Us Against Them recounts how the Ryder Cup grew from the brink of extinction to become the most compelling and controversial tournament in golf. The popularity of the Ryder Cup, played every other year in the fall (alternately in the United States and in Europe), has soared in the last ten years. Its worldwide television audience is now the largest of any in golf, and the last tournament, in 2002, was viewed by an estimated 100 million fans. The story of this meteoric rise -- and all the rich history that predated it -- is told in the actual voices of more than forty players and other participants, including Ryder Cup players and captains Curtis Strange, Dave Stockton, Sam Torrance, and Tony Jacklin; American legends Hale Irwin and Billy Casper; U.S. network television commentators Peter Alliss, David Feherty, Peter Oosterhuis, and Jimmy Roberts; Tour players Peter Jacobsen, Tom Lehman, and Brad Faxon; and such names from the past as Dow Finsterwald, Johnny Pott, and Tommy Bolt.More than recalling simply the play-by-play, Us Against Them also goes behind the scenes -- to the Ryder Cup tournament director whose participation almost ended in his own bloody death, to the matches in Britain that nearly ended in blows, to the car crash that some say decided the outcome of one of the matches, to a small plane carrying players that almost fell from the sky, and to the prominent American network golf commentator who introduced himself to a U.S. president while dressed in a large plastic garbage bag! Robin McMillan is editor in chief of Golf Magazine 's Custom Publishing Division. Scottish by birth, he has lived in New York City for the past twenty-five years. He is married with two children.