The Ryder Cup might have been permanently tainted after the events of Bethpage. The crowd in New York completely destroyed the spirit of the event with their outrageous behavior. The constant heckling of the European players, harassment of their partners, and absolute disregard for the minors around them while they were abusing left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. And that prompted Gary Player to say, “The Ryder Cup to me is the worst event in the world.”

The Black Knight faced a lot of heat for his comments. And so, he was forced to provide a clarification for his statement. Player tweeted, “My comments about the Ryder Cup were intended to be a warning that this great tournament is at risk of coming to an end if the recent behavior in New York is allowed to continue, or even worse, escalate further at future events.”

Player never intended to slander the Ryder Cup as a whole. He only had a negative opinion after watching what occurred at Bethpage. The 90-year-old also stated, “I love the Ryder Cup format as many millions of fans all over the globe. I want to see this great team competition continue to grow in a manner that allows it to meet the changing commercial needs of its sponsors and partners. But, I desperately want this growth not to be at the expense of the dignity and respect which golfers and golf supporters have historically shown to one another.”

He, just like many others in the golf community, was appalled by the crowd behavior at Bethpage. That’s the only reason he chose to make the comment. He believes that the leaders of the Ryder Cup should find a way to regulate the behavior to ensure it’s not repeated or escalated. Because if it does, then the event will lose all its value. It doesn’t come as a surprise that he holds this opinion, as many others, including Johnson Wagner, Tom Watson, & Co., also stated something similar.

Speaking of which, while Gary Player’s statement may have been misconstrued, others presented similar views more clearly. Let’s look at who else held the same opinion as the Black Knight but was far better received by the golf community.

Others who have stated something similar to what Gary Player said

Gary Player is known for being outspoken and blunt. So his statements can sometimes come off a bit harsh. However, others have said something similar, which was not taken as negatively by the golf community. One of them was Patrick Reed, who sympathized with Rory McIlroy & Co. for how they were treated at Bethpage. Reed said, “You don’t act the way you did, say the things you say. Stuff like that that needs to be looked at, needs to be checked.”

Even though Collin Morikawa had a lot to explain for asking the crowd to bring ‘absolute chaos’, he still shared how things went out of control. He said, “It probably crossed a line out there. It wasn’t in my group, but definitely what people were hearing. I would say yeah, there’s a line that needs to be drawn, I believe.” While he was also in a pickle for his previous statement, the community didn’t act as aggressively to his statement as they did to the one Gary Player made. It just goes to show how impactful each statement and both players are.