In our neverending quest to be a bit timely, the final day of play at the 2025 Ryder Cup is ongoing at Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, NY.
It seemed as good a time as any to reflect on what occurred just up the Atlantic seaboard 26 years ago at The Country Club in Brookline, MA, at the 1999 Ryder Cup.
BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke, in his weekly commentary “Letter from America” called the entirety of this particular 3-day Ryder Cup “The arrival of the golf hooligan.”
To say it was a tense and rowdy environment is an understatement and it was, in many ways, the forerunner of the raucous crowds that now populate both the Ryder Cup and the President Cup men’s team golf events.
So when Team USA trailed 10-6 entering Sunday’s Singles Play, the crowd was amped and the American players seemed willing to feed into it. U.S Captain Ben Crenshaw front-loaded his lineup with his (on paper, at least) strongest players. It worked, as the U.S. swept the first six matches to take a 12-10 lead, and then surged to within half-point of clinching the Cup when second-time Ryder Cup player, Justin Leonard, lined up a 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole. If he could somehow win this hole against Jose Maria Olazabal the U.S. would clinch.
As the putt slammed into the back of the cup Team USA players, coaches, and families rushed the green despite the fact that Olazabal still had a putt to tie the hole and force a winner-take-all 18th. He missed the putt, Leonard’s clinched the half point, and, while played, the outcome on No. 18 was moot.
The photo used for this week’s Fan Teaser of Leonard was captured just after his birdie putt dropped. As an observational aside, did none of Leonard’s teammates feel it worth mentioning to him that he missed his final belt loop?
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.