TravelGolf Editor Blames Bush For Ryder Cup Loss

In one of the most bizarre columns I’ve ever read, Tim McDonald, “National Golf Editor” for Golf Publisher Syndication is blaming George Bush for our recent Ryder Cup loss. It’s so strange that I’m not going to grace it with a link. If you want it, you can Google it up.

At first I thought that the column was a joke. I’m still hoping that it’s a joke. But after reading it a couple of times, I don’t think that’s the case. McDonald really appears to believe that Bush is to blame. He writes:

Drop the excuses: The PGA Tour guys don’t care enough. They’re a bunch of coddled millionaires who don’t know how to form warm, personal bonds with anyone besides their press agents. The selection process is flawed. The captain is a dope. The course was set up for the Europeans. Pluto was downgraded.

No, no and no.

The reason we’re losing, plain and simple, is George W. Bush.

He’s turned the rest of the world against us.

Now I realize that the idea that Bush is to blame for all the world’s problems is an article of faith in certain circles (I do live, after all, in Ann Arbor, Michigan). But to pin the Ryder Cup loss on him is absurd. I can’t figure out how McDonald became the “National Golf Editor” without apparently knowing a whit about golf history.

Let me explain it to Mr. McDonald:  The Europeans are 6-3-1 since 1995. In 1995, Bill Clinton was president. What did he do to make the Euros angry? Saving them from their Bosnian problems, perhaps.

From 1917 to 1979, our record was 18-3-1. But since 1979, the record is 6-6-1. So the Europeans began to turn things around long before Clinton, even.

Last I checked, 1979 was under the Carter Administration. Therefore, I blame Carter. It was his spirit of “international fair play” that made us think we should allow the European continentals into what was previously strictly a US – United Kingdom match.

I guess we should be glad that McDonald isn’t the “National Political Editor” of some publication. Then he might blame our involvement in Iraq on our feelings of inferiority from our Ryder Cup Losses.