We all know that the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black didn’t go to plan for the United States last month.
Keegan Bradley made mistake after mistake with his pairing selections as Luke Donald and his band of brothers won the Ryder Cup for the second time in a row.
However, there were a plethora of problems on display at Bethpage Black throughout the week which set the tone for the eventual outcome.
Colt Knost has already admitted he was shocked when he found out J.J. Spaun was not playing in the foursomes for the US Ryder Cup team.
However, Knost was not happy one little bit with something else he saw during Ryder Cup week at Bethpage Black.
The United States have won the Ryder Cup trophy only four times in their last 15 meetings with Team Europe and that quite clearly is unacceptable.
Something needs to change after what happened at Bethpage, both inside and outside of the ropes.
PGA of America President Don Rea dropped shock speech at the Ryder Cup
Knost was speaking on Trey Wingo’s Podcast about what went at Bethpage Black last month.
It was clear to see that the European players were better prepared to the challenge that awaited them on Long Island.
It must be said that they had a much better captain leading them into battle as well.
Some of the fans’ awful behavior at Bethpage was a clear problem for not only the European players, but the Americans as well.
PGA of America President Don Rea stoked the fire on Sunday of the Ryder Cup by suggesting that there was nothing wrong with the abuse being hurled at the European players.
He said: “Well you have 50,000 people there that are really excited and heck, you can go to a youth soccer game and get some people who say the wrong things.“
When pressed on the abuse Rory McIlroy received, Rea said: “I haven’t heard some of that, I’m sure it’s happened.
“It happened when we were in Rome on the other side and Rory understands things like that are going to happen and I don’t know what was said. But all I know is that the golf engine is good.“
Colt Knost was shocked by Don Rea’s speech at the Ryder Cup
It’s the little things that make such big differences, and Knost responded when asked what he thought of Rea’s speech at Bethpage.
He said: “Huge mistake, I was shocked when I saw it.
“There was a tension brought in that didn’t need to be brought in, let’s just say that.
“That interview afterwards, I’m with you. Everyone out there knows exactly what was going on, I’ve had American fans involved with the Ryder Cup saying it was the worst thing they’ve ever heard.
“Why not just own it, like a mistake was made, the New York fans were out of control. I blame the media as well. The second it was announced that Bethpage was going to host the Ryder Cup we all went, ‘oh boy, this is going to be rowdy, this is going to be the raucous Ryder Cup of all time’, and I guess the fans thought they had to live up to that.
“Some of them just took it way too far, interrupting shots as well, and all that personal stuff has no business here.“
Knost has absolutely nailed this right here.
Rea’s comments were ill-informed at best and dangerously provocative at worst.
Moving forward, the fan behavior at the Ryder Cup has to be called out for what it is. Burying our heads in the sand, like Don Rea did, will only ensure that nothing changes in the future.
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