Galleries ‘out of hand’ says Hanson

American players and caddies forced to silence crowd reveals Swedish star

Runners and Ryder: Hanson celebrates the sensational European victory with captain Jose Maria Olazabal

Ryder Cup victor Peter Hanson has revealed that players and caddies of Team USA took it upon themselves to approach members of the Medinah crowd when their jeers went too far during the recent transatlantic encounter.

The 40-50,000-strong American galleries which attended each day in Illinois have been heavily criticised for the distasteful and often downright out of line shouts broadcast to millions of viewers around the globe.

European competitors, captain Jose Maria Olazabal and even the late Seve Ballesteros were the subjects of the partisan crowd’s ire. However, the Swede insisted that the players themselves did their upmost to keep a lid on the abuse.

Ask if the treatment he and his teammates received was fair ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Hanson emphatically responded: “No. We expected it. I had never played a Ryder Cup in America and we had a great crowd with lots of support in Wales.

“We are used to the singing and all the songs but in America it is a bit more aggressive. But, I have to say, to be fair, the American players and caddies were really good because when it got out of hand and they were saying really bad stuff, they actually walked over to the crowd and asked them to stop.”

Along with the certain members of the American support, US skipper Davis Love III has been called into question for allowing the greatest comeback in European Ryder Cup history to unfold – not least for his involvement in the set-up of a toothless Medinah No.3 course in terms of rough.

Although intended to favour his notoriously big-hitting US charges, Hanson indicated a lack of punishment off the fairways may have played into European hands on the final day.

“I actually thought the course was a lot of fun,” he said. “The course was very firm so even if you landed the ball in the middle of the fairway it still scooted into the rough under the trees but it was very playable.

“It gave us the chance to shape the ball around the greens and move the ball and play golf as we wanted to as kids.

“It might have made it look a bit easier but, if you look at the scoring, I think the best score on that last day was five-under-par and I think that was Paul Lawrie.

“I personally think it is more fun to play and watch golf that way than to see you miss a fairway by a yard and you have to hack a lob wedge sideways. You know, hitting a 4-iron low under trees, I think it is fun.”

Prior to the incredible turnaround which ensured he would ever be remembered as the architect of one of the greatest moments in the match’s history, even Olazabal was unable to escape criticism from members of the press and public.

It was while staring down one of the most resounding defeats in recent memory, Hanson revealed, the skipper set in place the plan that would bring the 39^th encounter back from the brink.

He said: “They made everything and we were struggling a bit. We didn’t get the pairings quite right and we didn’t get into the right momentum and right flow.

“The captains and vice-captains were fighting hard to find a bit of momentum and the route we took was to go back to the old pairings, Justin and Poulter, for example.

“What saved the match in the end was going away from that on Saturday afternoon when Ian and Rory made that great comeback and birdied the last five holes. Without that we would have been done

“Four points down was makeable but five-down, there would have been no chance.”

In spite of his own, much-reported disappointment at not being called upon as much as he may have expected, the Swede could not hide his pleasure at being part of another winning Ryder Cup side.

Recalling the moment he realised Europe was on the verge of accomplishing the unthinkable following his one-hole defeat to Jason Dufner, he said: “I put my bag down in the changing room and went straight back out to the 18^th fairway with Martin and then it kind of hit me.

“As a player you don’t get to watch the TV; we are just so focussed on our matches. You look at the board and you see that you have a little bit of a chance and you are just so into your own game and winning that point that it took me five minutes to realise, we were actually going to win the Ryder Cup. I was so pleased.”

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered