Early Friday morning, American and European teams will tee off at the 2025 Ryder Cup in New York. If history is any guide, the spectators will soon abandon traditional, reserved golf etiquette and start behaving like they’re at a college football game. “Golf claps,” the polite, often lampooned tapping of the hands seen at some tournaments, are likely to be drowned out by cheers, boos and heckling.
Some of the behavior goes with the territory; the biennial Ryder Cup always inspires unusual expressions of nationalist emotion. But much of the noise is expected to be new because of a wave of younger fans who are re-energizing golf after years of stagnating interest.