{"id":236484,"date":"2025-10-24T02:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T02:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236484\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T02:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T02:17:09","slug":"the-heads-of-the-ra-and-the-masters-offer-a-warning-they-hope-the-golf-world-will-heed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236484\/","title":{"rendered":"The heads of the R&A and the Masters offer a warning they hope the golf world will heed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and R&A chief executive Mark Darbon have echoed Rory McIlroy\u2019s sentiments from the recent controversial Ryder Cup at Bethpage that golf should be held to a higher standard of fan behaviour than other sports.<\/p>\n

The European team withstood considerable abuse from the crowds on Long Island last month, particularly Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, to earn a 15-13 away victory.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Why the Masters gave spots to Australian Open and five other national opens, according to the club chairman<\/a><\/p>\n

Video footage on social media captured a series of regrettable moments such McIlroy\u2019s wife having a drink thrown at her. McIlroy spoke out afterwards, declaring \u201cI don\u2019t think we should ever accept that in golf. I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week.\u201d The fan behaviour drew the ire of numerous figures in golf from Tom Watson to Gary Player.<\/p>\n

On Thursday at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai, Ridley was asked what the organisers of the Masters, a tournament celebrated for its elevated decorum and tradition, thought about the scenes at Bethpage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that you asked the question and that we are all talking about it is really important. The Ryder Cup has gained just public interest in the last few years,\u201d Ridley said. \u201cIt\u2019s become incredibly competitive. I mean, 30 years ago, it wasn\u2019t all that competitive. I think that certainly is good for the game and the interest that it\u2019s created among fans around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that anyone was particularly happy with what happened this year,\u201d Ridley continued. \u201cI think it just reminds us, as custodians of the game, the responsibility that we have to perpetuate its underlying values. And I think hopefully that this is something we\u2019re going to focus on more, and because that\u2019s part of what makes golf special is that it is a different sort of set of rules, if you will. It\u2019s something I think we need to work on, and it\u2019s something I think I hope everyone involved with the game will reflect on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Fred Ridley, Masters chairman, and Mark Darbon, R&A CEO, spoke about the need for golf to \u201cperpetuate its underlying values\u201d when policing fans at tournaments. [David Paul Morris]<\/p>\n

Darbon came to the R&A after holding various roles in other sports such as the Olympic, rugby, endurance racing and cycling. He said golf should not lose the values \u201cthat other sports would crave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think first and foremost, you want and need passion,\u201d Darbon said. \u201cThere are very few sports that succeed anywhere around the world without a strong following and passionate supporters. But one of the things that defines golf, and I\u2019ve worked in a number of sports and I\u2019m new to this industry, one of the things that struck me in my first 10 or 11 months, is there\u2019s real strength in the values of the game. They are so critical. They are a highly differentiating factor for us versus other sports, and they provide us with something many other sports would crave. Without them, it will become much harder to grow this game. Collaborations between organisations like Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A and brilliant federations all around the world are so critical to underpin and elevate those values.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and R&A chief executive Mark Darbon have echoed Rory McIlroy\u2019s sentiments from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-236484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}