{"id":145755,"date":"2025-09-18T17:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T17:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/145755\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T17:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T17:22:11","slug":"us-president-intervened-to-inspire-ryder-cup-comeback-with-letter-from-soldier-facing-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/145755\/","title":{"rendered":"US president intervened to inspire Ryder Cup comeback with letter from soldier facing death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump would not be the first US president to make an appearance at the Ryder Cup. <\/p>\n

And he would do well to make it anywhere near as meaningful as George W. Bush in 1999. <\/p>\n

\"Trump,<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Trump, an avid golf fan and player, owns numerous high-profile courses around the worldCredit: AFP<\/p>\n

Trump has indicated his willingness to attend the opening day in New York on September 26 as the Americans try to regain the famous trophy from Europe. <\/p>\n

“It will be a great Ryder Cup<\/a>. At the invite of the PGA Tour<\/a>, I will be there on tournament Friday!” Trump wrote on social media platform Truth Social.<\/p>\n

The PGA Tour do not have anything to do with the Ryder Cup<\/a> – the PGA of America (a totally separate entity) are the hosts – but that’s by the by. <\/p>\n

Trump also called on American captain Keegan Bradley<\/a> to pick himself for the team, advice which the golfer subsequently ignored<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And if the 48-minute delay at the US Open final<\/a> between Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> and Jannik Sinner<\/a> is anything to go by, Trump showing up at Bethpage Black would likely become a logistical nightmare. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there is one undeniable impact that Trump’s presence would have on the American crowd – a rush of patriotism.<\/p>\n

Those chants of ‘USA, USA’ will grow even louder in what is already expected to be a ferociously hostile environment<\/a> for the Europeans. <\/p>\n

But however rowdy it gets, the crowd will do well to match what became known as the ‘Battle of Brookline’ in 1999. <\/p>\n

As veteran broadcaster Alistair Cooke wrote, this marked the arrival of the ‘golf hooligan’. <\/p>\n

It went down in history as the moment the Ryder Cup went too far, as American fans targeted the Europeans – including their wives and girlfriends – with vitriolic abuse throughout the week.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The 1999 Ryder Cup in Massachusetts is forever remembered for all the wrong reasonsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

This infamously spilled over during the Sunday Singles when Justin Leonard holed a long putt against Jose Maria Olazabal.<\/p>\n

The Americans raced onto the green and celebrated in front of Olazabal, who still had a putt to save the match.<\/p>\n

It meant rather than talking about one of the greatest-ever Ryder Cup comebacks, the golfing world found itself embroiled in a row over etiquette that would go on for years. <\/p>\n

What did George W. Bush do at the 1999 Ryder Cup?<\/p>\n

One story that got lost in the carnage was Bush’s inspirational role in the USA’s stunning resurgence on Sunday. <\/p>\n

The Americans found themselves 10-6 down, and Europe only needed four points out of the remaining 12 on offer to retain the cup.<\/p>\n

Like Trump and many other US presidents, Bush is obsessed with golf, and was summoned to the team room on Saturday night to try and galvanise Ben Crenshaw’s stricken men. <\/p>\n

\"Bush<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Bush would become the 43rd president of the US two years after the 1999 Ryder CupCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

At this point in time, the man who would become the 43rd president of the United States was governor of Texas – where Crenshaw hails from.<\/p>\n

Crenshaw had refused to give up, and on the Saturday night he told the press: “I’m going to leave y’all with one thought – I’m a big believer in fate and I have a good feeling about this match.”<\/p>\n

In a motivational speech, Bush read the 12 players an extract from a famous letter written by William Travis, the commander of the besieged Texan forces at the Alamo in 1836.<\/p>\n

The letter became known as ‘Victory or Death’ – as Travis pleaded for reinforcements and refused to surrender to his enemies. <\/p>\n

Bush read: “I call on you, in the name of liberty, of patriotism, of everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid with all dispatch.<\/p>\n

“If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due his honour and that of his country.”<\/p>\n

\"Bush<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Bush went to the 1999 Ryder Cup as a fan but ended up playing a starring roleCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The message was simple: the odds are not in your favour – and death is the likeliest outcome – but that does not mean you surrender without a fight.<\/p>\n

The room was apparently so filled with emotion that David Duval left it screaming: “Let’s go out and kill them!”<\/p>\n

And they did.<\/p>\n

The first six matches on Sunday all went to the Americans, and they ultimately won by a single point. <\/p>\n

It is not entirely clear what role Trump will play in the 2025 Ryder Cup – but he will have a hard job living up to that. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump would not be the first US president to make an appearance at the Ryder Cup. And…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[48975,141,10865,5904,394,6547,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-145755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-bethpage-black","tag-donald-trump","tag-george-w-bush","tag-golf","tag-new-york","tag-ryder-cup","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}