At Le Golf National course 30km west of Paris Richie Townsend, an electrician from Reading, was wrapped in a giant British union flag to cheer on Europe in their biggest sports showdown with the US. “It was all I had to hand – it was left over from our Harry and Meghan royal wedding street party,” he smiled.
The Ryder Cup – the most-watched sporting event in the world after the Olympics and the World Cup – is unique in its transatlantic drama pitting the best US golfers against a team, and their fans, united under the blue and gold star flag of the EU.
But this year, the fairways are being seen as a geopolitical barometer: it’s the last Ryder Cup before Brexit takes the UK out of the EU and the first since golf-loving US president Donald Trump came to power preaching what he calls “the doctrine of patriotism” and distancing himself from Europe on climate change, the Iran nuclear deal, and world trade tariffs.
Townsend, 41, felt at home among other Brits draped in EU flags who were chanting “Europe!” so fervently it sounded like a football anthem: “Yuuu-rup!” He had voted Leave in the referendum because “after talking to everyone and watching everything on TV” he thought it was the best path.
“Today it does seem like they dealt us a curve ball, but isn’t that the same with all elections?” he shrugged. He wanted Brexit to go ahead. But in golf, he was happy to support Team Europe: “In sporting terms, we’ll still be on the same continent.” After all, half of the 12 European players in this year’s Ryder Cup come from the UK – including Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy.
The high-sponsorship golfing extravaganza is being hosted by France near Versailles this year – only the second time it has taken place in continental Europe. France is a fledgling golfing nation – there are no French players in this European Ryder Cup team and fewer French people play golf than tennis, horse-riding or judo, as the sport struggles to shed its elitist tag.
But as the jovial international supporters drank beer for breakfast and queued for fish and chips, they displayed their famous love of draping themselves in every possible kind of EU flag merchandise – from EU golfing socks to bobble hats and glaring blue golf trousers with gold stars. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, the golf-loving EU hater, has been complaining for a decade that the Ryder Cup had too much of the “wretched EU flag” on display, arguing that “an increasingly unpopular EU” appeared to be “hijacking” the event. But fans seem to have paid little heed.
A third of the 51,000 supporters on the Ryder Cup course each day have been British, and some of the most zany EU-flag outfits were being worn by Brits going to staggering lengths to mix the EU colours of blue and yellow. A group of 10 men from the north of England were in matching blue and yellow Banana Man suits, complete with fake biceps. Hannah Sykes, a doctor, and Anne Murphy, a nurse, both amateur golfers from Liverpool, were wearing head-to-toe EU colours, including socks, shorts, T-shirts, earrings, hats and EU stickers on their faces. “Sport won’t change after Brexit, but I still wish we were staying in the EU,” Murphy said.
At the hog-roast stall, with pork sourced from a farm in Shropshire, a group of Remain-voting English friends who worked in the oil and gas industry said all the EU flags were making them pretty depressed about Brexit and there had been a few jeers. “Even my own dad voted Leave,” lamented a golf fan from Basingstoke. “Looking around at these EU flags makes me want to get some EU merchandise.”
As for the swathes of US fans — whose get-ups ranged from Golden Eagle headdresses, tiger outfits in support of Tiger Woods, and full stars and stripes three-piece suits – many stressed that American sporting patriotism could be very clearly separate from politics. There had been rumours before the competition that Trump, who has spent 156 days at his golf properties since becoming president, might suddenly drop in.
“Oh I hope not,” said Gill, an oil company worker from Houston in a USA anorak. “Cheering for our country doesn’t mean cheering for Trump.” Adam Swain, a lawyer from Texas now living in Europe wrapped in a giant US flag, said: “It’s nice that this tournament is so friendly.” Asked if he’d like to see Trump there, he said: “That would really ruin my day.”
Bob Leopold from Memphis, Tennessee, in a stars and stripes shirt and trousers with two US flags strapped to his head, said: “Trump’s not a politician, he’s a reality TV show guy. Sport and politics shouldn’t mix.”
As for France’s 40-year-old centrist president Emmanuel Macron, he was on a visit to St Martin in the Caribbean which was hit by Hurricane Irma last year – aware of the need to shore up his flagging poll ratings. For observers of French politics, if Macron had spent a whole weekend watching golf – with its elitist label – it would not have helped him shed his image as “President of the Rich”.
French fans at the course were noticeably not wearing as much fancy dress as their neighbours from across the Channel. Patrick, a French business manager from Avignon, said: “I’ve been thinking, isn’t it weird to see all these British people wrapped in European flags chanting ‘Europe!’ Maybe they should stay in the EU.”
