Organizers Consider Ryder Cup With "Virtual Fan Experience"

Currently slated to be played in September the week after a rescheduled U.S. Open, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington has already said if fans cannot be present there will be no biennial match.

Not so fast.

The Telegraph’s James Corrigan reports of a fan-free scenario under consideration without fans. His story is titled “A Ryder Cup without fans is a ridiculous, wretched concept that should be put to bed,” so I think you can grasp where he stands.

In a radio interview Monday, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh confirmed the concept is under consideration. With virtual fans…

PGA's Seth Waugh on a fan-less Ryder Cup (via @WFAN660): "We have begun to talk about whether you could create some virtual fan experience, and we're going to try to be as creative as we can. It's (still) to be determined, frankly, whether you could hold it without fans or not."

— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) April 20, 2020

The early efforts at virtual fandom elsewhere, have been mocked.

Then again, the sight of players virtual fist-bumping inflatable virtual fans as chants of “USA, USA” are piped on to the first tee, could be entertaining of satire is your thing.

Any urgency to play the biennial matches this year without fans, is a real headscratcher. Is a postponement that financially cataclysmic for the European Tour or PGA of America? Is preservation of the 2021 Presidents Cup—in the date slot you would play a postponed Ryder Cup—having some influence?

Either way, as Corrigan wrote, it’s a ridiculous, wretched concept that should be put to bed.