Mighty Bethpage Black was as quiet as a morgue during Friday morning’s opening foursomes session to begin the 45th Ryder Cup.
It didn’t take long for the full-throat support from the rabid home crowd to become sore throat and, eventually, no throat as the Europeans boat-raced the Americans with an early assault en route to a 3-1 lead entering the afternoon four-ball session.
Legendary NFL coach Bill Parcells used to talk about how the most satisfying thing to him was silencing the home crowd as a visitor. As the Giants coach, he used to live for silencing Washington’s RFK Stadium and Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium.
European captain Luke Donald experienced that very Parcells euphoria on Friday at Bethpage, which was expected to be the greatest home-course advantage in Ryder Cup history.