Americans Appeal to ’13th Man’

I’m debating whether the electricity is greater at Valhalla this morning or at the pep rally in downtown Louisville last night. I give the nod to this morning, since the situation is not just exciting but tense, as befits the start of the actual competition. But last night was unexpectedly thrilling.

At 9 p.m., with several blocks of 4th Street roped off and an estimated 4,000 revelers listening to a band, the atmosphere was definitely loud. Most of the crowd members I talked with, however, didn’t expect many if any of the players to show up – not this late on the night before an 8 a.m. start to the Ryder Cup matches the next morning. At best, the word was, U.S. Team captain Paul Azinger might make an appearance.

But all of sudden, there were the players up on the stage, all 12 of them. They wore T-shirts with “13th Man” written on them – an appeal to the Kentucky fans – and they soon got the crowd going with insanely loud cheers of “13th man, 13th man!” The players were clearly psyched, and so were we. If the players can make a similarly unexpected appearance hoisting the Ryder Cup late Sunday afternoon, instead of the highly favored European team, the noise at Valhalla will probably be even louder.

Unfortunately for the Americans this morning, the Europeans in Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson won the first hole of the first match against Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim– just as the Europeans have done in their last three winning Ryder Cup campaigns. The game is on. Here’s the leaderboard.