The frenzy of Shinnecock’s US Open crowd should have come as no surprise
My parents told me that there was a time when it was hard to be a jackass.
The problem was not a lack of willing participants (in the long history of the world, the human race has never wanted one due to ignorance). Rather, what held it back was a social environment that did not encourage displays of stupidity. With the sheer power of the collective human spirit, my parents told me we were able to push problematic ideas, immoral beliefs, and horrible displays of sensitive masculinity right back into the public pit from which they came.
The reason wasn’t arrogance, it wasn’t holiness, and it certainly wasn’t hegemony. It was very simple: shame.
On Sunday afternoon at Shinnecock, the crowds at the US Open showed us that if the scandal ever existed, it has long since left us. For the second time at a major golf event on Long Island in the last 10 months, fans in attendance spent much of the afternoon proudly bearing their ignorance, speaking loudly against the wire-to-wire winner (and several other players, including Rory McIlroy) in a way that forced the USGA to issue an apology for the mid-tournament on NBC.
The 24 hours since then have shown no shortage of hands over the entire story, including several suggestions that Long Island is completely banned from the main tournament. As a Long Islander who is proud of his golf heritage and the people who protect it, those suggestions impress me. As a reporter who has seen both of Long Island’s major golf events in the next 12 months, I can’t say I disagree.
The crowds at Shinnecock weren’t the worst I’ve ever seen at a golf tournament. They weren’t too bad or “over the line.” No one shouted back or insulted the parent. In fact, after a few seconds on Sunday, I realized that I don’t get along with those who are mocking because I’m getting used to them. And then I thought a few more seconds, and I saw that I he felt ashamed. That’s the only time we can agree that the house is already on fire?
I grew up in the era of social media. I was in high school when I created my first accounts on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. We didn’t know anything algorithms well, we were just sending it to the abyss. Tech leaders made the idea of a “virtual town hall” sound exciting and community-minded, and little time proved them right. Then, after we got hooked, we realized we were doomed to spend the rest of our time remembering why no one likes going to town halls in the first place: Disgusting people tend to talk too much.
On Sunday at the US Open, we saw what happens when our lives revolve around those “virtual town halls” – and when those town halls have changed their rules to deliberately evoke all of our emotions. The audience was not happy but boycotted. The shouters were not fans but commenters. The players inside the ropes were not human at all.
Life is a beautiful thing, and life without the strings on Sunday at the US Open is particularly striking. There’s a beautiful, historic golf course on display, incredible success on the move, and plenty of regular guys competing to see a lifelong dream come true. To reduce those experiences to our internet pores of cuteness and anger – and then use those feelings in broad daylight without empathizing with the shared humanity of the people around you? It’s not just wrong, it’s sad.
My parents told me that there was never a time when empathy was stronger. It has always been something to work on, slowly and often painfully. It was worth it because it brought us closer, and whether you believed in god or not, there was something sacred about the experience of being known.
However, if we can’t bring ourselves to empathize – for an emotion we can’t afford or compete in a golf tournament we didn’t like very much – there. it was a time when we could still force ourselves to find our better angels.
Not because we were better, smarter, or knew more. But because we’ve heard a feeling that only seems to end for the people who need it most — a feeling that will be familiar to far too many golf fans at the US Open Monday morning on Long Island and around the world.
Shame on you.
The author welcomes your comments at james.colgan@golf.com.
