Golf Update: Ryder Cup 2010- The tale of the Tiger, the Cigar and the Rest of the World
The Ryder Cup started from the 1st of October and continued till the 4th along with its treacherous rainy weather. The Ryder end of the 14.5 -13.5 score by the Europeans had been huge and so was the drama. Hunter Mahan cried, Tiger
hit the camera and some guy wore a fake moustache.
Tiger poses well:
Woods was supposed to hit a short chip shot at the 18th hole of the Ryder cup. His third shot of the final hole was believed to travel high into the air and land near the hole with a two to three feet distance. The crowd surrounded Woods in a
thick mass and the photographers were all ready to take the shots. However, the ball travelled a path of its own. After the thirty seven year old played his shot, the ball didn’t go straight as expected. His hit sent the white ball to his right and hit the
nearby cameraman’s camera. The ball landed on the photographer’s feet and Woods stood speechless.
The Photographer was Mark Pavin who amazingly took the picture before the ball hit the camera. The shot thus taken by Pavin became priceless.
The Cigar guy:
On more unbelievable thing about the photo by Pavin is the “cigar guy” in it. The picture displays a man standing on the right side of the picture with a smug look on his face and a highly amusing getup.
This person has become an internet sensation overnight. The guy now named ‘the cigar guy’ wore a fairly interesting get up. Although he was watching the American’s Woods game, the ‘cigar guy’ was wearing a fake moustache, a ginger-coloured wig and was grinding
a big fat cigar acknowledging Miguel Angel Jimenez. The Spanish Jimenez was playing the Ryder Cup from the European side. The Cigar Guy is reported to stand near Tiger Woods when he sent the ball straight into Pavin’s camera.
The picture thus taken has the entire world talking about the guy with cigar than Woods himself. Many publications have called this picture the greatest sport photograph ever, which has been the subject of countless emails and blogs all around the world.
The ROW:
When the Ryder Cup reached the 1.6 million viewers glued to their TVs, when the world was talking about a European supporter watching an American play, people other than UK and Europe wondered why the rest of the world is never invited to play the Ryder
Cup event. Though they don’t really mind the changing norms, watching the matching suits and the involvement of family members and girlfriends is something new. Let’s not stop them from placing their own tournament but let’s consider the ROW for a bit shall
we.
According to statistics, the event was broadcasted to over 1.6 million viewers on Sunday. The channel which reached this number is now ranked the third most watched channel in UK. The channel had attracted a total of 8.7 percent of the market share between
17:30 and 17:45.
Mahan and the Europeans:
Mahan’s tears were enough after the American’s defeat to show how much the Americans cared about the cup, but this isn’t the only thing that was obvious. The hurt Mahan showed touched every one out there, even the Europeans and hence a new kind of respect
and admiration emerged.
Even in their festive celebration, the Europeans still showed the amount of respect the Americans deserved. Mahan’s face book page and web site was seen filled with supportive comments from various Europeans like these:
We cry when you cry...
You’ll live to fight another day...
Mahan in reply to these numerous pages of comments said that their support means a lot to him, although he didn’t win this time, he clearly learned a lot from the loss and is now looking forward to win the next Ryder event.
The Ryder Cup may have ended, but the tears cried, Woods hitting the camera and a man with the ginger wig will stay in the headlines for quite some time.
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