Ryder Cup hazards: traffic, lines, crowds
By STEPHEN WADE / AP Sports Writer
SOTOGRANDE, Spain (AP) -- Buddy Schrader shook his head as
he gazed at the 10th tee at Valderrama.
He couldn't find anyone to sell him a Ryder Cup program. He'd
worked up an appetite after a half-hour walk to get to the course,
but he couldn't find a place to eat. And after spending $11,000
to bring his wife on a 10-day vacation anchored around golf's
most prestigious event, he almost forgot he was in Spain.
"It doesn't feel like I'm in Spain or Europe," said
the native Texan. "Maybe I feel like I've got one foot in
America and one in Britain or Wales, where all you hear is English."
"What I am feeling is that this is going to be a logistical
nightmare getting in and out of here and actually seeing any of
the matches. Maybe it's too early to say, but we may not enjoy
the next three days."
This is the biggest sports event in Spain since the 1992 Barcelona
Olympics, widely praised as the best ever. But largely rural southern
Spain isn't sophisticated, infrastructure-rich Barcelona.
The two lane-road leading to Valderrama -- the course is a
green swatch in the otherwise arid, mountainous south -- has been
configured to three lanes for arriving traffic and three for exiting
traffic at night. Parking areas are sprayed around like bad tee
shots.
"When you have to do that with one way in and one way
out, you know you're going to have some nightmares," said
John Redden, also of Horseshoe Bay, Texas.
The nightmare got worse Thursday when hundreds of policemen
demonstrating for more pay snarled traffic for several hours at
the gates of the course. A repeat on Friday's opening day would
wreak havoc with 30,000 arriving fans.
"Maybe they (police) were right," said European Ryder
Cup captain Seve Ballesteros, who is more responsible than anyone
for landing the Ryder Cup for Spain. "But for the image of
Spain, it was like someone throwing stones at their own house.
"I really regret they are doing this. I would like them
to reflect. Maybe they could have carried it out in another way."
At least there's no language barrier -- for English speakers,
that is. For Spaniards in their home country, it's another matter.
This part of Spain is home to at least 100,000 Britons, and
of the 1,000 reporters covering the Ryder Cup, the vast majority
are Britons or Americans.
"A Different World," read the headline in Spain's
most important daily, El Pais, describing the all-English environment
of the Ryder Cup inside Spanish borders.
"I have heard some Spanish spoken out here, but not that
much," said Veronica Osborne, whose family is one of Spain's
best-known sherry producers. "Maybe it feels a bit like it's
out of a dream, being here and hearing only English."
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