Koepka: 'No point' in a fan-less Ryder Cup

A Ryder Cup without fans?

American star Brooks Koepka said there’d be “no point.”

Appearing Tuesday on “Golf Central,” the world No. 3 said that the fans make the biennial event and he’d rather not play if spectators aren’t allowed at Whistling Straits because of the ongoing threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I personally don’t want to play if there’s no fans,” he said in the interview with Golf Channel’s Gary Williams. “I don’t see a point in playing it.”

That’s been a popular view among players when asked about the possibility of playing the Ryder Cup behind closed doors, with Rory McIlroy saying, “If it came down to whether they had to choose between not playing the Ryder Cup or playing it without fans, I would say just delay it a year.”

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The tone from Team Europe has softened a bit in recent weeks, however, with captain Padraig Harrington suggesting that the players may need to “take one for the team” and play without spectators. Harrington’s rationale: It’s for the greater good of the sport, to make no mention of the enormous financial implications of postponing the event for a year.

“I get representing your country is an honor and it’s something that’s so much fun,” Koepka said, “but at the same time, the fans make that event. That’s what we get nervous on the first tee. You hear the chants. You hear everything that’s going on – the U-S-A- (chant), all that stuff. That’s what makes it fun.

“It’s like us going to play a match here at Floridian is essentially what it’s going to feel like.”

The Ryder Cup is scheduled for Sept. 25-27.