Saturday, September 20, 2008

Golf-Ryder-Kentucky fans give Weekley Cup boost at Valhalla

Boo Weekley’s love affair with the Ryder Cup and Kentucky fans continued on Saturday when he and JB Holmes won their fourball match 2 and 1.

Urged on by repeated roars of ‘Boo S A, Boo S A’, the American duo clinched the first point of the afternoon by beating Britain’s Lee Westwood and Dane Soren Hansen.

“Hey, that’s just a good slogan, isn’t it? It’s awesome,” Cup rookie Weekley told reporters after he and the long-hitting Holmes sealed victory on the 17th green.

“The fans here, we love them. I love them. They have adopted me and I have adopted them.”

Weekley, a homespun hunting and fishing enthusiast, has attracted scores of supporters at Valhalla Golf Club this week who have been wearing either camouflage or ‘Red, White & Boo’ T-shirts.

When he rolled in a long-range birdie putt from the fringe at the par-three 14th, he sparked the loudest roars of the day from the fans packed around the hole.

Asked if the pumped-up crowd had made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, he replied: “Mine stands up every time they chant ‘USA’.

“The crowds, they’re great and we want them to be behind us. This is our stage of being here and they want to see us win.”

OVERCAME NERVES

Weekley said he had overcome the nerves he experienced in Friday’s opening fourball matches in front of crowds of around 40,000 crammed into Valhalla.

“I reckon just because I finally got it under my belt the first day, you know, and I felt a little more comfortable about what I was doing and who I was playing with,” the 35-year-old added.

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