Tiger Woods has made a plea to golf fans to go easy on their drinking at the Ryder Cup in September.
The world number one, in Heidelberg this week for the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open, hopes the crowd at the Belfry will play their part in keeping the match trouble-free.
"It's great to have patriotism, it's great to have bi-partisanship, but I think if you have people drinking it can lead to them becoming more boisterous," said Woods.
His memories of not only Boston two years ago, but also Valderrama in 1997 are clouded by the behaviour of some spectators.
He believes a total ban on alcohol would help prevent any rowdyism, but he knows that that is not going to happen with beer manufacturers Michelob one of the official sponsors.
"I think it's one of the problems we've had in my two Ryder Cups.
"The morning matches are so much more subdued than the afternoon matches. You can see it escalate and things get said that are just not appropriate at all."
Europe's 1999 captain Mark James accused the Americans of inciting the crowd last time and Woods accepts the need for the players to set a lead in four months' time.
"We are going to start out with the correct intent and hopefully everyone will act accordingly," he said
The Ryder Cup committee has already announced that spectators at the Belfry cannot take drinks on to the course, but it remains to be seen how successful that is and whether more will have to be done now that the matches have become such emotion-charged events.
This week is Woods' first appearance in Europe since he became the first player in golfing history to hold all four Majors at the same time.
He partners Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke in the first two rounds of the Stg£1.6 million tournament tomorrow and Friday at the St Leon Rot course where he won by three shots two years ago. - PA