Caddie's Role: You would want to be fairly thick-skinned to play top competitive golf in America these days against an American team. If there was a modicum of etiquette in the days of dandies and diplomacy many decades ago it has long gone.

We were in the state of Virginia outside Washington DC last week for the Presidents Cup. The American fans seem a bit confused about when a sports event is just that and not another national identity crisis. I speak only about those nasty enthusiasts outside the ropes not the competitors within.

The United States dozen beat the International contingent by three points after a close contest which was swung in the Americans favour by a couple of 20-foot putts from Fred Couples and Chris DiMarco on the last hole.

I stood on the practice range behind my boss Retief Goosen as he warmed up for his duel with the world's best golfer, Tiger Woods, on Sunday. We were beside Trevor Immelman, also from South Africa, and the captain, Gary Player, himself a South African came along to watch his boys' warm-up session for the singles matches.

He mentioned that when he played against Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer back in the 1960s as the world's best golfers of the era, he got a full pasting from the partisan crowd. He told Goosen and Immelman the crowd would be like wild animals shouting against them. This used to motivate him to beat them even more.

It was a wonderful example of leadership, I thought.

Goosen has had multiple exposure to such hostilities in America over the years as a Major contender. The younger Immelman had been relatively sheltered from such behaviour until last week's bout.

It may have been a little easier to endure in the fourball format alongside a colleague. In singles, out there alone, the hostilities from the other side of the wire may have been a little shocking for the younger player. Player showed great charisma and leadership as captain from early in the week. He was ubiquitous, democratic and undeniably enthusiastic, especially for a man in his 70th year.

If you were to listen to him speak without physically seeing him you would think he was an ambitious young man. He flitted around in an electric cart with his vice-captain Ian Baker-Finch like a general assessing the mood of the troops before the heat of battle early in the week. He wanted to know what his players were hitting to certain holes, where the tees would be, who felt good playing with whom, he wanted to know what ball they were playing, he wanted to know the bottom line.

I had always envisaged Gary Player as an autocrat. How wrong it can be to make assumptions about people. He was more democratic than Bill Clinton, the official coin tosser to decide who would be the first to hit off the first tee in the first round on Thursday. Gary wanted to know everyone's opinion, he had his own ideas, but he clearly respected his players' ideas. He knew what to expect from the understandably partisan crowd. I had always been led to believe that most of the inappropriate comments come from "those loud mouth New Yorkers" any time we are in the Big Apple's vicinity.

Suggesting that elsewhere in the country you could expect nothing but pleasantries and blueberry pie.

My eye. Player was preparing his captain's pick Immelman for the raucous and disrespectful patrons he was so familiar with, having endured the abuse foreigners can receive his entire career. The survivors learn how to turn the hostility to their advantage. This, of course is what Player did so well.

As Retief walked down the 10th fairway munching an apple one such loudmouth shouted at him: "Watch you don't choke on that apple Goosen like you did at the US Open".

Each time an International player's ball headed towards trouble, the crowd hissed: "Get in the trap" or "go in the rough". Immelman had a putt to stay in his match on Sunday. He clearly heard "miss, miss," as he settled over the ball .

It is to be expected that a good or even average shot from the stars and stripes would be met with uncontrollable home support and that a putt holed by an outsider would receive the faintest round of applause.

This is the home advantage. But coming out with such derisive comments as they repeatedly did last week, makes me very satisfied that my player, as ever, let his clubs do the talking and let the inane comments slip idly bye. With four and a half points out of a possible five it would be clear to say that Goosen's clubs answered the hecklers in a more profound way than these morons are capable of understanding.

I fear for the game in America. It is in danger of the inexorable decline into the abyss of cigar smoke, Buds and bedlam on the golf course. It's time for tournaments to re-educate their badly taught patrons. For those of us who have grown up with the game of golf and are familiar with the etiquette of the game this sort of behaviour is enough to make you want to tackle the malaise of the game in America head on. The rules must be observed because they are the law. This is an easy concept. The undocumented guidelines for good behaviour on the links (etiquette) are either totally ignored or they are completely oblivious to them.Forget finding out about the latest club shaft or high tech golf ball, how about some basic manners on the golf course? The matches themselves were played in the true spirit of the game, competitively and respectfully. It is refreshing to see so many large egos bouncing around the one room harmoniously.

Nowhere was it more apparent than in the International team cottage on Saturday evening where the players, their wives and caddies were enjoying some specially imported Australian beers, amongst other preferred beverages, which had been procured from the Australian embassy in order to make the four Aussies on the team feel at home. The rest of us were extremely grateful too.

Player and Baker Finch were sounding out the team on the thoughts about the singles pairings. Everyone had an opinion, and most of them were different. Load heavily early. Keep the best for last. Stagger the talent .

Whatever the theory it was a wonderful rare moment of civilised discussion which was all taken in by the captain. All the theory goes out the window when the actual bidding process begins, because when the Americans won the toss to put their first name forward then the Internationals had to jiggle their strategy accordingly. It was a moment of team spirit and camaraderie that I will always remember.

There was a separate caddie area set up for us toters. With couches and catering. The standard had been set early in the week by the International captain and the players saying they would like their caddies to be in the same area as them. The same did not apply in the American camp. Although the caddies were not officially banned from the players' cottage, they were not made welcome. The only caddies who used the caddie hospitality area were the Americans.

Congratulations to the Americans for their well-spirited victory, it would have been an even more enjoyable week of rare team play if the unruly American supporters would follow their players' lead and support with decorum. Golf etiquette is as important as the rules.