It's certainly not just true of the golf world, John - the UK and other European countries are much more used to having their best athletes and teams representing their country. American sport is much more insular...witness the (IMO quite shocking amount of) resistance to the proposed World Cup of Baseball for next spring. England, for example, has national teams in soccer, cricket and rugby, and joins with the other "Home Nations" to produce combined UK teams in track & field, tennis (Davis Cup), and other minor sports which are too numerous to name (including individual sports where the participants are strongly linked to be "representing England" or Britain/the UK).
Notably, of the major sports only in soccer do club teams generate anything like the buzz and interest of the national team. Of the major US sports, "Team USA" normally only comes together once every few years, and that team is entirely subservient to the professional franchises. Nobody gives a damn (not really even the local supporters) about what happens to Newcastle Falcons if Jonny Wilkinson is injured playing rugby for England, or to Lancashire County Cricket Club if Andrew Flintoff is injured playing cricket for England - but many Boston Red Sox fans think it's a travesty that Manny Ramirez or David Ortiz might even be exposed to the *possibility* of injury while representing their countries at the World Cup of Baseball.
Point being, as long as particular American sports continue to directly or indirectly emphasize domestic team or individual competition, their national teams are going to suffer. When it comes to the Ryder, Walker, Solheim or Curtis Cups, even when the team being represented is "Team Europe", Europeans are used to the idea that to represent your country is the pinnacle of sporting achievement, and they tend to play passionately for the flag, whereas Americans aren't and don't (at least not as much). That certainly seems to be the case vis-a-vis the Ryder Cup, don't you think?
Cheers,
Darren