Don't be too swift to criticise the spectators for their lack of tumultuous hollering, cheering and applause. One of the facts of RCD is that the sand dunes are large and when you are in the bottom of one of the valleys between them you can hardly hear a sound elsewhere on the course. On many occasions we cheered loudly when a player from either side did something particularly special. Add to that the fact that there were very few scoreboards out on the course (and they were usally a hole or two behind the action) and it was impossible to know how exciting the match as a whole was if you were following your own particular match, so you had no idea how significant or otherwise a particular win or loss of a hole might be in the context of the match.
My wife and I followed David Horsey in each match, for the simple reason that he is a local lad, and has been tought at the local driving range (not a posh course) by the same chap who occasionally gives my younger son a refresher lesson. I don't suppose there were ever more than 25 spectators watching his match with Webb Simpson on the Sunday afternoon until the last few holes, but we were all rivetted by the bravery of both players who each suffered nasty setbacks and somehow rallied immediately. But we saw the US Captain only once during the course of this match (which could so easily have been pivotal) and never saw the GB&I captain. So these young men seemed to be playing their own match unaware of the state of events in the match as a whole - just as we spectators were. And it was not until Horsey reached the 16th green that he learned, by looking at the scoreboard, that he had to win his match in order to tie the match itself. He did in fact win his match, but by then something extraordinary had happened in front of him, and it was to no avail. Having watched all four of his matches, I have to say that his determination and courage are his greatest strengths - sure, he can hit a ball, but all these fellows can. It was a priviledge to be able to be so close to such play.
And yet, did it matter? I am reminded of the two or three paratroopers in the Normandy landings who found themselves holding out for two days and nights in an isolated cottage against superior numbers of surrounding German soldiers until eventually rescued by a force of allied infantry. The newspapers referred to it as a skirmish. It was rather more than a skirmish for them!