— WARNING — Bethpage Black’s iconic sign is leaving Long Island.
The 200,000-plus fans planning to attend next week’s Ryder Cup and pose in front of one of golf’s most famous signs — WARNING — The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers — will be disappointed to learn that the long-standing placard affixed to the railing behind the first tee at Bethpage Black has temporarily been removed because of the construction of a 5,000-seat grandstand, which will wrap around the first tee and the 18th green, obstructing the location of the decades-old sign that attracts golfers around the globe.
“The sign is gone,” Ryder Cup Director Bryan Karns told The Post. “The Ryder Cup will use a brand new [first] tee that’s 40 yards in front of the existing tee. If we had built that grandstand with the existing tee, it would almost go into the clubhouse. [The sign] would’ve been underneath the grandstands. It just wouldn’t have worked out.”
As golf’s spotlight shines on Long Island, Bethpage Black’s legendary sign will be in Manhattan, featured in Rockefeller Center at the Ryder Cup Live Fan Zone, which opens Sept. 25 and will run through the event’s final matches on Sept. 28.
Replica signs will be displayed at Bethpage.
“People can take photos with it,” Karns said. “It just won’t be the original one at the original location.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
