Rickie Fowler gets 'USA' shaved into hair; British press calls it 'thuggish jingoism'

In anticipation of the 2014 Ryder Cup - which kicks off on Friday at Gleneagles in Scotland - American participant Rickie Fowler had his country's initials shaved into the side of his head:

This show of patriotism was not appreciated by some members of the British media, least of all by Oliver Brown of The Telegraph. Here's what Brown had to say about Fowler's new 'do:

Golf’s conventional etiquette is suspended at a Ryder Cup. There is no other stage in the game that would permit Rickie Fowler to disembark the Americans’ Ryder Cup plane in Edinburgh sporting a GI Joe-style crewcut, the letters “USA” shaved around his ear in an exhibition of thuggish jingoism that on any normal day would give grounds for many a club secretary to throw him off the premises in a heartbeat.

With a ball yet to be struck in anger, this 40th edition of the biennial spectacular already has all the ingredients to turn nasty, fast.

Gee whiz.

I'm not well-versed in so-called "conventional etiquette," but it sounds like no fun at all.