After a weekend of going through heckles, taunts and slurs from Ryder Cup followers, resulting in added safety and a number of situations when frustrations boiled over, Rory McIlroy ripped the fan habits at Bethpage Black as unacceptable.
“I don't assume we must always ever settle for that in golf,” McIlroy stated following Europe's 15-13 win. “I believe golf needs to be held to a better customary than what was seen on the market this week. Golf has the power to unite folks. Golf teaches you excellent life classes. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you play by the foundations. It teaches you respect folks.
“Typically this week we didn't see that.”
The therapy of McIlroy emerged as an unpleasant footnote to what occurred on the course. He flipped off followers Friday. He yelled at them to “shut the f–okay up” earlier than a shot Saturday morning.
He refused to putt till they “shut up” within the afternoon. His spouse, Erica Stoll, had a beer thrown at her after his four-ball match Saturday. And in between these confrontations, McIlroy confronted taunts about his marriage to Stoll, about his U.S. Open collapse in 2024 and extra.
When requested if he was conscious of the police canine and safety added to his match, McIlroy joked, “I want that they had let the canine off the leashes.”
He known as the quantity of police and safety insane, and whereas the taunting wasn't as outstanding by the again 9 on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday throughout his singles loss to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, it didn't fade utterly.
At instances, it even amplified. Shane Lowry, who paired with McIlroy throughout four-ball periods each days, stated the abuse Stoll obtained whereas contained in the ropes was “astonishing, and the way in which she was on the market supporting her husband and supporting her crew was unbelievable.”
“This shouldn't be what is suitable within the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy stated. “However you recognize, we can be ensuring to say to our followers in Eire in 2027 that what occurred right here this week will not be acceptable.”
McIlroy has by no means hesitated to interact with followers at Ryder Cups, saying earlier within the week that he most likely did that an excessive amount of at Hazeltine in 2016 and didn't do this sufficient at Whistling Straits in 2021. He'll reply on impulse. He'll chirp again when one thing irks him.
Throughout a type of moments, as he ready to hit his second shot on the sixteenth gap Saturday morning, McIlroy stepped again from his ball, dropped the F-bomb and proceeded to drill a shot inside 3 toes of the outlet to arrange Tommy Fleetwood's birdie.
And when requested about how satisfying that was, with a flag draped round his neck and a Stella Artois by his aspect and 11 European teammates surrounding him within the media room to have fun, McIlroy didn't hesitate: “Very f–king satisfying.”
