In the lead-up to the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, numerous members of the U.S. side, as well as the PGA of America, hyped up what they hoped would be a raucous home-course advantage for Keegan Bradley’s squad.
Bryson DeChambeau promised a “tsunami” of energy from the New York crowd. Before the start of the tournament, Collin Morikawa said he hoped the opening day would be “absolute chaos” after what had been a “tame” crowd during early in the week. As the Europeans roared out to a big lead, the home crowd turned angry and directed its ire at the European side taking the Americans to the woodshed. On Saturday, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were subjected to a torrent of verbal abuse that crossed the line. McIlroy called the behavior unacceptable, while Lowry noted that the fan abuse directed at McIlroy’s wife, Erica, was “astonishing.”
After the ugly scene on Saturday at Bethpage, Bradley was asked if he or any team members bore any responsibility for the crowd’s behavior. Morikawa’s “chaos” comment has been used as an example of how the U.S. team sparked the fire that overtook the Long Island course. Bradley rejected the premise, and on Wednesday, ahead of the Baycurrent Classic at Yokohama Country Club in Japan, Morikawa said his comments were taken “out of context” as the scene at Bethpage turned sour. The two-time major champion wanted energy from the New York crowd, but did not ask them to insult and berate his opponents.
“I think we’ve taken what I said a little out of context,” Morikawa said. “I think Ryder Cups are meant to have a lot of energy, right? And I think me saying the word chaos, I didn’t mean for them to be rude, right? So, like, that’s not on me, I believe, for me to take credit for people being rude. I think what I meant was like I wanted energy, right? You wanted people to be proud of the country, the countries they’re rooting for. So I don’t think, you know, me saying one word, everyone listened and then — I don’t think I have the power to do that amongst people. I think fans can do and say what they want sometimes. It probably crossed a line out there. It wasn’t in my groups, but definitely what people were hearing. So I would say, yeah, there’s a line that needs to be drawn.”
After Europe held off a furious American rally to win 15-13, McIlroy made a similar point about the type of energy that players want at the Ryder Cup and the kind that unfortunately materialized at Bethpage.
“I think if I was an American, I would be annoyed that people — I didn’t hear a lot of shouts for Scottie today, but I heard a lot of shouts against me. It’s, like, support your players. That’s the thing.”
In an interview with The Athletic’s Brody Miller, PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague said he wrote a lengthy letter to the McIlroys to apologize for what transpired and promised to “be better” going forward. He also apologized to McIlroy’s agent, Sean O’Flaherty, and said he was “really, really, really disappointed.”
That came after PGA of America president Don Rea did an interview with the BBC, in which he claimed that American players faced a similar abuse at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome and that he hadn’t really heard the wave of abuse McIlroy faced.
The comparison to the crowd at Marco Simone in 2023 immediately drew pushback from several European players, with Matt Fitzpatrick leading the way.
“I saw the interview with the PGA guy discussing how it was the same in Rome,” Fitzpatrick said last week at the Dunhill Links Championship. “It’s pretty offensive to European fans that he said that, really.”
The few American players who have spoken on the issue, either in the Sunday press conference or in the week since, have shouldered the blame for not playing well and apologized to McIlroy and others for what they had to endure.
“I think that anybody that was out there could pretty blatantly tell you that there was some things said, and yeah, Cam [Young] and I said it to Shane and Rory yesterday that we felt for them. It was unfortunate,” Justin Thomas said on Ryder Cup Sunday. “Cam and I just wished that we gave them something to cheer for instead of people to cheer against. I think that was kind of the main consensus of the last two days, that we weren’t giving them enough to cheer for, and they were just trying to help us win.”
“There were some unsavory things said at certain times,” Xander Schauffele said on Wednesday at the Baycurrent Classic. “I really wish we could have played better to have them cheer for us a bit more. New York’s a tough place to play for anyone. I even got a few comments to play better.”
As the focus shifts toward the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in Ireland, McIlroy was clear that they won’t tolerate any verbal abuse directed at the Americans.
“I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf,” McIlroy said. “I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people. Sometimes this week, we didn’t see that. So no, this should not be what is acceptable in the Ryder Cup.
“But we will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable, and for me, it’s — you know, come and support your home team. Come and support your team.”
