US Ryder Cup disaster part of why the crowds are angry: Keegan Bradley
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A fan reacting as Tommy Fleetwood of Team Europe walking the first hole during the Sept 27 foursomes matches of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Black Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York.
PHOTO: AFP
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Farmingdale – United States captain Keegan Bradley defended the raucous New York crowds that seemed to cross a sportsmanship line on Sept 27 in heckling European golfers at the Ryder Cup.
Personal insults, profane remarks and yelling to disrupt putts were among the things that pushed the police to walk with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry during their four-ball victory.
It did not prevent Europe from seizing a record 11½-4½ lead entering the 12 concluding singles matches, with the Americans a distant 10 points from reclaiming the trophy. The Sept 28 final round ended after press time.
The crowd chanted “f*** you, Rory” at the first tee and elsewhere on the Bethpage Black course. Another popular chant was “US Open, US Open”, a reference to him squandering leads there in 2023 and 2024.
On the 16th hole of his four-ball match, McIlroy yelled at fans to “shut the f*** up” when they heckled him while he was addressing his ball.
It also got feisty in the second match, in which Tommy Fleetwood and fellow Englishman Justin Rose prevailed 3 and 2 over Americans stars Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.
Fleetwood and DeChambeau got into a shouting match as they walked to the 16th tee, with Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott also involved. The spat began on the previous green.
“I was waiting to putt,” Rose said. “The (Americans) were obviously working on their read... so I sort of waited a few seconds and then I felt like they came up again and I was sort of – I questioned whether – I was like, ‘It’s my putt, right?’ Or however I said it.”
“Maybe I didn’t say it as politely as I could have said it in the moment, but by no means was there any disrespect or anything like that, but obviously it was taken the wrong way.”
DeChambeau did not address the confrontation afterwards.
The PGA of America said on Sept 28 that a master of ceremonies, American comedian and actress Heather McMahan, has apologised and stepped down from her role after joining in with a vulgar chant aimed at McIlroy at the first tee.
On the fans’ behaviour, captain Bradley said: “I thought the fans were passionate. Their home team is getting beat bad. They are passionate fans. I wasn’t at Rome, but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well.
“The fans of New York, from what I have seen, have been pretty good. You’re always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that’s unfortunate. I was happy to see our players trying to quiet down some people that were like that.”
Bradley sees US futility as partly to blame. “Part of it our fault,” he said. “We’re not playing up to the standards they want to see, and they are angry, and they should be.”
Meanwhile, his opposite number Luke Donald said: “A lot of things have gone well for us, but very happy with how strong our team is, the firepower they have, the intensity – kind of the anti-fragile mentality.
“Sometimes the crowd going at you can be a motivator for some of these players and I think Rory and Shane certainly looked like they were sort of almost enjoying the difficult environment out there.”
Top-ranked Scheffler, a six-time winner in 2025 with two Majors among them, was no help, making the first 0-4 pairs start by an American in the event’s history.
Bradley said that amid Scheffler’s struggles, the world No. 1 “has been the best teammate in our team room this week, without question”.
“This is tough. This is what happens in sports all the time,” he said. “We’ve had some wacky stuff go on.”
Bradley said he was proud players did not mope as the score grew more lopsided against them “and Scottie is at the top of that list”.
Donald also praised Scheffler, while admitting this has not been his week.
“I’ve the utmost respect for Scottie Scheffler,” he said. “He’s going to be one of the greatest players ever to play this game.
“But yeah, it hasn’t been his time. Obviously matchplay, playing with a partner, it’s different. There are different scenarios. You have to rely a little bit on your partners, as well. It’s hard to do it all by yourself, but Scottie Scheffler is a champion.”
The Americans imposed the most lopsided victory in the current format on Europe in 2021 at Whistling Straits with a 19-9 triumph. They now face being on the wrong end of such a rout, unless they can mount the greatest last-day Ryder Cup comeback in history. AFP, REUTERS
