8x Major Champion Tom Watson Left “Ashamed” By “Rude” American Crowd at Ryder Cup

Tom Watson would express his disappointment with the behavior of the American crowd during the Ryder Cup and apologize on their behalf.

8x Major Champion Tom Watson Left “Ashamed” By “Rude” American Crowd at Ryder Cup

Tom Watson (Image via Golf Monthly)

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Last week, the 45th Ryder Cup took place at the Bethpage Black Course in New York between Team USA and Team Europe. During the event, the crowd would go a bit overboard and make some insensitive comments towards the European team. 8-time major champion Tom Watson would later apologize to them and admitted to being left ashamed.

The crowd in New York was expected to get a bit rowdy. Even before the tournament began, the heckling had already started. During a practice session, Rory McIlroy would get trolled after he mishit one of his shot.

The former World No.1 was subjected to severe abuse. On Day 1, he would flip off some fans who kept distracting him. Things could worse on Saturday.

While attempting to play his shots, many of them would try to distract him. The golfer would snap at some of them and yell, “shut the f*** up“. The scenes would get uglier after his wife, Erica Stoll, got hit.

As she and McIlroy were making their way over the side, a fan would grab a beer cup from another fan and hurl it towards Stoll. It would hit her in the head, leaving her shocked.

One of the Ryder Cup masters of ceremonies, Heather McMahon, also found herself under the spotlight. She would lead the fans to an NSFW chant of “F*** you, Rory” on Saturday morning. The PGA of America would later announce that she had stepped down from her duties and apologized to McIlroy.

Things did not cool down on Sunday. During his singles matchup against the World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, the crowd continued to chirp him. As per reports, there were some personal comments made regarding his divorce saga and his collapse at the 2024 U.S. Open against Bryson DeChambeau.

Watson, the 8-time major champion, was not happy to see all of this. Taking to his X account, the former Ryder Cup captain would blast the Americans for their behavior and call it rude.

I’d like to congratulate @RyderCupEurope on their victory. Your team play the first few days was sensational. More importantly, I’d like to apologize for the rude and mean-spirited behavior from our American crowd at Bethpage. As a former player, Captain and as an American, I am ashamed of what happened #RyderCup

Tom Watson on X

McIlroy would sound off on the fans later on. During their press conference after retaining the Ryder Cup, the reigning Masters Champion would claim that what happened was unacceptable.

Rory McIlroy demanded security to remove a fan at the Ryder Cup

Rory McIlroy was the No.1 public enemy in New York during the Ryder Cup. Out of all the heckling, he was the one who was chirped the most. A video has gone viral in which the 5-time major champion can be seen demanding for a removal of a fan.

Rory McIlroy at Ryder Cup
Rory McIlroy (Image via X/@NUCLRGolf)

On Day 2, as he was making his way out, a fan could be seen recording a video of him. During this, the fan would throw a nasty slur towards him.

The Northern Irishman would turn towards the security and directly point out the fan and urge for his removal. As the fan demanded why, McIlroy replied angrily towards him. Check out this altercation below:

In another video, Shane Lowry would come to his defense. As McIlroy was about to hit a tee shot, a fan reminded him about his incident with college golfer Luke Potter.

During a practice session before The Players Championship, Potter would heckle McIlroy and remind him about his 2011 Masters collapse. McIlroy would walk towards him and seize his phone.

At the Ryder Cup, a fan would shout, “Don’t take my phone, Rory” as he was about to tee off. Lowry would then confront the fan and drop some F-bombs.

In the end, McIlroy had the last laugh. Despite a valiant effort from Team USA on Sunday, the Europeans held on to their lead and retained the Ryder Cup with a 15-13 score.

The next edition of the Ryder Cup will be held in the homeland of McIlroy and Lowry at the Adare Manor in Ireland in 2027. A three-peat will be on the cards for Europe during that time.

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