How bad were the personal attacks on Saturday directed at Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry? One American fan approached Rory's father to apologize.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Rory McIlroy released a primal scream the kind never before seen from him. This wasn’t the relief of winning the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters in April, but rather pent-up anger at the boorish behavior by fans who crossed the line with vicious insults aimed at McIlroy and his European Ryder Cup partner Shane Lowry.
How bad were these personal attacks on Saturday directed at McIlroy’s marriage and Lowry’s figure? One American fan at Bethpage Black approached Gerry McIlroy, Rory’s father, who was walking inside the ropes and apologized for the classless behavior of fans shouting F-you and much worse.
“Sorry we’ve been a little rough on your boy,” he said.
“It’s OK, Rory can handle it,” Gerry said.
But there certainly were moments where Rory was riled up, when things got a little too personal and so tasteless they wouldn’t be fit for print.
“How’s your divorce going?” one fan screamed. “Your ex is looking for you,” another exclaimed. “Rory, you’re the best. Just kidding, you suck.”
At the fourth hole, when one fan released an F-bomb at McIlroy, Lowry sank his putt and yelled a four-letter right back at the fan. Later, his anger boiled over and he had a fan removed at No. 10, waving goodbye to him. Lowry also started to play better the madder he got, including holing an eagle at the third and a birdie at the fourth.
On nearly every hole U.S. four-ball opponents Justin Thomas and Cameron Young held up their arms and motioned for fans to settle down and lower their voice so that the Euro side could be given a chance to play their shot.
On more than one occasion, McIlroy and Lowry asked for the match referee to intervene and called on security to do their jobs. Eventually, security presence was beefed up, including the addition of bicycle cops and the amount of state police, park police and security officers numbered more than two dozen to protect the four golfers. On the videoboards around the course, the PGA added a spectator etiquette post and announced a zero-tolerance policy – violators to be removed from the premises – for any form of discrimination, hate speech or harassment.
The New York fans are known to be boisterous, but this was less an indictment of the local fans than an ongoing problem that happens every four years during an American Ryder Cup, especially on the weekend when fans start drinking as early as 9 in the morning and forget about the impressionable youngsters in attendance too.
McIlroy already had dealt with his share of heckling during his morning foursomes match. Emotions had been running high all afternoon for McIlroy but all that anger came pouring out when he holed a birdie putt at 14. When Thomas lipped out his shorter birdie effort, Europe led in all four afternoon matches and would stretch its lead to 11 ½ to 4 ½. While McIlroy took the brunt of the insults from the crowd, Lowry didn’t go unscathed. “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic,” a group of fans sang by the 13th green, one of several taunts geared at Lowry’s figure.
“Look, we knew what we were going to get coming here,” said Lowry, who gave his own primal scream on the 17th green after holing a putt to keep their lead intact. “I think we dealt with it very well.”
They walked off the 18th green arm in arm after winning their match 1 up, smiles creasing their faces as Lowry gave his pal a noogie on his head after they earned their first full point as Ryder Cup partners.
“It was a really challenging day,” McIlroy said afterwards, doing his best to take the high road. “I'm going to sleep well tonight.”
A lot better than he did four years ago when McIlroy played so poorly at Whistling Straits that he was benched for the afternoon fourballs and wept over letting his team down. This time, he’s been a road warrior, winning three matches and tying a fourth. With each primal scream they released they sounded less like golfer and more like gladiators of old at the Colosseum.
The fans were ruthless to McIlroy and Lowry but they responded in the best way possible, letting their clubs do the talking as if to say, "Are you not entertained?"
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ryder Cup fan behavior crossed line in Rory McIlroy-Shane Lowry match
Category: General Sports
