Walking the fairway on the second hole at Bethpage Black, a US fan in a flag-inspired suit and a red, white and blue chain around his neck with a cocktail in hand found a moment of clarity at the Ryder Cup.
“Nobody’s got any spirit right now,” he said to anyone around who would listen. “Maybe we need to be the bigger people and cheer a little bit more.”
That spirit was gone nearly an hour before the final match finished on Saturday.
Photo: AP
Americans streamed to the exits early as Europe piled on for an 11-1/2 to 4-1/2 lead. Before calling it, fans tried anything and everything into the afternoon to will the home team into the tournament with “U-S-A” chants and even an off-key, a cappella rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.
Alongside that energy came some unsavory interactions with Rory McIlroy. Lots of not-safe-for-work language. Even a couple of ejections. New York crowds have a reputation for being a difference-maker, but that was uncertain heading into the final day yesterday, as ticket prices for the last round plummeted.
“I thought the fans were passionate — their home team is absolutely getting beat bad,” US captain Keegan Bradley said. “Part of it is our fault. We’re not playing up to the standards that they want to see, and they’re angry and they should be.”
Law enforcement bulked up security specifically around McIlroy and Shane Lowry’s match against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young in afternoon fourballs. McIlroy and Lowry had several exchanges with fans, and Lowry asked for at least one to be ejected.
“When you play an away Ryder Cup, it’s really, really challenging,” McIlroy said. “People can be their own judge of whether [fans] took it too far or not. I’m just proud of us for being able to win today with what we had to go through.”
Two spectators in the grandstand around the first and 18th holes were ejected following a verbal altercation, New York State police spokesperson Beau Duffy said, adding that there were no arrests or charges related to the incident.
Duffy said those were the only fans removed by police.
“The fans of New York, all I’ve seen have been pretty good,” Bradley said. “You’re always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that’s unfortunate.”
The PGA of America said in a statement that it added security and New York State police to McIlroy’s match as well as the other afternoon sessions.
It also increased the frequency of fan behavior messages on video boards.
“We will continue to closely monitor fan behavior and take appropriate action,” it said.
Cans of beer and hard seltzer lined the ropes on several holes. Fans jeered players from each team, with one asking Xander Schauffele to “wake up” and another offering to pay Jon Rahm to take a vacation if he was feeling tired.
Most of the vitriol was directed toward the visitors, who by Saturday evening sounded like the hosts with European fans partying and singing.
“Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole,” rang around the grounds, with a McIlroy-themed version of The Cranberries’ Zombie and other tunes mixed in.
“I want to go celebrate with them,” Matt Fitzpatrick said after he and Tyrrell Hatton won their fourballs match. “The atmosphere is out of this world.”
Even when the cup seemed lost, fans tried to support Bradley as he walked from the 16th green to the tee at No. 17. Bradley’s group had to pick up 10 of the 12 points available from singles matches to erase the largest deficit since the Ryder Cup went to this format.
A big question is who would make the trek to Farmingdale to watch. Face value for tickets was US$750 and surged to nearly double that on secondary markets for Friday’s opening sessions.
However, Saturday evening and yesterday’s tickets were available for less than US$300 on StubHub and TickPick.
Yelling — a lot of it — at Europe’s players was a theme on Saturday. Fans counted down Robert MacIntyre before he attempted a shot on No. 17 in morning foursomes, and one called him “a big bag of milk.” Sepp Straka was on the receiving end of at least one septic tank joke.
Europe captain Luke Donald praised his team’s “anti-fragile mentality” and players’ “ability to take the punches and come back even stronger.”
He said the energy of the crowd might have been a motivating force for Europe, even if he was not totally pleased with some of the behavior.
“It was raucous,” Donald said. “What I consider crossing the line is personal insults and making sounds when they’re trying to hit, on their backswings or very close to when they’re trying to go into their routines. That did happen a little bit. It’s happened at other Ryder Cups, too. It’s something we prepared for, and you can see, I think, how well they’ve dealt with it.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS