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.”
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