About six hours after Rory McIlroy turned to a row of hecklers standing outside the ropes and told them to “Shut the [expletive] up,” he must have loved what he witnessed at the Ryder Cup.
It was hundreds of people who paid US$750 or more for the hottest ticket in town, streaming for the exits as he walked up the 18th fairway.
Those fans were in no mood to see McIlroy wrap up his second win of a touchy, toxic Saturday at Bethpage Black.
Photo: AP
It was a day in which tournament organizers brought in extra security for McIlroy and others, while flashing reminders about their “zero-tolerance” policy on the scoreboard for fans.
With the help of McIlroy’s 3-1/2 points over his first four matches, Europe all but wrapped up this year’s edition of an event that seems to grow more combustible each year.
The Europeans closed with a 11-1/2 to 4-1/2 lead — needing only 2-1/2 out of 12 points heading to yesterday’s singles to capture their first cup on opposing turf since 2014.
The moment that crystalized what this year’s contest has become — a European beatdown in front of a fired-up New York crowd reduced to hurling insults at the other guys instead of cheering their own — came during McIlroy’s first match.
Standing in the rough on No. 16, McIlroy sized up his shot, then quickly turned around and used the curse word to tell the fans to quiet down. He then nailed the shot to 5 foot — barely more than a tap-in for partner Tommy Fleetwood — to wrap up the 3-and-2 victory over Harris English and Collin Morikawa.
“I don’t mind them having a go at us,” McIlroy said afterward. “Like, that’s to be expected. I mean, that’s what an away Ryder Cup is. Whenever they are still doing it while you are over the ball and trying to hit your shot, that’s the tough thing.”
Word of that confrontation spread quickly.
His second match — in which McIlroy paired with Shane Lowry for a 2-up win over Justin Thomas and Cameron Young — was a foul-mouthed medley of over-the-top, fist-pumping celebrations punctuated by a steady stream of insults and chants of “Ror-reeee, Ror-reeee, Ror-reeee” coming from every corner of the golf course.
When McIlroy was lining up a putt on No. 6, the invective got so intense that he stepped away and, with boos raining down, told the rules official he would not putt “until they shut up.” They did. Then, he did, and drained an 11-foot putt to halve the hole after Young had hit his approach to 2 feet.
“It was loud. It was raucous. What I consider crossing the line is personal insults and making sounds when they are trying to hit on their backswings or very close to when they are tryiong to go into their routines,” European captain Luke Donald said.
The fans shouted insults about the buttons on his shirt and the protein bars he eats. They called him a crybaby. They made comments about his wife, his ex-fiancee and other aspects of his love life.
He gave as good as he got, letting out a too-loud yell as he glared at the grandstand and pumped his fists after sinking a 9-foot putt on No. 14 that gave him and Lowry a lead they would not relinquish. Thomas, his American opponent, got fired up himself at times, but he also spent a lot of the match raising his hands and shushing the crowd.
Overheard late on Saturday was a fan yelling, “You’re not that good, Rory.”
McIlroy replied with a new twist on a theme that dominated the day: “I’m [expletive] very good.”
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