Rory McIlroy called out the “mob mentality” that led to “horrific” abuse hurled at himself, his wife ​and his daughter during last September’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

The world no 2 golfer from Northern Ireland opened up about ‍his unpleasant experiences with the crowd in New York in a recent appearance on The Overlap podcast.

“In 2016, we played the Ryder Cup in ‍Minnesota and I thought that was bad. But I compare this year to 2016, and 2016 was nothing compared to some of the stuff we heard,” McIlroy said.

“We knew going to New York that we were going to get a lot of ‌stick, a lot of abuse. For six months right before the competition, everyone was saying it’s going to be hostile.

“I didn’t [think it ⁠would be as hostile as it was]. Look, I don’t care if people are saying whatever ‌they’re ​saying ‍to me, even the first tee announcers shouting ‘f**k you, Rory’, which is nothing compared to the other stuff we heard.”

As McIlroy (36) and Team Europe built a massive lead and then held on for a 15-13 victory, the five-time major winner said ⁠the heckling crossed the line.

“Erica, my wife, would say she’s a grown woman, she’s strong, she can ⁠handle that,” he added. “But then when it starts ⁠to get into your family, I heard stuff about my daughter that I couldn’t even repeat here. It’s horrific.

“But I think it’s sort of society and culture ‍at the minute as well. It’s that mob mentality where people see other people doing something and then they think it’s okay. And then it sort of builds up.

“There’s 50,000 people there and all it takes is 500 of those to be bad eggs and then it skews the atmosphere.”

McIlroy said US captain Keegan Bradley could have done more to rein in the unruly fans.

“Keegan and I have talked about this,” McIlroy added. “You have to play into the ‌home-field advantage, absolutely.

“But during the ‌competition on Friday night and Saturday night, after the stuff that we heard on the course, there was an opportunity for either Keegan or some of the teammates to be ‌like, ‘let’s just calm down here. Let’s try to play this match in the right spirit’.

“Some of them did that, but obviously ⁠Keegan had the biggest platform of the week in being the captain. I feel like he could have said something on that Friday or Saturday night and he didn’t.”

The 2027 Ryder Cup will take place at Adare Manor, Co Limerick.

McIlroy, meanwhile, says he would welcome the return of more top players from LIV Golf because the sport needs its top stars competing against each other more regularly.

The recent decision by five-time major winner Brooks Koepka to quit LIV was a blow for the Saudi-backed organisation.

Koepka’s departure throws up a conundrum for the PGA Tour, which has usually insists on players serving a one-year suspension before returning. A spot on the DP World Tour does, however, remain an option as he played a number of events last year.

McIlroy would not object to his return, or that of other LIV players, but he accepts others may not be so keen.

“They’ve made the money but they’ve paid their consequences in terms of their reputation and some of the things they have lost by going over there,” he said.

“If it made the overall tour stronger to have Bryson [DeChambeau] back and whoever else, I would be okay with it. But I recognise not everyone is in my position – it would be up to the collective group of PGA Tour members to make that decision.

“The thing it (LIV) has done is elevated the majors and the Ryder Cup because only four or five times a year you see all the best players playing together. For golf to be relevant, I think we need the best players together more often than that.”