{"id":174805,"date":"2025-09-28T06:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T06:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/174805\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T06:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T06:55:09","slug":"tempers-flared-fans-clashed-this-ryder-cup-went-to-the-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/174805\/","title":{"rendered":"Tempers flared. Fans clashed. This Ryder Cup went to the brink"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"first\">FARMINGDALE, N.Y. \u2014 Rory McIlroy came charging down the hill behind Bethpage Black\u2019s 17th hole, arms outstretched in a fist pump as he howled in the direction of a group of European fans as they sang and danced on the other side of the ropes.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy was returning from the 18th hole, where he and best mate <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/approach-shots\/hit-shane-lowrys-low-flighted-draw\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shane Lowry<\/a> had just finished off their American opponents in the first match of the fourth session of this <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/ryder-cup-singles-matches-ranked-usa-europe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ryder Cup<\/a>. And now he\u2019d come back to cheer on the matches remaining behind him, energized by the blue flags filling up the scoreboard and the blowout victory they\u2019d all but assured.<\/p>\n<p>These fans were serenading him with the anthem of the day, sung to the tune of the Cranberries\u2019 \u201cZombie\u201d:<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s in your heeaaaad<br \/>In your heeeeead<br \/>Ro-o-ry, Ro-o-ry, Ro-o-ry, ry, ry<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy headed their way, dishing out high-fives to the delirious scrum before re-routing back toward his teammates. But then, as he turned, something came flying from the crowd: a half-filled drink, which sailed through the air and ricocheted off the hat brim of McIlroy\u2019s wife, Erica, walking beside him.<\/p>\n<p>The entire contingent whirled around in surprise \u2014\u00a0Erica, Rory, Lowry, marshals, teammates, assistant coaches \u2014\u00a0and Lowry began to walk toward the crowd before he was restrained by a Team Europe staffer. It wasn\u2019t clear where the cup had come from or why, whether there was malicious intent or if it had come from an excited Euro. Either way, the moment passed, the cup-thrower escaped unidentified and the team turned to continue toward the 17th green, returning their attention to the remaining two matches. But the moment told the story of the day: The joy of sport and the thrill of a charged environment set against some jarring instances of <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/ryder-cup-unruly-bethpage\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fans crossing the line<\/a> \u2014 and, ultimately, complete domination from McIlroy and the road team, who got the final word.<\/p>\n<p>DID THE FANS CROSS THE LINE? That was the question pinging around the <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/travel\/bethpage-black-tee-time-how\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bethpage<\/a> grounds for much of Thursday afternoon, particularly after \u201cis there any way the U.S. gets back in this\u2026?\u201d was laid to rest.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no way to give one simple answer, so let\u2019s try several. Yes, fans crossed the line. Two lines, to get specific. European captain Luke Donald laid them out post-round, the procedural and the personal: First, it\u2019s poor form to scream at a player when he\u2019s in the process of actually hitting his shot and second, it\u2019s nasty behavior to scream about a player\u2019s family, particularly knowing that player and his family are there to hear it. Fans did both, and\u00a0not just one or two fans but a lot of fans, frothy and frustrated from the magnitude of the event and the magnitude of the home team\u2019s deficit and the fact that there are tens of thousands of fans but only four groups on the course. So when you\u2019re a certain type of fan and you finally get a glimpse of Rory and Co., you\u2019re going to make it count.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s also reductive to repudiate the entire event\u2019s atmosphere based on the line-crossers. This is sport, after all, and sport really gets good once people start caring, both the players and the fans. The caring is the whole point \u2014\u00a0and we got that in spades. There were brilliant sporting scenes all day, European heroics spurred on to greater heights by American antagonists. Those came with <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/rory-mcilroy-ryder-cup-fans\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">unprecedented numbers of f-bombs<\/a>, thousands sent the players\u2019 way, pre-7 a.m. and on, and dozens returned. It was over the top. It was a spectacle. And the golf played between it all was impressive as hell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook, we knew what we were going to get coming here,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cIt was a very tough day. Being out with Rory doesn\u2019t make it any easier; I think he\u2019s getting the brunt of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy said he was happy to have Lowry at his side Saturday afternoon: \u201cHe was there for me today. All the credit for this win today goes to Shane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lowry added this: \u201cIt was intense. It was like something I\u2019ve never experienced. But this is what I live for. This is it. This is, like, honestly, the reason I get up in the morning, for stuff like this. This is what I love doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>IT\u2019S TOUGH FOR ANYONE TO HATE ON TOMMY FLEETWOOD or any of several other lovable members of the European team. But Saturday\u2019s atmosphere was so pressure-packed that tensions boiled over elsewhere, too. The afternoon match behind McIlroy\/Lowry pitted World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (0-3-0 in the first three sessions) and megastar Bryson DeChambeau (1-2-0) against Fleetwood and Justin Rose. The Americans came in desperate for a win but it was Rose who arrived with magic in his pocket, pouring in putts left and right as he unleashed six birdies in their first eight holes and built a lead that would prove insurmountable.<\/p>\n<p>But a moment on the 15th tee showed once again just how different the Ryder Cup is than any other golf tournament in the world. Rose was lining up his birdie putt when DeChambeau and his caddie, Greg Bodine, <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/ryder-cup-heated-dechambeau-rose\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">got too close<\/a> to Rose\u2019s line for his liking, so he motioned them away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAsked him to move. Maybe not as politely as I could have done,\u201d Rose said later.<\/p>\n<p>Rose made his putt. Moments later DeChambeau made a birdie putt of his own and celebrated in Rose\u2019s direction. Suddenly they were jawing as they walked to the next tee \u2014\u00a0DeChambeau and Rose, Bodine and Fleetwood\u2019s caddie, Ian Finnis, even Scheffler\u2019s caddie Ted Scott and, improbably, European assistant Francesco Molinari, who took a shoulder from Scott as he strode between the involved parties. Eventually Finnis \u2014 a peace-through-strength type at 6-foot-6 \u2014\u00a0made it clear that they should all drop it, and so they did. But it spoke to just how tense the environment had gotten \u2014\u00a0and just how good the golf was within.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt pretty good but watching Justin Rose on the golf course is some of my proudest few hours on the golf course,\u201d Fleetwood said. \u201cI absolutely loved it. So blessed to be by his side today.\u201d That was the day\u2019s defining third ingredient: Tension. Incredible golf. And European brotherhood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, crowds have energy, and you can use it however you want. It\u2019s however you frame it,\u201d Donald said, offering some perspective on the scene.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a stimulus, a response, and in between that is how you decide what you want to do with it. I think some people find that motivating. Sometimes the crowd going at you can be a motivator for some of these players, and I think Rory and Shane certainly looked like they were sort of almost enjoying the difficult environment out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>THERE WERE MOMENTS OF REAL SPORTSMANSHIP between the two teams. Each side seemed to appreciate the heroics of their opponent; in the afternoon Golf Channel reported the Euros finished a combined 34 under par while Team USA shot 31 under, a preposterous number of total birdies.<\/p>\n<p>Justin Thomas and Cameron Young were the golfers opposite McIlroy and Lowry in their charged afternoon session. After several holes of unrelenting heckling the Americans started shushing the crowd before their opponents played. This is harder than it sounds; how do you slow down a mob? But they stuck with it for the rest of the match, doing their best to ensure a match played under fair, if brutal, conditions. That made it a particularly tough loss, though.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ryder Cup is the only event you can have this much fun and lose,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt just brings out some unbelievable golf. I\u2019d play and go to battle with Cam any day of the week. I\u2019m just bummed we didn\u2019t get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the last hour of play, members of Team Europe floated around Bethpage\u2019s closing stretch of holes, laughing and hugging and basking in the Ole, Ole Ole Ole chants of their fans. The whole thing had a celebratory feel, like they\u2019d already sealed the deal. In fairness, they effectively did seal the deal; no Ryder Cup team has ever come down from more than four points and the U.S. team enters Sunday down 7.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019ll get golf on Sunday nonetheless. We\u2019ll get hours more of celebration. And we\u2019ll get McIlroy at its center as he sees whether he can finish off a dream season with a win over Scottie Scheffler. The fans will do what they can to stop him. They might spur him on instead. And then will begin the two-year wait until we get to the next Ryder Cup \u2014\u00a0and wonder where the line is there.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FARMINGDALE, N.Y. \u2014 Rory McIlroy came charging down the hill behind Bethpage Black\u2019s 17th hole, arms outstretched in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-174805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}