The scene had been set from early on in the week when US captain Dave Stockton screened a film to both teams called the \u201cHistory of the Ryder Cup.\u201d Little did the Europeans know until the screening, however, was that it was a highlight reel of American victories not helped later when Stockton introduced his team at the official dinner citing how much money each player had won through their careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were more pissed off than you can imagine,\u201d David Feherty would reveal.<\/p>\n
![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/6GZKZMOEOGO4CR5FQFIYZFIAF4.jpg\")
Mark O\u2019Meara and Payne Stewart look on as team captain Dave Stockton pushes Corey Pavin into the water after the USA won the 1991 Ryder Cup. Photo: Simon Bruty\/Allsport <\/p>\n
The scene setters were nothing compared to the real thing with, from the off, some bad blood evident. Indeed, in the very first match, which pitted Seve Ballesteros and Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Olaz\u00e1bal against Paul Azinger and Chip Beck there was a standoff at the turn. Three-down through nine holes, the Spanish pair accused the Americans of having changed balls on the seventh. The call, though, should have been made when it happened, which would have resulted in a penalty, not three holes later.<\/p>\n
Then, ahead of the singles, the USA\u2019s Steve Pate was declared injured \u2013 his match against David Gilford declared a half \u2013 which only added to the sense of mistrust.<\/p>\n
So the match was played in a cauldron which went right to the wire, Langer\u2019s singles against Hale Irwin providing drama to the death. To this day, a question mark hangs over Irwin\u2019s drive down the left of the 18th which seemed destined for the sandhills but finished up in the middle of the fairway. But the German still had a six-footer to win the match on the 18th which would have seen the overall result finish as tie and for Europe to retain the trophy. His missed putt meant a halved match with Irwin but an overall win \u2013 14 \u00bd to 13 \u00bd \u2013 for the USA. Stockton was thrown into the Atlantic as part of the celebrations which saw the Americans get their hands on the trophy for the first time since 1983.<\/p>\n
1999, Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts <\/p>\n
The so-called \u201cBattle of Brookline\u201d featured a final day\u2019s turnaround by the Americans which finished in raw acrimony when the home players \u2013 along with an entourage of wives and even television cameramen \u2013 invaded the 17th green after Justin Leonard holed a putt although his opponent Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Olaz\u00e1bal still had a putt to share the hole.<\/p>\n
Yet, the rancour had been in evidence long before that invasion. In the build-up, Payne Stewart had observed of a European team featuring seven rookies \u2013 among them P\u00e1draig Harrington \u2013 that, \u201con paper, they should be caddying for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Europe defied that lack of experience to hold a 10-6 lead going into the final day\u2019s session of 12 singles.<\/p>\n
On the night beforehand, future US president George W Bush gave a speech to Ben Crenshaw\u2019s team that focused around the letter written by Barret Travis to his troops during the siege of the Alamo.<\/p>\n
![\"Pádraig](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DHTRDVWBSFBIDKL7R4X7V4Q6XQ.jpg\")
P\u00e1draig Harrington of Ireland and Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain during the 1999 Ryder Cup. Photograph:: Harry How\/Allsport <\/p>\n
If that served to fuel up the USA players, the Sunday singles brought accusations of skulduggery \u2013 Andrew Coltart, who had not played at all until pitched against Tiger Woods in the singles \u2013 believing a marshal had stood on his ball in the rough until the five minutes search time had finished, while Colin Montgomerie claimed his father had been forced to leave the course due to the amount of abuse he had received.<\/p>\n
Still, it was the invasion of the 17th after Leonard\u2019s putt and before Olazabal\u2019s that was the abiding image of the Battle of Brookline.<\/p>\n
2016, Hazeltine National, Chaska, Minnesota <\/p>\n
The boisterous home support for the USA at Hazeltine crossed a line on occasions, with Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia targeted for most of the verbal abuse that came from outside the ropes.<\/p>\n
At one point of his afternoon fourballs on the second day\u2019s afternoon fourballs sessions, McIlroy \u2013 who partnered Thomas Pieters to a 3&1 win over Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson \u2013 requested marshals to remove a spectator from the course due to the level of abuse hurled his way.<\/p>\n
![\"Rory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/LGGP57Q2LWVJHBX3LZGC3H4TYM.jpg\")
Rory McIlroy gestures to the crowd during his singles match against Patrick Reed at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. Photograph: Jerry Holt\/Getty Images <\/p>\n
\u201cI think there have been some boundaries crossed. I let it get to me a couple of times which I probably shouldn\u2019t have … someone just said a few derogatory things I thought were over the line,\u201d admitted McIlroy. \u201cThat particular guy, who is obviously in a very small minority, just took it a bit too far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of the final day\u2019s play, the PGA of America issued a statement insisting on \u201czero tolerance\u201d for spectators who stepped over the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are encouraging all spectators on Sunday to be passionate and support their team in a way that is respectful to those around them, the players, and the Ryder Cup. Our security staff will continue to enforce a zero-tolerance policy, removing from the course any fans who are disruptive in any way, including the use of vulgar or profane language directed at the players.\u201d<\/p>\n
The USA defeated Europe by 17-11, with the Americans dominant in the final day\u2019s singles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1991, Kiawah Island, South Carolina Yep, the one that truly brought a nasty edge to the Ryder Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,25024,105],"class_list":["post-28838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-ryder-cup","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}