A fashion faux pas has left fans of Team USA bemused after a golfer depicted on their official Ryder Cup merchandise appeared to bear a striking resemblance to Rory McIlroy.

The Ralph Lauren T-shirt, which costs $65 (£48) on the Ryder Cup website, features what is described as a “bold golfer graphic” behind the words “USA Ryder Cup 2025” before this month’s biennial match at Bethpage Black in New York.

However, the figure used in the design is remarkably similar to McIlroy’s signature finish with his driver, with many convinced it is indeed the Northern Irishman and Team Europe talisman. The picture quickly did the rounds on social media, even if McIlroy himself was nonplussed by the controversy and suggested the image looked more like Australia’s Adam Scott.

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Ralph Lauren is the official outfitter of Keegan Bradley’s side, although none of the merchandise released on the Ryder Cup website appears to bear silhouettes of their own players, prompting jokes that the Americans would have demanded image-rights payments.

The USA players will be paid £400,000 each to participate in this year’s Ryder Cup, for the first time in the competition’s history, of which £240,000 will be donated to charity. That landmark follows the pandemonium that engulfed the match in Rome in 2023, when Patrick Cantlay decided not to wear a hat, apparently in protest against the PGA of America.

Eleven members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team are competing at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this week and will have a bonding dinner with the captain, Luke Donald, on Tuesday evening.

McIlroy appears to be returning to peak form at the perfect time, too, after winning the Irish Open in such dramatic fashion on Sunday.

The 36-year-old Masters champion received a raucous reception all week after bringing the Green Jacket to the K Club, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2006, and holed a tremendous eagle putt on the 18th hole in the final round to force a play-off, which he won on the third hole against Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren.

Ralph Lauren and the PGA of America have been approached for comment.