{"id":208565,"date":"2025-10-18T09:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/208565\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T09:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:56:09","slug":"golf-legend-slams-shambles-ryder-cup-worst-event-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/208565\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf legend slams “shambles” Ryder Cup: “Worst event in the world”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gary Player has become the latest legend of the sport to condemn the behaviour from some US fans at the 2025 Ryder Cup<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the United States threatening greatest comeback ever in the history of the biennial contest, Europe held on for a tight 15-13 away win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, sadly, the unruly behaviour from some US fans in the galleries at Bethpage Black in New York has become a huge talking point and the fallout is continuing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Masters champion Rory McIlroy<\/a>, who was the primary target for abuse, told reporters this week in India he wants to shift the narrative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Northern Irishman said he wanted the week to be remembered for Europe’s remarkable team performance.<\/p>\n

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McIlroy’s week at Bethpage included being on the receiving end of homophobic abuse, taunts over his personal life and marriage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were occasions where some shouted at the top of his backswing and on more than one occasion McIlroy snapped and swore at the guilty parties<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His wife was even struck by a beer and a first tee emcee, hired by the PGA of America to rev up the crowd, fanned the flames<\/a> when she repeated an “f— you, Rory” chant back to the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I look at it and I’m in a state of shock,” Player, now 90, told The Palm Beach Post.<\/p>\n

“I think, what would Ben Hogan have said, you know? What would Byron Nelson have said? What would Arnold Palmer [think]? If Arnold Palmer saw that today…<\/p>\n

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“I was disgusted. So to me, the Ryder Cup is a shambles.”<\/p>\n

Player, who is from South Africa and therefore was never able to play in the Ryder Cup, said that he generally enjoys the interaction between US and the European fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added: “I love the fact that they say ‘USA, USA.’ I love [how] the British respond in their way. I think that’s exciting.<\/p>\n

“But the Ryder Cup to me is the worst event in the world.<\/p>\n

“And to see [the PGA of America] hire a lady to stand on the tee \u2014 if you want to call her a lady \u2014 and saying ‘F you, Rory. F this European team.'”<\/p>\n

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Player also took issue with the president of the PGA of America, Don Rea, who initially refused to acknowledge the level of abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The PGA of America is the governing body that oversees the US arm of the Ryder Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rea compared the heckling to a teenage soccer game then later doubled down with a bizarre post on his personal LinkedIn page.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Footage from a hotel for players’ families also later showed Rea performing<\/a> karaoke – prompting accusations he wasn’t taking the situation seriously.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rea has since apologised to McIlroy and his wife.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Player added: “And then the head of the [PGA of America] says, what was so serious about it?<\/p>\n

“Golf has never been that. Golf has been a gentleman’s sport. So, and to see that, and to see the players using this ‘F’ word, I mean, the whole lot.”<\/p>\n

Player picked out two players for praise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was no surprise the nine-time major champ is a fan of Tommy Fleetwood and the top-ranked Scottie Scheffler.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both players have repeatedly been praised for their classy behaviour throughout their careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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What did Rory McIlroy say?<\/p>\n

McIlroy is playing a professional golf event in India this week for the very first time in his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his first news conference since the Ryder Cup, McIlroy called for a shift in the narrative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The unfortunate thing is people aren’t remembering that [performance] and they are remembering the week for the wrong reason,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I would like to shift the narrative and focus on how good the European team were and how proud I was to be part of that team to win an away Ryder Cup.”<\/p>\n

McIlroy, who contributed 3.5 points to Europe’s total, also confirmed that he would love to captain the team one day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But he doesn’t envisage that happening until at least 2035<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gary Player has become the latest legend of the sport to condemn the behaviour from some US fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[10274,5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-208565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-gary-player","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}