In the aftermath of the Ryder Cup matches this past weekend at Bethpage Black on Long Island, New York, in which Team Europe defeated Team USA 15 points to 13 points, some European pros complained about misbehavior of the fans. It was especially five time major winner Rory McIlroy of Ireland who complained about it, and rightly so. Several times fans yelled expletives at Rory and other Europeans pros. They yelled derogatory things to Rory's wife Erica, even throwing beer on her, thereby making her cry. There was constant vulgar language. Rory's playing partner and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry had to be restrained twice as he charged at fans in the stands to get in fights. McIlroy marred his response just a little by yelling the F-word back at fans repeatedly. Videos have shown some of it.
The turmoil started off on Saturday when the PGA of America -- who owns half of this event and runs it when played in the USA -- had female comedian Heather McMahan involved in teeing the teams off on the first hole. When Rory McIlroy came to the first tee, McMahan organized spectators in the grandstands to join her in a chant yelling "F -- you, Rory," which they did. She soon received so much pushback for it that the next day she apologized and resigned her volunteer duty. Such antics were so unbecoming of the professional game of golf. And it certainly cast a bad light on the PGA of America and the United States in general since this is such an international highlight in all of professional sports.
In the press conference after the event ended on Sunday, Rory spoke like a true diplomat by saying, "I don't think we should ever accept that in golf. I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people."
Rory continued, "Sometimes this week we didn't see that. So no, this should not be what is acceptable in the Ryder Cup. But, you know, we will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable."
New York sports fans, if not in the Northeast in general, have a reputation for getting too rowdy and hurling bad language. The PGA of America knew this. Thus, it is now being criticized for holding the event there. Retired superstar Tom Watson cast his judgment about it by saying in a social media post, " I'd like to apologize for the rude and mean-spirited behavior from our American crowd at Bethpage. As a former player, captain and as an American, I am ashamed of what happened." Good for you, Tom.
Also retired and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw chimed in by saying, "The PGA [of America] needs to do a better job with security."
The head of the PGA of America is coming under increasing criticism for his response to the matter or lack thereof. Don Rea is the volunteer president of the host -- the PGA of American. He is the owner/operator of the Augusta Ranch Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, not far from where I live, in Scottsdale.
In the victory presentation, Rea never mentioned the fan misbehavior and thus provided no apology to the winner Team Europe. When asked about it afterwards by BBC Sport he replied, "Well, you've got 50,000 people here that are really excited." That's an ill response! You should have been ejecting misbehaving fans left and right!
Sometimes this weekend, fans yelled things, often including expletives, when the European pros were addressing their shots, causing them to have to back off and regain their composure. That is totally unacceptable in golf, the so-called "gentleman's game." Mr. Rea countered that it was as bad at Rome two years ago, thus against the American pros. But there seems to be agreement that Rome wasn't nearly as bad as this weekend.
The PGA of America is an organization of over 30,000 club pros whereas the PGA Tour consists of 200-300 professional golfers who make their living playing golf tournaments administered by the PGA Tour. So, they are two separate organizations. But they didn't used to be, when I started the Tour in 1964. Back then, the PGA of American administered the Tour. Then we Tour players rebelled against what we deemed poor and discriminating administration of our Tour.
I was involved in the leadership of this breakaway. Both sides had our lawyers, and it looked like there was going to be a split resulting in two pro golf tours. It was the worst trouble the (PGA) Tour has ever had until this current problem with LIV Golf. Leaders of the PGA of America said some seriously unkind things about us, including some directed at Jack Nicklaus, and it reminds me a little of this episode. But fortunately, it ended well with us having our own organization and calling it "the PGA Tour." I devote a chapter about it in my new book entitled Christ on the PGA Tour (1965-1982), available at amazon.com.