By Fasika Zelealem,Mark Whiley
Copyright belfastlive
A golf correspondent has provided a first-hand account of the shocking abuse directed at Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry during the Ryder Cup . Beyond Europe holding off a thrilling Team USA fightback to secure victory 15-13 and retain the trophy, the disgraceful behaviour of certain home supporters at Bethpage Black became the primary talking point from the 2025 tournament. European team members faced verbal assault and heckling both on and off the course, including whilst preparing to take shots. McIlroy bore the brunt of it , with the Masters victor being singled out across all three days, whilst his American spouse, Erica Stoll, was hit by a thrown beer cup at the conclusion of day two. Sky Sports correspondent Jamie Weir was present in Long Island and was horrified by what he witnessed whilst following McIlroy and Lowry during Saturday’s fourballs, reports the Mirror . Whilst recognising it was a small but loud minority of spectators who crossed the line, Weir commented on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast : “They spoil it for everybody. I walked with Shane and Rory, and it was disgusting. You couldn’t repeat on this podcast what I heard.” Weir also criticised Keegan Bradley’s failure to denounce the conduct of supporters who delivered the abuse. When questioned about the matter, the US captain stated at the close of day two: “I thought the fans were passionate. I mean, their home team is getting beat bad. “You know, they are passionate fans. I wasn’t at Rome, but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well. But the fans of New York, from what I have seen, have been pretty good. “You’re always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that’s unfortunate. I was happy to see our players trying to quiet down some people that were like that [Justin Thomas sportingly appealed for quiet when McIlroy was standing over a putt at one point].” Weir responded: “What a strange thing to do [say it was violent in Rome]. I was in Rome, and it certainly wasn’t violent. As a captain, you have a responsibility to immediately condemn that.” Meanwhile, Sky Sports pundit and former US PGA Championship winner Rich Beem suggested the PGA of America should accept some fault for not taking greater action. He commented: “The PGA of America knew what they were going to get by coming to this venue. Why didn’t they put some plain-clothes security walking amongst the fans, trying to do their best to calm some of them down? “You can’t control all of it, it is going to happen no matter what, but again, why didn’t the PGA of America recognise that and have people out in the crowd? They did at Hazeltine [for the 2016 Ryder Cup]. It was getting a bit chirpy on the Saturday afternoon. “They put an abundance of people out in the crowd, and as soon as they heard something, they were gone. The first word out of their mouth that was sideways, abusive, they were gone.”
