By Johnny Morton

Copyright newsletter

While members of Team Europe were on the receiving end of insults from the crowd, McIlroy was the main target with extra security required for his fourballs match alongside Shane Lowry on Saturday evening. McIlroy’s wife Erica had beer thrown in her direction and the Northern Irishman was forced to back away from multiple shots across the weekend due to chants, leading him to call out ‘shut the f**k up’ at one stage. The 36-year-old ultimately contributed 3.5 points to Europe’s 15-13 victory at Bethpage Black, lifting his sixth Ryder Cup crown as Luke Donald’s side became the first to win on American soil since 2012. McIlroy was clear the levels of abuse shouldn’t be accepted and called for higher standards from European fans when the competition is held at Adare Manor in 2027. “I talked a little to Paul McGinley last night,” said Sprague on Golf Channel. “I haven’t spoken to Rory or Erica; I do plan on sending them an e-mail with my heartfelt apologies because of what occurred. “There’s no place for that in the Ryder Cup or the game of golf. I heard Rory say it, we’re better than that in golf. “That’s one thing our game has always portrayed when you compare us to other sports is that golf is a great game and people enjoy the game because of the values that golf has. “I can’t wait to reach out to Rory and Erica, and really the entire European team. Rory might have been a target because of how good he is, but the entire European team should not have been subjected to that. “I feel badly, and I plan on apologising to them.” The PGA of America have been criticised for how they dealt with abusive fans while comments from president Don Rea were slammed after he suggested the scene in New York was similar to Italy two years ago. “We reacted to fan behaviour, including removing a number of fans from the event or moving them away from players they were abusing,” added Sprague. “We dealt with it swiftly and efficiently as it was made known to us. “Certainly, it’s not the values of the PGA of America or our 30,000 PGA golf professionals who work every day in this game to bring joy and laughter and fun to golf. “Certainly, we did not witness that, there’s no place for that at the Ryder Cup, no place for it in the game of golf and we are not happy with what happened last week.”