An emotional Rory McIlroy opened up on the abuse he received during the Ryder Cup after Europe secured a famous win in New York. The 15-13 success for the visitors at Bethpage Black came against the backdrop of awful spectator behaviour, largely towards European players and their families. McIlroy confirmed his wife, Erica, was hit by a beer that was thrown during Saturday afternoon’s play [my emphasis].
“I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf,” said McIlroy. “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.
Clearly, such lessons are lost on MAGATS far and wide, but McIlroy had reason to be mightily vexed, given the assault on his wife, Erica McIlroy:
Shane Lowry, McIlroy’s close friend, added: “I was out there for two days with Erica McIlroy and the amount of abuse that she received was astonishing. The way she was out there supporting her husband and supporting her team was unbelievable.”
That such savage behaviour took place is but another confirmation of an ugly American national character emboldened by Trump, according to Bryan Armen Graham.
What crept in on Saturday was different: insults aimed at players’ wives, homophobic slurs, cheap shots at McIlroy’s nationality dripping with tiresome stereotypes....
The change, Graham suggests, coincided with Trump's arrival at the Ryder Cup, compounded by the strength shown by Europe's team, always deemed an inferior entity in TrumpWorld.
Add the optics of Donald Trump’s fly-in on Friday – fist bumps, photo-ops, galleries dotted with Maga hats and a certain politics of humiliation playing to its base – and the swagger slid easily into license.
Given the guest of honor’s [i.e., Trump] well-known aversion to losing gracefully, it was hardly a shock that the worst behavior broke out just as America’s chances were slipping away. But the tournament’s response to the ugly crowd conduct on Saturday was woeful. Extra security and a phalanx of New York state troopers materialized around McIlroy’s match at the turn. A couple of spectators were ejected near the main grandstands. The PGA of America said it bolstered policing and pushed more frequent spectator etiquette messages on the big screens. Fine, as far as it goes. But once a thousand people have decided a backswing is their cue, you can’t manage it with a graphic and a frown. Enforcement has to be swift, visible and consequential or it becomes permission by another name.
The rowdy, disrespectful fans at the Ryder Cup disgraced both themselves and their country.
I'm sure they saw it as exactly the opposite, certain that they were reaffirming American pride and honour.
Such a deluded, benighted people.
