Rory McIlroy has hailed his wife Erica Stoll for her “class and dignity” after a USA fan threw a drink over her before Europe claimed a famous Ryder Cup victory.
The Irishman was targeted with abuse throughout a chaotic day two in a fourballs match alongside Shane Lowry on Saturday at Bethpage Black.
And a video surfaced online of McIlroy consoling his wife and wiping the top of her hat with Luke Donald hitting out at American fans for “crossing a line”.
“It should be off-limits, but obviously it wasn’t this week,” McIlroy said after a 15-13 win over Keegan Bradley’s side.
“Erica is fine. She’s a very, very strong woman. You know, she handled everything this week with class and poise and dignity like she always has. I love her and we’re going to have a good time celebrating tonight.”
McIlroy’s teammate Justin Rose then praised McIlroy’s wife for her “strength” in supporting the grand slam winner this week in New York.
“Can I just pick up on that, if you don’t mind, because I actually had no idea that Erica had a beer thrown at her yesterday, so fair play to Erica,” Rose added.
“She didn’t bring that to the team room. We didn’t make that a big deal. That’s news to me. That says a lot about the strength of Erica and everybody on this team.”
While Lowry also chimed in and revealed the extend of the abuse directed at the American throughout the week.
“I was out there for two days with Erica McIlroy, and the amount of abuse that she received was astonishing and the way she was out there supporting her husband and supporting her team was unbelievable, and kudos to her for that,” Lowry said, having holed the putt to retain the cup.
McIlroy also revelled in how Europe “shut a lot of people up” with their away victory, the fifth time a European team has managed to succeed on away soil.
“It’s incredible, you think about the last away Ryder Cup what people were saying, decades of American dominance, to be able to do what we’ve done, in Rome and here, it shut a lot of people up,” McIlroy added.
“It’s surreal, it’s full of European singing, so proud to be part of this team, so proud of Luke. It’s been one massive collective effort, once we won in Rome, we turned out attention to this, we have the blueprint for a home Ryder Cup, what do we have to do differently in an away one.
“We did thew right thing and have the right people, so proud of everyone. It’s been a really tough week, I’ve felt I didn’t have much today, Scottie didn’t have much either, we weren’t at our best. The golf could’ve been better. But when you win the Ryder Cup, it’s not about you it’s about the team.
“I made my dreams come true at Augusta, then to do what we’ve done, there’s not going to be, unless I repeat at some point, I don’t think there will be a better year in my golfing career.”
