Scottish golfer Robert MacIntyre was subjected to mockery by foul-mouthed Ryder Cup fans on the opening day of the tournament.
The Team Europe star was paired with Viktor Hovland but the duo lost out to Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, denying their side a 4-0 morning whitewash.
MacIntyre and Hovland had done well to recover from three down after 11 holes to get the scores level, but as the Scot prepared for his tee shot on the 17th, the abuse from the crowd whipped up.
The 29-year-old pulled away from taking his shot as one American spectator shouted ‘you b***** w*****’ – not the most civil encouragement.
And that was only adding insult to injury, as he had already been told to ‘do some cardio’ and asked whether he had ‘ever been for a run’.
Perhaps the jibes were a response to his seemingly nonchalant attitude towards US president Donald Trump being attendance, who he called ‘just another spectator’.
Team Europe golfer Robert MacIntyre was subjected to rounds of abuse as he played
The 29-year-old Scot was called a ‘b***** w*****’ and told to ‘do some cardio’ by bystanders
He insisted that having Trump around, with all the added attention and security, was not going to take him off the straight and narrow.
‘It’s just another spectator,’ he said. ‘I just play golf.
‘I’m not bright enough, for one, to be worrying about politics. I’m worrying more about what goes on this week on the golf course.
‘As a European, we’ve got a job to do to try and compete as hard as we can and hopefully win the Ryder Cup.’
Recent history is certainly on Team Europe’s side as they have claimed five of the last seven Ryder Cup trophies.
MacIntyre certainly played his part in 2023’s triumph, going unbeaten in his maiden outing in Rome.
But he did not have the rub of the green this time around. The Americans closed out the 17th and 18th holes to win by two, leaving MacIntyre and Hovland to go back to the drawing board.
Europe had come close to completing their first-ever opening-session whitewash on American soil.
The other pairings of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, and Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick had all seen off their opponents to put Europe on the precipice of a new record.
But now they are left wondering whether the abusive distractions hurled as MacIntyre could have impacted their chances of completing a memorable morning.
