A Ryder Cup fan risked the wrath of Team Europe’s stars after heckling Rory McIlroy in front of them all during Thursday’s practice.
There’s been plenty of talk surrounding the impact that the home crowd may have when Team Europe’s stars take to the course in Long Island, New York this weekend.
A few of Europe’s stars – such as Jon Rahm and Matt Fitzpatrick – have already been targeted by American fans, in videos that have since gone viral.
On Thursday, it was McIlroy’s turn. As Team Europe took to the practice round, the Northern Irishman was seen standing alongside his teammates during a hole.
In a video that went viral online, McIlroy was seen, seemingly, attempting to do his top button up on his t-shirt.
As he did so, a fan cried out: ‘You don’t need a button to choke Rory!’
A fan heckled Rory McIlroy during the practice round at Bethpage Black on Thursday
Thankfully for the supporter – who had an American accent – McIlroy saw the funny side to the comment and began laughing along with the joke.
As the crowd and his teammates also broke into laughter, McIlroy continued nodding his head and seemed to mouth: ‘That’s a good one!’.
The fan could even be heard saying ‘Thank you’ as McIlroy chuckled away.
Luke Donald’s team have reportedly adopted the approach of establishing a rapport with heckling fans and have been encouraged to laugh along with them rather than retaliate.
There have already been echoes of the tactics employed by Europe’s 2004 Ryder Cup captain, Bernhard Langer, at Oakland Hills, outside Detroit.
He encouraged polarising stars like Colin Montgomerie to draw the sting of the galleries with positive interaction rather than trying to inflame them with rhetoric.
On Tuesday, Matt Fitzpatrick was heckled by American fans while struggling on to chip in from the rough on Bethpage Black.
During Wednesday’s practice round, Europe star Fitzpatrick was seen struggling to chip onto the green from the rough – much to the delight of the American fans.
Team Europe star Matt Fitzpatrick was heckled by fans during a practice round at Bethpage
But if they do so, they’ll have to be a talented Team USA in front of a raucous crowd
In a video that has since gone viral on social media – which was captioned ‘D1 Trollers’ – they could be heard saying: ‘Fitzy, what’s going here brother’.
Another shouted out: ‘The green’s that way brother!’
After his failed attempts, Fitzpatrick turned around and flashed a smile at the fans, who were stood just a few feet away.
There’s been plenty of discourse around the potential impact that the fans could have over the weekend and, recently, Team USA star Collin Morikawa urged them to take it further.
He said: ‘I’ll be honest, I think it’s kind of tame so far, Tuesday and Wednesday. I know tomorrow is going to be pretty bad, but I hope Friday is just absolute chaos.
‘I’m all for it. I think it feeds into who we are and the American players and the American team. We want it.’
