The veteran Sky Sports golf commentator Ewen Murray says he has made the decision to hang up his microphone after witnessing the “disgraceful” abuse suffered by Rory McIlroy at last year’s Ryder Cup.
Murray, 71, has been the voice of golf on Sky Sports for 35 years, following his own playing career, and had not renewed his contract with the broadcaster – but he told the Sliced Podcast that the ugly scenes at Bethpage Black prompted him to bring forward his retirement.
McIlroy received an apology from the PGA of America after he and his wide Erica were the target of abuse during Europe’s Ryder Cup victory in September. A hostile atmosphere spilled over, with an MC forced to step down from her role after leading a chant of “F*** you, Rory!” and McIlroy’s wife Erica being struck by a can of beer thrown from the crowd.
“I heard stuff in that half-hour that I can’t repeat to you, it’s that bad,” Murray told the Sliced Podcast. “Not fired at Rory but at Rory’s family. I walked back and I thought, ‘Do you really need to be part of this any more?’
“And that’s when I decided to finish commentary. By the time I got on the plane on the Monday, I looked out over New York and thought it’s been a fantastic journey, but if that’s our future I really don’t want any part of it.”
Murray will still appear at next month’s Masters and will continue his role through to July’s Open and the Senior Open at Gleneagles. After the Ryder Cup, Murray said he felt his “time is probably up” but was persuaded to stay on for The Players and golf’s major championships.
“I just feel that after the Ryder Cup I lost a little bit of respect for the game. I was so disgusted at the stuff I heard,” he said. “I’ll never repeat it because it’s that bad. I just thought, ‘you’re 71 years of age, you’ve had a great kick of the ball’, as they say in Scotland. Now is maybe the time.
“I will be doing the Masters. I will do The Open and I may finish at the Seniors because my mother met my father at Gleneagles. My father was an assistant pro and my mother worked in the hotel. So I may finish there.
“We’ll see. As long as I’m still okay upstairs and still happy to do the preparation, the homework, the research. If I’m still able and happy to do that I may continue, but that’s the plan at the moment.”
