Team Europe star Matt Fitzpatrick was heckled by American fans while struggling on Bethpage Black – in a telling sign of what may be in store over the next few days.
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.
Luke Donald’s team have seemingly adopted the approach of establishing a rapport with fans notorious in golf for their partisan volatility – however it isn’t foolproof.
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.
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!’
Team Europe star Matt Fitzpatrick was heckled by fans during a practice round at Bethpage
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.’
Then asked which Ryder Cup teammate he’d like to see lose their emotions, he said: ‘I would love to see Cam Young just throw a massive fist pump in someone’s face.’
There have already been echoes this week of the tactics employed by Europe’s 2004 Ryder Cup captain, Bernhard Langer, at Oakland Hills, outside Detroit, where 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.
Collin Morikawa has called on the New York crowds to cause ‘absolute chaos’ at the Ryder Cup
The European team have been drawing from that playbook here as the build-up to Friday’s start gathers pace. On Tuesday, a long line of European players walked slowly up the slope between the 17th green and the 18th tee, signing scores of flags and pictures.
Justin Rose even heeded the entreaties of a bare-chested and well-refreshed American fan who begged him to sign his shirt. Rory McIlroy spent so long signing autographs for kids that he had to run up the last bit of the slope so as not to keep his playing partners waiting.
Tommy Fleetwood maintained the conciliatory, flattering tone when he was asked about the home fans on Wednesday morning. ‘Everybody was amazing yesterday,’ he said. ‘The job of the home crowd is to support the home team. You wouldn’t hold anything against anybody in that way.
‘But yesterday they were amazing. They were very supportive of us, and it’s important.
