There’s heckling and banter and, then, there is verbal abuse, and Rory McIlroy was subjected to some outrageous personal brickbats which were aimed not just at him but also his wife during the morning foursomes of the second day’s play in this 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
At one point, McIlroy – who had gone out of his way to state his admiration for the United States before the match, citing that he had an American wife and an American daughter and lived in the country – was forced to back off his shot on the 16th, not for the first time of the round, and clearly exasperated, shouted: “Shut the f**k up!”
McIlroy quickly composed himself and stitched a brilliant approach from the light rough to a couple of feet, effectively closing out the match. It was the perfect riposte.
McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood indeed let their clubs do the real talking in maintaining their magnificent foursomes partnership with a 3&2 win over Collin Morikawa and Harris English for a second straight day, providing the first of Europe’s Saturday points.
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Europe had carried a 5 ½ to 2 ½ lead from the first day’s play into Saturday’s first and strengthened that advantage by taking the foursomes session by 3-1 (a repeat of the first day’s alternate shot session) to move into a 8 ½ to 3 ½ lead with two sessions (the Saturday four-balls and Sunday’s singles) remaining.
From the off, McIlroy was the player with a target on his back from a significant portion of the home support. His response on being introduced on the first tee to a chorus of boos and unacceptable abuse was to open up his arms wide in a playful manner.
But as he and Fleetwood conducted a masterclass to move four up on English and Morikawa through eight holes, the line was crossed time and time again, many of the barbs – personal in nature – coming as he prepared to make his swing.
Of the abused directed at him throughout, McIlroy said: “You have got to really focus on the task at hand. In the team format, you can stick together with your partner and it makes it a little bit easier.”
“I don’t mind them having a go at us, like that’s to be expected, that’s what an away Ryder Cup is. Whenever they are still doing it while you are over the ball and trying to hit your shot, that’s the tough thing. Look, in between shots, say whatever you want to me, that’s totally fine, but just (give) us the respect to let us hit shots, and give us the same chance that the Americans have.”
The McIlroy-Fleetwood pairing went 2-0 in Rome, which they have repeated here. “We had a great time in Rome and have been able to back that up this year. We just have to keep the foot down,” said McIlroy.
Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton also showcased their compatibility with a fine 3&2 win over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, one of the most important plays coming from a chip-in winning birdie from rough beside a greenside bunker on the eighth to edge them into a lead which was never relinquished.
And, concluding the session, Bob MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland brilliantly held off world number one Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley to win on the 18th.
The lone USA win came in the opening foursomes, where Bryson DeChambeau linked up with the impressive rookie Cameron Young for a 4&2 win over Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg.
