Friday, there was a finger.
Saturday, there was a silencer. Two of them actually.
Before both was some noise, though, and that was to be expected at this week’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Long Island. By itself, the event is contentious. But mix in passionate New Yawkers, and things would likely be said, to put it nicely. Europe’s Rory McIlroy seemingly knew he’d be a target, as he’d been one in previous road Ryder Cups. Ahead of this year’s event, he talked about the balance a player needs between blocking chatter out and chattering back when they’re away from home.
“I feel at times in the Ryder Cup, I have engaged too much with that, too much with the crowd,” McIlroy said. “But then there’s times where I haven’t engaged enough. So it’s really just trying to find the balance of using that energy from the crowd to fuel your performance.
“I felt like at Hazeltine [at the 2016 Ryder Cup], I probably engaged too much at times, and then Whistling Straits [at the Ryder Cup in 2021], I didn’t engage enough and felt pretty flat because of it. It’s just trying to find that balance.
“I can’t tell anyone on the team what that balance is. They really have to find it themselves. But that’s the challenge of playing away, right. You’re not just trying to perform to your best level, but someone in the American team holes a putt, and then you have to try to follow them in. But you know, you’ve got the crowd going crazy and you’re waiting for them to quiet. There’s a lot of little things like that that I guess takes you out of your normal routine that you just have to deal with, and that’s part of the challenge of this week.”
Then came Friday afternoon, during four-ball play. McIlroy walked off the 11th green. He looked toward his left. He extended a finger.
Then came Saturday.
On the 16th hole, McIlroy and partner Tommy Fleetwood led 2-up in their foursomes match against Americans Collin Morikawa and Harris English, and the latter had just knocked an iron close on the par-4. McIlroy then started to settle over a 149-yard shot from the right rough. As he did, a nearby fan shouted, “Freeeeedom.” Another fan said something more. Both cries were picked up by nearby TV mics. The words were enough for McIlroy. He backed away from his ball, looked toward his right and yelled:
“Guys, shut the f**k up.”
On the NBC broadcast, the analysts also had words.
Said analyst Notah Begay: “Oh my goodness, wow. The first sign of the crowd getting to Rory.”
Said analyst Curt Byrum, who’d been walking with the group: “They’ve been after him all day. I think he’s kept his cool pretty well.”
Said Begay: “Oh, he absolutely has. I mean, they’ve been on him from the start.”
A short while later, though, the match ended.
After his five-word sentence, McIlroy stepped back, took a practice swing, then returned to his ball. He stood over it for 11 seconds. He hit. He started walking toward the hole.
His ball finished 3 feet away from it.
A silencer.
Said analyst Nick Faldo on the NBC broadcast: “Is that incredible?”
From there, Morikawa missed a birdie putt in the alternate-shot format, Fleetwood made his, and the match was over, 3 and 2.
And the gallery clapped.
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