According to a report, the European Ryder Cup team were heavily considering temporarily stopping play in the wake of constant fan abuse at Bethpage Black last week.
Europe became the first team since Medinah 2012 to win an away Ryder Cup with the continent achieving that feat for just the fifth time in the contest’s history as they held off a late Sunday comeback from the Americans.
Their success was overshadowed by constant vile abuse from a large portion of US fans in New York with Rory McIlroy and his wife Erica taking most of it including a fan hurling a drink at Erica in the aftermatch of the Saturday fourballs.
Security forces were brought in last Saturday afternoon while some American players pleaded with the crowd to simmer down while McIlroy was taking his shots.
Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre and Matthew Fitzpatrick also suffered vile comments about their appearances throughout the week and The Telegraph reports that Luke Donald’s charges almost downed tools in the wake of such abhorrent behaviour.
A source told the paper: “Luke was and the team were so well prepared that they’d discussed what red lines would be and the conclusion was if the fans purposely put a player off during execution of shots then that was a probable reason to temporarily stop play until order was restored.
“I would much prefer it to be a respectful atmosphere – you let the guys play and the best team wins, rather than trying to affect the outcome by trying to put off players.
“But I don’t think it will be as hostile (in 2027) as maybe as it was last week. I would like to think that it will be very respectful.”
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