If Europe are to deliver a first Ryder Cup victory on American soil in 13 years, Rory McIlroy will undoubtedly have to play a major role.
This month’s contest at Bethpage in New York is one of the most hotly contested Ryder Cups in years, with Team Europe arguably the stronger team on paper as they prepare for an away Ryder Cup in front of a capacity crowd for the first time since 2016.
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It’s well known that the partisan home American support has posed problems for European Ryder Cup teams in the past.
The scenes at the conclusion of the 1999 edition at Brookline rests among the most infamous in sporting history, with American fans heckling European players and a controversial finish to the decisive singles game.
That attitude towards the visitors has become somewhat prevalent at Stateside Ryder Cups, and has led Team Europe to take drastic measures to prepare their 12 players for the hostile reception likely waiting for them in New York.
As Rory McIlroy and his teammates prepare using VR headsets that will simulate some of the abuse they may face from American fans, former Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington has revealed that the Grand Slam champion was so rattled by said abuse that he entered the crowd in 2016.
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Padraig Harrington recalls frosty Rory McIlroy moment at 2016 Ryder Cup
It’s no secret that Rory McIlroy was especially riled up for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine in Minnesota.
McIlroy won three of five games across the weekend, with his singles match against Patrick Reed living long in the memory. The enduring image of McIlroy from that Ryder Cup is him repeatedly giving it large to the vocal American support, and reports at the time revealed that he had asked for one particularly abusive fan to be ejected on the Saturday afternoon.
Alongside him during that fourballs session was vice captain Padraig Harrington, who revealed on the Indo Sport podcast this week that he had been left with a dilemma of whether to join McIlroy in confronting said fan.
You’re bringing it to mind, I was walking with Rory at Hazeltine.
Somebody said something pretty abusive to him in the crowd, a couple of times, I think. They said it at the crosswalk so he went across, into the ropes to go after him.
I’m standing behind him and all I’m thinking is, ‘If he goes in there, I have to go in there! And the two of us are going to be throwing handbags for something…’
It was one of those ones, you know where your friend is posturing and you’re behind him thinking, ‘Oh no, just somehow back out of this quietly!’
We don’t want to see any of that.
McIlroy has certainly become a far more popular figure with American fans in the nine years since that hot-headed weekend at Hazeltine, but Team Europe are taking no chances in their preparations this time around.
Harrington went on to say that he was open to the idea of the VR headsets to prepare the European players, but suggested the atmosphere within the team was more important.
Counting on his experience of captaincy in 2021, Harrington said that keeping the minds of the players clear was the most important thing.
If players on these VR headsets can get their head around that what these people are saying and doing doesn’t necessarily reflect them…you kind of have to put it in a category.
If they were at a soccer match, they would hear the same and worse. They’d be sitting there, they mightn’t be doing it themselves, but they might be laughing at other people doing it.
I think the VR headsets could be a good thing to condition them…dealing with it is really important.
One of the things I really wanted at my one…remember it’s the players and their families, it’s not just the players. The families can get abused and that simmers behind the scenes. One of the things I made sure of with mine was that anyone with wives, families, physios, trainers, whatever it is…if they’re getting abused, bring it to us, tell us about it.
Don’t be telling your other wives or other friends, because then it becomes a bit of a group of four or five people thinking it’s against them.
They have an outlet to get rid of it.
Despite the measures being taken by Team Europe to prepare for prospective European abuse, there is every chance they could thrive under the prickly conditions.
In Rome in 2023, Rory McIlroy infamously clashed with Patrick Cantlay on the Friday evening, before returning for the weekend and winning two from three as Europe dominated proceedings.
“Some players can play well,” Harrington said.
“It’s like having an angry emotion. We’ve seen people get angry on the golf course, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
“The key here is, if I was down in a match, I’d love somebody to shout something bad at me and make me angry. I’m losing the match, I want things to change. If I’m up in a match, I don’t want to change anything in the match at that stage, I want to keep the emotions the exact same.”
It’s set to be an absolute belter at Bethpage. Bring it on.
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