Within hours of Team Europe winning the 2025 Ryder Cup on Sunday, holding off a United States rally and withstanding verbal abuse from fans throughout the tournament, President Donald Trump responded to the Europeans’ celebratory chant and congratulated them on their victory.
The European players, led by Rory McIlroy, with the championship trophy hoisted in the shot, chanted, “Are you watching, are you watching Donald Trump?” in a video that surfaced on social media. Trump replied on his Truth Social account, saying, “Yes, I’m watching. Congratulations!”
European supporters were singing the same chant on the Bethpage course Sunday as they watched their team hold on for the dramatic victory. The Europeans clinched the Cup late in the afternoon when Shane Lowry drained a six-foot putt for the 14th point.
Trump’s remarks came after McIlroy’s comments Sunday, when he said the abuse from fans at the Ryder Cup “got to me a few times.”
“Look, I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf,” McIlroy said Sunday after Europe beat the United States 15-13. “I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. … It was a rough week for all of us.
“But at the same time, we shut them up by our performance and how we played, and we tried to. I chirped back a few times because it got to me a few times, but we tried to handle everything that came our way with class and poise, and for the most part, I felt like we did that.”
While playing with Lowry in the first match of the Saturday afternoon session at Bethpage Black, McIlroy repeatedly stepped away from his golf ball as spectators shouted obscenities and personal insults at the career Grand Slam winner. Then, the PGA of America and others involved in the match took control, sending at least 20 police officers to hole No. 10 in an attempt to deter the abuse.
McIlroy was involved in another confrontation with fans Saturday after someone threw a beer at his wife, Erica, while walking to the 17th green. A Team Europe official held back McIlroy, who checked on his wife, and then the couple walked away from the crowd.
McIlroy said abuse directed toward golfers’ families “should be off limits” and said his wife “handled everything this week with class and poise and dignity like she always has.”
Officials from Europe’s Ryder Cup team couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the Trump video.
Trump attended the Ryder Cup at Bethpage on Friday, watching both teams tee off from the first tee. He greeted Bryson DeChambeau before the American star teed off and birdied the first hole.
(Photo: Scott Taetsch / PGA of America via Getty Images)
