Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley has become the latest to weigh on the behaviour of some US fans at the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Europe’s dramatic 15-13 away victory at Bethpage Black in New York last month came amid torrents of verbal abuse from the home crowd.
Masters champion and European talisman Rory McIlroy was the primary target and his wife Erica was even struck by a drinks cup thrown from the stands.
McIlroy, who lost his temper more than once during the biennial clash, later said what transpired was “unacceptable”.
The week saw McIlroy on the receiving end of homophobic slurs and comments about his private life.
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A first tee emcee, hired by the PGA of America to rev up the home crowd, was also forced to resign from her role after repeating an “f— you, Rory” chant back to the crowd.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley
American golf legend Tom Watson said he was “ashamed” of the “rude and mean-spirited behaviour”.
Some US players, such as Collin Morikawa, conceded that a line was crossed – although the golfer denied that his comments about wanting the crowd to “create chaos” fanned the flames before a ball was struck.
Xander Schauffele also acknowledged that unsavoury things were said, including to himself.
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European great Tony Jacklin also chose not to mince his words.
Ridley, chairman of Augusta National golf club, unsurprisingly took a diplomatic view when he was asked about the situation at this week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship. The winner of the tournament gets a tee time at the 2026 Masters.
He shared McIlroy’s view that the game should be held to a higher standard.
“I don’t think anyone was particularly happy with what happened this year,” he said.
“It reminds us, as custodians of the game, the responsibility we have to perpetuate [golf’s] underlying values.”
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What did Rory McIlroy say?
McIlroy was asked during the Ryder Cup whether a line was being crossed.
During his foursomes match with Tommy Fleetwood against Harris English and the aforementioned Morikawa, the Northern Irishman stepped away from his second shot on the 16th hole after being heckled.
He told the unruly fan to ‘STFU’ before firing a dart to a few feet.
Fleetwood holed the putt to close out the match and McIlroy later said the moment was “very f—ing satisfying”.
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He told reporters that evening that it wasn’t for him to say whether the behaviour was unacceptable.
But he opened up on the subject in Europe’s winning news conference, saying that verbal abuse should be “off-limits”.
“Golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week,” he said.
“Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette.
“It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people.
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“Sometimes this week we didn’t see that. So no, this should not be acceptable in the Ryder Cup.
“We will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable.”
He added: “I chirped back 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.
“It was a rough week for all of us. But at the same time, we shut them up by our performance.”
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