Several wives and partners of Team Europe stars faced hostile treatment from Ryder Cup fans at Bethpage Black, with Erica Stoll bearing the brunt of some particularly vicious abuse. Prior to the Ryder Cup, a number of Team USA players had urged spectators to create a raucous atmosphere to aid America’s bid to defeat their European rivals.
While the tournament brought varying levels of energy from the crowd, there were several instances when spectators overstepped the mark with their behaviour. Most notably, Stoll, who is married to Rory McIlroy, was subjected to repeated abuse from fans, including having a drink thrown at her while walking alongside the PGA Tour star. Another player, Tyrrell Hatton has now revealed the ordeal his family and others endured, as well as detailing the conversations that took place behind the scenes.
“I think ultimately that was their choice,” Hatton said. “I think that we all knew that our wives and family would be walking around and, all of a sudden, if you don’t see them there, then you’d be like: Well, what’s happened?
“So there it was in place that, if Emily [Hatton] wanted to go in, if she wasn’t happy with what she’d heard or anything had upset her or whatever and she wanted to go in, then someone would have let me know. Just because I’d be like: ‘Well, what’s happened, where’s she gone?’
“It was all on the individual basis of what guys wanted and, for me, if Emily wanted to go in, then sure I’d miss her. I didn’t want to have my attention lost on, well, where’s Emily gone? So that was just something that I talked about with [Team Europe captain Luke Donald].”
As for Hatton’s family, he admitted that they escaped the abuse, despite the wives and girlfriends of his team-mates receiving more hostile treatment. “Thankfully for me and Emily and my family, I didn’t hear anything that was directed towards them,” the 33-year-old added.
“I know a few of the other guys have experienced that and that’s a shame. I guess it’s unfortunate. I think people just forget that you are also just normal people at the end of the day and everyone has family and stuff walking around, so it’s not nice for anyone to hear that stuff.
“But those guys did an unbelievable job in how they performed and how family dealt with everything as well as we did.” Hatton also explained how he had been targeted by the crowd’s taunts throughout the weekend, though the LIV Golf star said he tried his utmost to ignore the comments.
“Well I think most of the people in New York have commented on my height and receding hairline, so that was most of the stuff that I had to listen to and whatever, or being called a sellout,” he continued. “But at the end of the day, it’s words. I feel like I personally did a really good job, certainly Friday and Saturday, of not really reacting to anything.
“I’d say I struggled a bit more yesterday, just with all of a sudden you’re back to being an individual for the day and a little bit more pressure on the line and I probably struggled to control my emotions throughout the round. I think that was just heightened by everything that was going on.”
