Farmingdale (United States) (AFP) – United States captain Keegan Bradley defended raucous New York crowds that seemed to cross a sportsmanship line on Saturday in heckling Europe golfers at the Ryder Cup. Personal insults, profane remarks, and yelling to disrupt putts were among the things that pushed police to walk with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry during their four-ball victory. It didn’t prevent Europe from seizing a record 11.5-4.5 lead entering Sunday’s 12 concluding singles matches, the Americans a distant 10 points from reclaiming the trophy.
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, a six-time winner this year with two majors among them, was no help, making the first 0-4 pairs start by an American in Cup history. “I thought the fans were passionate,” Bradley said. “Their home team is getting beat bad. They are passionate fans. I wasn’t at Rome, but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well.”
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The fans of New York from what I have seen have been pretty good. You’re always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that’s unfortunate. I was happy to see our players trying to quiet down some people that were like that.” Bradley sees US futility as partly to blame. “Part of it our fault,” he said. “We’re not playing up to the standards they want to see, and they are angry, and they should be.” He said that amid Scheffler’s struggles, the world number one “has been the best teammate in our team room this week, without question.”
“This is tough. This is what happens in sports all the time,” Bradley said. “We’ve had some wacky stuff go on.” Bradley said he was proud players did not mope as the score grew more lopsided against them “and Scottie is at the top of that list.” Europe captain Luke Donald praised Scheffler while admitting this has not been his week. “I’ve the utmost respect for Scottie Scheffler,” Donald said. “He’s going to be one of the greatest players ever to play this game.”
“But yeah, it hasn’t been his time. Obviously match play, playing with a partner, it’s different. There are different scenarios. You have to rely a little bit on your partners, as well. It’s hard to do it all by yourself, but Scottie Scheffler is a champion.”
– ‘It’s doable’ – The Americans imposed the most lopsided victory in the current format on Europe in 2021 at Whistling Straits with a 19-9 triumph, but now face being on the wrong end of such a rout unless they can mount the greatest last-day comeback in Cup history.
“It’s doable,” American Sam Burns insisted. “Every guy has to go out and basically win a point. That’s our mission.” Bradley told players how he had attended the 2017 Super Bowl when NFL legend Tom Brady rallied New England from 28-3 down to win the title over Atlanta, the Patriots scoring the last 31 points.
He also appealed to their dreams. “My message was, if you were a 16-year-old kid and you were going to get to go play for your country in singles in New York at Bethpage Black, you would be so excited,” Bradley said. “Of course I want to go out there and make history tomorrow. They all do. But I think you’ve got to relish in the opportunity to get out on the course and play for your country.”
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