How did the unruly scenes at Bethpage compare to previous Ryder Cup controversies?

The 2025 Ryder Cup will, sadly, be remembered for events off the course as much as the exhilarating play at Bethpage Black.

In an ideal world, nothing would distract any golf fan from looking back at last week with fond memories that were 100% related to golf.

And there were plenty of them.

Europe winning on away soil, the USA’s stunning fightback in the singles, Justin Rose walking in putts for fun and Shane Lowry’s dance of delight on the 18th green after he secured the 14th point were just a few examples of the positives.

Unfortunately, the 45th edition of The Ryder Cup was often overshadowed by the unruly behaviour in the crowd, a subject that has had thousands of column inches devoted to across all media platforms.

Rory McIlroy was a particular target as well as his wife, and according to a report by Telegraph Sport, Team Europe were reportedly extremely close to taking unprecedented action by downing tools.

But how did the unsavoury side of last week’s action compare to previous incidents at the Ryder Cup? GolfMagic has listed a few of the more notorious moments below, so you can judge for yourself:

Battle of Brookline, 1999

The fans in Boston were, at times, just as unpleasant as those in New York as Team USA hit back from 10-6 down to snatch victory away from Mark James’ side at Brookline.

Colin Montgomerie was the McIlroy figure back then as the Scot took the brunt of the abuse, and even his father had to leave the course after also being targeted.

Monty was grateful to singles opponent Payne Stewart for doing everything in his power to restore calm and have a number of offenders removed from the property.

And in the latter stages of the final day, one of the most infamous incidents in Ryder Cup history took place on the 17th green as Justin Leonard’s 45-foot birdie putt caused pandemonium.

Team-mates, caddies, wives and backroom staff charged across the green to embrace Leonard, disregarding the fact that Jose Maria Olazabal still had a putt to keep Europe in the contest.

“Most disgraceful thing I’ve ever seen,” said Sam Torrance. Most of Europe agreed.

Azinger whips up the home fans, 2008

Team USA captain Paul Azinger raised a few eyebrows on the eve of the Ryder Cup at Valhalla, holding a “pep rally” as he looked for frenzied support for his side following back-to-back heavy defeats.

He encouraged the home supporters to cheer loudly whenever a European player missed a putt, but Lee Westwood felt the rally served to incite yobbish behaviour during the competition.

It proved a tough week for Westwood as he claimed he was abused “from start to finish”. He did not give specific details about what was said, although he did admit that one comment was a “particularly nasty reference to my mother”.

His parents had also been rudely awakened by a prank call at 4:30am, and Westwood blamed Azinger for the poor behaviour among the Kentucky crowd.

“That’s not the way golf’s played, that’s what separates golf from every other sport,” said Westwood, while Ian Poulter revealed the contest had been a “rough week” for all the players.

Phil Mickelson throws Tom Watson under the bus, 2014

The Ryder Cup at Gleneagles was under the spotlight for angry behaviour among the US team, rather than the fans.

At the post-tournament press conferences, it is traditional for both captains to say how proud they are of all their players, who reciprocate by declaring what a fantastic leader they had.

After another heavy defeat in Scotland, Phil Mickelson was in no mood for diplomacy, and he made his feelings abundantly clear with captain Tom Watson sat at the same table.

Mickelson was clearly frustrated that Watson did not implement any of the strategies that had worked so successfully for Paul Azinger six years previously, included the much-vaunted “pod system”.

“There were two things that allowed us to play our best that Paul Azinger did,” said a clearly-frustrated Mickelson. “He got everybody invested in the process, he got everybody invested in who they were going to play with, who the picks were going to be, who was going to be in their pod, when they would play, and they had a great leader for each pod.

"The other thing that Paul did really well was he had a great game plan for us; how we were going to go about doing this, how we were going to go about playing together, if so-and-so is playing well, if so-and-so is not playing well - we had a real game plan.

"Unfortunately we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the last three Ryder Cups and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best."

Watson’s expression was telling, and one of the legends of the game garnered worldwide sympathy while Mickelson was lambasted for the timing of his outburst.

The Pete Willett article, 2016

It’s not just the US who have been guilty of poor behaviour and rude comments, and an article by Danny Willett’s brother ahead of the clash at Hazeltine caused huge issues for the European camp and their captain, Darren Clarke.

Pete Willett wrote a magazine blog that was published shortly after the death of The King, Arnold Palmer. American sports fans were in mourning, and then they were reading Willett describing them as “cretins” and “a baying mob of imbeciles”.

And it got worse!

“Europe need to silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling, irritants, stuffed on cookie dough and pissy beer, pausing between mouthfuls of hotdog so they can scream ‘Baba booey’ until their jelly faces turn red.

“They need to stun the angry, unwashed, Make America Great Again swarm, desperately gripping their concealed-carry compensators and belting out a mini-erection inducing ‘mashed potato,’ hoping to impress their cousin.

“They need to smash the obnoxious dads, with their shiny teeth, Lego man hair, medicated ex-wives, and resentful children. Squeezed into their cargo shorts and boating shoes, they’ll bellow ‘get in the hole’ whilst high-fiving all the other members of the Dentists’ Big Game Hunt Society.”

Clarke was incensed and did his best to make it clear that Danny Willett, the reigning Masters champion, did not share the same views as his brother.

It is believed that Clarke had to change his line-up for the opening session to keep Willett out of harms way. He played only twice in the end, lost both his matches 5&4, making his lone Ryder Cup appearance one he will not look back at with fondness.

Patrick Cantlay’s “hatgate”, 2023

The rumour mill was in full swing in Rome as Patrick Cantlay’s refusal to wear a team cap prompted a flurry of reports of discontent in the Team USA locker room.

There had already been speculation that some of the visiting team were unhappy about the presence of Netflix film crews at Marco Simone as they gathered footage for the latest season of Full Swing.

But when Cantlay kept appearing without any head covering, it was alleged that he was making a silent process at not being paid for his time.

As those reports circulated, Cantlay was goaded by the European fans on a number of occasions despite the player insisting that he simply could not find a hat that fitted properly.

Tensions spilled over in the final four balls match on Saturday, when Cantlay holed a vital birdie putt and several of his team-mates and caddies waved their hats in the air to mock the rumours.

Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, got into an angry altercation with Rory McIlroy and there were a lot of raised voices as the two squads headed back to the clubhouse.

And footage then revealed a huge row in the car park as a red-faced McIlroy berated Jim “Bones” Mackay before being dragged away and shoved into his ride.

At Bethpage last week, Cantlay continued to deny he was protesting over money, although he wore a hat all week and was paid $500,000 - which he declared was all going to charity.