Matt Fitzpatrick claims USA fans mocked his braces and Skechers at Ryder Cup

Matt Fitzpatrick enjoyed his career-best Ryder Cup performance at Bethpage Black last week despite being on the receiving end of some of the more bizarre abuse from the USA fans.

Fitzpatrick was under pressure to justify being a captain's pick in New York, having won only one of his eight matches in his three previous Ryder Cup appearances since his debut in 2016.

But the 2022 US Open champion delivered for Luke Donald, winning twice and adding another valuable half-point in his Sunday singles match as Europe survived an outstanding home fightback to clinch a 15-13 victory.

The 31-year-old partnered Ludvig Aberg to a crushing 5&3 win over world number 1 Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley in the opening foursomes, and Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton capped a super Saturday for Europe as they edged out Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay in the final fourballs match.

Fitzpatrick was 5 up after just seven holes in his singles clash with Bryson DeChambeau, who dominated the remainder of the clash and rallied to earn a tie as the USA threatened to pull off a miraculous come-from-behind victory.

But the trophy remained in European hands for the next two years, although much of the focus remains on the levels of abuse endured by everyone in Donald's team, and Fitzpatrick was not spared.

He also expressed his relief that his parents were not at Bethpage, as they could also have been targeted by the unruly hecklers in the home crowd.

"Obviously it would have been nice to have my parents there to experience it but you never know if it would be the same if they had been there," said Fitzpatrick ahead of this week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

"So I think Mum and Dad not being there probably made sense. I think they probably wouldn't have necessarily enjoyed that atmosphere. I don't think it was necessary enjoyable as a fan, particularly, more for family's sake, anyway."

Fitzpatrick admitted the abuse he got was not on the same level as that directed at Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, who he feels were within their rights to respond to the hecklers on a number of occasions.

He added: "I think for me personally, people were giving me abuse about my braces. They were giving me abuse about my Skechers. Like that was kind of the extent that I heard, but I'm sure there were probably words that I didn't hear.

"Obviously Rory and Shane, in particular, got a lot on that Saturday afternoon, a lot worse, I guess. And obviously you see clips of various things being shouted out. Obviously it wasn't great, and like Rory said, it wasn't acceptable. 

"I know obviously things have been said about what players have replied to to the crowd, which my opinion is warranted given what they gave in the first place."

Fitzpatrick was awarded a pick by Donald on the back of his excellent form since June, posting seven top-10 finishes in his last nine starts on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, and that was a huge factor in his results at Bethpage.

"In terms of my own performance, it was obviously my best Ryder Cup to date by some distance," he said. "Leading up to, it I had been playing well, as well. Just gave me the confidence to go out there and continue and to have the result I did was a huge bonus."