'No hard feelings...' Tommy Fleetwood plays down crowd chaos at Ryder Cup

Tommy Fleetwood wants one thing to be known about the crowd chaos following the 2025 Ryder Cup - let's not tarnish all American golf fans with the same brush at Bethpage Black. 

Fleetwood fully accepts a line was crossed during the latest biennial dust-up between Europe and United States in New York. But only by a minority of unruly fans out there. 

The verbal abuse and insults were largely aimed at Rory McIlroy, and also his wife Erica. 

Fleetwood experienced it first-hand when playing alongside the Northern Irishman in both alternate-shot foursomes matches on Friday and Saturday morning. 

Friday certainly wasn't too bad but Saturday, well, was turned up a notch...

Related: 

McIlroy and Fleetwood once again joined forces as in Rome and took down Harris English and Collin Morikawa, who were incidentally the 132nd out of 132 most suited American foursomes partnership according to Data Golf. 

That decision marked one of Keegan Bradley's many big failings at the 2025 Ryder Cup.

Morikawa and Fleetwood were stuffed 5&4 on Friday and then again 3&2 on Saturday. 

At the end of their Saturday morning foursomes match, McIlroy backed off his approach shot into the 16th after being put off by some spectators.

McIlroy then turned over to them and told them to "shut the f*** up". 

The World No.2 then stuffed his approach to four feet and Fleetwood converted the birdie putt to see out the match. 

Related:

McIlroy said he felt "very f*****g satisfied" about that during his post Ryder Cup press conference. 

Only that particular reaction from McIlroy appeared to rile some of the most ardent American hecklers further that afternoon.

GolfMagic followed McIlroy inside the ropes and without question the worst abuse he received was saved for his fourballs match alongside his good pal Shane Lowry.

Even the 1st tee emcee hired by the PGA of America was encouraging the crowd to chant "f*** you Rory". 

She was then forced to step down, and later apologised to McIlroy. 

The Irish duo faced off against home New York favourite Cameron Young and the equally popular Justin Thomas in the fourballs. 

It was during this match that McIlroy and his wife were subjected to constant verbal abuse and personal insults on just about every hole. 

Erica at one point had to go in such was the abuse aimed in her direction. 

McIlroy was being sworn at regularly and was even called a "little faggot" by one heckler.

The five-time major champion immediately turned around when hearing that comment and he got a state trooper to eject the man. 

We even heard numerous petty jibes about Amanda Balionis fired in McIlroy's direction. 

What made it all worse was that the verbal abuse was being shouted out just before McIlroy stood over the ball to play a shot. 

Not only was this slowing play down but it was also not allowing McIlroy to focus on his golf. 

It was like something out of Happy Gilmore. 

Related:

The PGA of America eventually reacted to the vile crowd behaviour by sending in additional state troopers to the front line.

Lowry got so fed up with the abuse at one stage that he attempted to go after multiple American fans in the crowd.

Only he was held back by his caddie. 

Even Thomas turned to a group of American fans to tell them to STFU as was his own frustration at what McIlroy was dealing with. 

McIlroy and Lowry somehow held their nerves to see out a 2up win on the 18th green. 

Moments after the result, a drink was hurled towards Erica's head, as you can see below. 

To compound matters even further, the PGA of America President Don Rea claimed he hadn't even heard anything. 

McIlroy and the rest of his European team at least took great pride and satisfaction about surging into a seven-point lead after day two. 

Europe let things slip in the Sunday singles but still managed to hold on for a deserved 15-13 triumph in America's backyard.

The victory marked Europe's fifth away win in history and the first away win at a Ryder Cup since Medinah in 2012.

Sunday's success also saw Luke Donald become the first captain since Tony Jacklin in 1989 to win two Ryder Cups on the bounce. 

Whether he decides to make it three in a row remains to be seen.

No captain has ever won three Ryder Cups in a row, and we think that might just be the deciding factor for him to remain on board.

Fleetwood offered some insight in the the latest decision during his press conference. 

Having let the dust settle 48 hours after Europe's momumental achievement, Fleetwood claims to be over the crowd chaos and admits there are "no hard feelings at all." 

Fleetwood, who had a number of American friends in the gallery at Bethpage, also wants it be known that only a minority of home fans overstepped the mark at the 2025 Ryder Cup. 

It wasn't all American spectators. 

Fleetwood made his feelings be known when asked by a reporter ahead of this week's Dunhill Links at St Andrews as to whether he is concerned some European golf fans might want some revenge on the American players at Adare Manor, Ireland, in 2027. 

"I don't know, there's a big difference between -- like there's a big difference between a hostile environment and personal comments," said Fleetwood, who top scored for the week with 4 points and was also the recipient of the 2025 Nicklaus-Jacklin Award presented by Aon.

"Again, I think we were all prepared for it.

"It's not -- of all the talk that there's been, it's not about the entire US fans or the crowd. Like I don't think that we should be sort of using that as a whole. I have so many friends that are Americans and that were at the Ryder Cup, people close to me, saying, I've got to support my own team, things like that. 

"That's just what it is and you're going to get a tough environment when you get to an away Ryder Cup.

"Yeah, personal comments can go too far, and you obviously hope that that doesn't happen again, or it shouldn't happen, but it's just so out of our control, and I think Keegan and -- you just have to understand what you're getting into and what you're there for and go play golf.

"Like I say, how many people were there? 50,000 people? 60,000 people? You can't have a go at everyone because the majority don't do that. I have no hard feelings about it at all."

Fleetwood claims he might not have been quite so forgiving had Europe thrown away their huge lead on Sunday though. 

"It helps that we won, obviously," continued Fleetwood, who also won his first PGA Tour tirle at the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup at the end of August. 

"It's hard to tell 50,000 people to act the right way. I think that's one of the amazing things about the Ryder Cup is the home fans or at way fans and the atmosphere that it creates. 

"Who knows what happens in the future, but this particular Ryder Cup, we were all very prepared for and it showed how we played."

One golf legend who is most certainly not extending an olive branch is eight-time major champion and former US Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson.

He has slammed the American crowd for their behaviour at the Ryder Cup.