“Teletubby”, “You’re not that good”, “Amanda”, and many other creative insults were thrown at Shane Lowry & Rory McIlroy‘s way at Bethpage. And that was not the only thing thrown on the course, as someone apparently even threw a glass of beer at McIlroy’s wife, Erica Stoll, as she was walking by the ropes. Despite all that, Keegan Bradley came forward to defend the fans, saying they wouldn’t have behaved that way had his team not performed so badly. But one former Team U.S. captain views it completely differently, and he didn’t shy away from mincing his words.

American golf legend, Tom Watson, congratulated Team Europe after their emphatic win at Bethpage. But he also apologized for the way the fans treated them: “I’d like to congratulate @RyderCupEurope on their victory. Your team play the first few days was sensational. More importantly, I’d like to apologize for the rude and mean-spirited behavior from our American crowd at Bethpage. As a former player, Captain and as an American, I am ashamed of what happened. #RyderCup.”

As he and many netizens saw it, the behavior of the spectators in New York was unacceptable. Even McIlroy pointed out the fact in his post-tournament press conference that the issue needs to be seriously investigated. While acknowledging the brilliant performance of Team Europe, Watson apologized to them on behalf of the United States as he felt “ashamed of what happened”at Bethpage.

He has represented Team U.S. in the Ryder Cup on four separate occasions in 1977, 1981, 1983, and 1989. Watson also captained the team in 1993 and 2014. He has only faced defeat once and tied another time in his career. On both occasions, Team Europe retained the title on home soil after beating the Americans in the United States. So he must have experienced the bad side of the defeat as well. But back then, the fans weren’t as rowdy as they were at Bethpage.

Interestingly, unlike Tom Watson, Keegan Bradley didn’t think the fans were to be blamed for their behavior at Bethpage. Let’s see what the Team U.S. captain said during a press conference.

Keegan Bradley takes the blame for the bad reception for Team Europe at Bethpage

Luke Donald had warned Keegan Bradley & Team U.S. that they might face a lot of backlash in New York if they didn’t deliver a result after making the fans pay hundreds of dollars for tickets and merch. However, what he didn’t anticipate was that the fans would actually turn on Team Europe for humiliating the national squad on the first couple of days. And Bradley believes that is the reason the fans in New York acted out.

During his press conference following the tournament, the Team U.S. captain spoke about the strong abuse the Europeans received at Bethpage: “These guys were probably too focused on what they were doing because these New York crowds are tough. They had every right to be pissed off at us for being down and being at their course and not performing at what they felt like. Quite frankly, I was nervous about today.”

As Keegan said, he believes that the fans would have been a lot less aggressive if his team had performed better. Watching their home team get destroyed the way they did in the first couple of days gave the New Yorkers every reason to be pissed off and lose their minds. What Team Europe faced was not the fans’ hatred towards them, but their resentment towards the underperforming American side, led by Keegan Bradley himself. But after witnessing the strong abuse the Europeans faced, it’s hard to imagine things going any other way, even if Team U.S. was winning at Bethpage.