The Long Island crowd was always going to be hostile, and Rory McIlroy knew it. He even admitted to trying to “desensitize” himself before the Ryder Cup, bracing for the abuse that was sure to come. And as expected, no European player caught more heat than him. Still, McIlroy wasn’t just a victim in this back-and-forth. At times he kept his cool, but just as often he fired back with X-rated outbursts of his own, only to later take the podium and say that the fans had crossed the line. That contradiction hasn’t gone unnoticed. If McIlroy wants golf fans to be held to a higher standard, critics argue he has to hold himself there too— and Paul Azinger has already called him out on it.

During the SubPar podcast, Azinger sat down with Drew Stoltz and discussed the 2025 Ryder Cup. Initially, the veteran praised McIlroy for handling the pressure; however, he later turned down McIlroy’s opinion regarding the press conference remark. Azinger said, “In the press conference after it’s over, he’s saying, ‘I think golf should be held to a higher standard of decorum.’ Isn’t that what he said? But in the meantime, he’s going, he says, ‘f you, f you, f you.’ In full voice for the world to see.”

From the earliest matches, McIlroy cracked. On Friday, during a foursomes round, he backed off a shot mid-swing and turned toward the gallery: “Shut the f— up,” he snapped, before nailing the next shot close to silence the moment. He’d also made a middle-finger gesture at spectators earlier in the day. On Saturday, the abuse escalated: fans heckled him about his personal life, degraded chants followed him across holes, and at one point he again lashed out, cursing loudly when their noise persisted even over his address to the ball. These weren’t isolated slip-ups but repeated reactions under pressure. Yet, in the aftermath, McIlroy took to the podium and admonished the crowd.

“There was a lot of language that was unacceptable and abusive behavior,” he said in his post-match conference, adding, “I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf. … I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. … Sometimes this week, we didn’t see that. So no, this should not be what is acceptable in the Ryder Cup.” He framed golf as a sport to teach you etiquette, respect, and rules, while he may himself have forgone a few. But to understand the why, one look at what he endured from the crowd could do some justification, if there is one.

From the start of the Ryder Cup week, McIlroy was a lightning rod for abuse. He was repeatedly heckled on the tee box, with fans yelling through his pre-shot routines and forcing him to back off several times. During Saturday’s foursomes, spectators hurled obscenities so persistently that it disrupted play, while chants mocking his personal life and marriage rang from the stands. The hostility escalated when a beer can was thrown toward McIlroy and struck his wife, Erica Stoll, leaving her shaken and drawing in security officials. On another occasion, even the Ryder Cup’s on-course MC joined in, leading a crude chant directed at him before stepping down amid backlash.

Yet, Azinger thinks that his take on maintaining decorum is hypocritical. He shared how McIlroy responded to the media when asked, using the f-word in front of the fans. Azinger quoted, “He said, ‘It felt pretty effing good.” And I’m like, “But which is it, Rory? Is it that golf is held to a higher standard, or are you just gonna f you the fans and act like that’s okay? But you can’t say that. You can’t say the fans need to behave better and then, in the meantime. Lay them to waste. Can’t be on both sides.” 

Plus, this Ryder Cup is not the only time McIlroy has lost his cool. In the 2023 one in Rome, after Joe LaCava (caddie for Patrick Cantlay) waved his hat in McIlroy’s line of vision on the 18th green, McIlroy exploded in the parking lot. Cameras caught him shouting at Jim “Bones” Mackay, saying: “This can’t happen! … That’s a f—ing disgrace!”. But for that, he later shared, “I used a lot of swear words … Complete rage. I felt bad about it afterwards …”

This time, there’s no such guilt for the words exchanged. “We shut them up by our performance and how we played. You know, I chirped back a few times because it got to me a few times. [But] we tried to handle everything that came our way with class and poise, and for the most part I felt like we did that,” he said post-match. 

But apart from Azinger’s take, McIlroy’s experience at Bethpage clearly was a learning experience that he wants fans to be aware of going into the 2027 edition.

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Rory McIlroy shares his learning for the fans in Ireland for the 2027 edition

McIlroy’s group was the one most impacted by the fans’ misbehavior. It all started with Heather McMahan, who encouraged the fans with the “F you, Rory” chants. Furthermore, it continued to grow, and the group experienced increased security. ‌McIlroy has said, “The police out there and the amount of the security presence was insane.” Furthermore, when he discussed learning, he made his intentions clear. 

The golfer said, “We will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable.” The golfer, with his aim to improve decorum, has clarified it in the statement. With the next edition teeing off at Adare Manor, he has cleared the hopes of expectations. In fact, for this season too, the golfer has not blamed the entire American crowd.

Talking about the profanity in the course, he said, “Look, it’s a minority of the crowd. It’s not the majority. The majority of people here are true golf fans and are respectful and let both teams have the same chance to hit the shots and play a fair contest. But you know, there was a small subset of people who behaved a little bit differently than that.”

With the golfer sharing his aims to improve the sport, the snub coming from an American veteran would lead to a debate. Do you agree with what Azinger has said? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.