The behavior of the spectators at Bethpage Black is still one of the most shocking incidents of 2025. Months after the incident, fans and players alike still discuss how bad the crowd’s behavior in New York was during the Ryder Cup. Most recently, it was Rory McIlroy who was asked about it, and he discussed what went through his mind back then.

The Irishman joined The Overlap podcast with retired soccer stars Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, and Ian Wright. McIlroy said he knew the atmosphere would be rough and wanted his and his teammates’ families to stay away. McIlroy told the crew about his initial plan. “Why don’t the girls just go into New York City for the week, have a good time, and we’ll see on Sunday night, like—cause we knew that [abuses] was what was gonna happen.”

His rationale was that if one of the partners heard something they didn’t like, it would have affected the team’s mood. But the WAGs opposed the idea and stayed back. Per McIlroy, having something with a negative mood around would have been “a risk” in the dressing room. And as he admitted, none of the players or their partners brought that into the dressing room.

Notably, the European side was already anticipating abuse at Bethpage. They tried to simulate the hostile atmosphere through VR. McIlroy, alluding to an infamous incident, said he didn’t care what was said about him.

The first tee announcer, Heather McMahan, started a “F*** you, Rory,” chant on Saturday. That created a lot of havoc and eventually led to McMahan having to step down. McIlroy was still fine with that. But not with what was said about his daughter.

“I heard stuff about my daughter that I couldn’t even repeat here. It’s horrific,” recollected McIlroy. Additionally, his wife, Erica Stoll, had beer thrown at her by a member of the crowd. The vicious attack took Stoll by surprise as she stood still for a moment before choosing to ignore it. As McIlroy describes it, such incidents occur because fans want to test their limits.

“It’s sort of society at the minute as well, but it’s that mob mentality where people see other people doing something, and then they think it’s okay, and then it sort of builds up,” he said. McMahan ended up setting a bad example for the fans. It made them cross boundaries and indulge in behavior that is not at all acceptable.

As frustration grew owing to Team U.S.’s underwhelming performance, the fans acted out even more, and the Europeans had to bear the brunt of it. But as Keane mentioned, they responded well to the abuse by outplaying their opponents at Bethpage. That was the only way they could tackle the challenges of the Ryder Cup. By the end, neither Team USA nor the fans in New York came off in a good light.

While McIlroy might believe the crowd is at fault, his peers from Europe don’t entirely blame the crowd. In fact, they shifted their focus to the management for their inability to control the chaos.

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Rory McIlroy’s peers believe the “mob” should have been controlled

Over the last few months, quite a number of Team Europe members have commented on the incidents that took place at Bethpage. While they all agree that the fans were a problem, some of them think the PGA of America is equally at fault.

Don Rea ended up deflecting the blame and advised McIlroy & Co. to understand the situation. That infuriated Matt Fitzpatrick as he said, “I saw the interview with the PGA guy discussing it was the same in Rome. It’s pretty offensive to European fans the fact that he said that, really.” The European fans did indulge in banter back in 2023, but they weren’t abusive towards the partners of the pros.

In December 2025, European captain Luke Donald had said, “Just own up to it. Just say, ‘We should’ve done more. This isn’t acceptable, and we will do better next time.’ I would’ve loved to have heard that message rather than, ‘Well, it happens, and it happened over there.’ I don’t think that’s what leaders should do.” Donald thought that Don Rea and his team tried to ignore the problems by shifting the blame.