"By the time Europe finished the job, finally, on Sunday, the golf had the last word. But, until the thrilling denouement, the lasting memory of this Ryder Cup threatened not to be a single swing of the club so much as the ugly backdrop: galleries that drifted from partisan into venomous and the organizers who let the line slide until it snapped."
"Then Saturday afternoon arrived and the tenor shifted. Rory McIlroy, the visiting lightning rod, kept stepping off shots as volleys of abuse landed in the quiet of his pre-shot routine. Shane Lowry played teammate and minder. Justin Thomas, not exactly a shrinking violet, began shushing his own end of the grandstand so his opponents could putt. There's a difference between atmosphere and interference, and Bethpage spent too much of the weekend blurring the two."
Temperatures of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage shifted from raucous support to outright hostility as the weekend progressed. Early sessions were loudly partisan but largely manageable. Saturday afternoon saw the mood deteriorate into sustained abuse, with players such as Rory McIlroy targeted during pre-shot routines by jeers, insults aimed at family members, homophobic slurs, and taunts about nationality. Teammates tried to shield players while opponents attempted to quiet sections so play could continue. Political optics, including a prominent visitor and visible MAGA paraphernalia, intensified tensions and blurred acceptable boundaries. Europe countered with strong performance, negating home-field advantage despite the hostile environment.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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