"Disgusting"; "This was nasty" - Fans react to USA crowd calling Rory McIlroy homophobic slur at the Ryder Cup 2025

Fans on social media have reacted to Ryder Cup fans' abusive behavior toward Rory McIlroy. At last week's biennial tournament, the Northern Irish golfer was impressive with his game and helped his team seize the title on foreign soil. However, during the game, U.S. fans were booing the European team.

A video of a fan went viral in which he abused the current world No. 2. Golf analyst Ricks Golf shared the clip on his X (formerly Twitter) account and, in the caption, slammed the fan for the abusive behavior. He wrote:

"When we talk about the awful fans at Bethpage, it’s this guy. Calls Rory a little fa****. This isn’t tough, this is cowardice at its best. The heckler knows he is protected. He hides behind the crowd and that he can’t just be punched in the face."

Fans in the comment section reacted to it.

"Disgusting!" a fan wrote.

"This was nasty. At least, 'Hey Rory, you got poop on your shirt', that was said by a guy in his twenties was childish but funny :)," another fan said.

"This is definitely over the line," another fan commented.

Here are more fans' reactions:

"This s**t just isn’t funny. I support a raucous crowd but this shit just isn’t funny. Fans from both sides need to Respect what these guys do both home and away players. This isn’t it whatsoever"

"Really disgusting that we behaved like that," another fan added.

"He should be kicked out and glad he was," one more fan added.

Rory McIlroy opens up about the abusive behavior of fans at the Ryder Cup

Rory McIlroy opened up about fans' abusive behavior at the Ryder Cup after the completion of the tournament. He said it was "abusive" and should not be accepted in golf. He said (via ABC News):

"There was a lot of language that was unacceptable and abusive behavior..... 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.

"Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people," he added.

During the Saturday afternoon games, a fan had thrown beer on Rory McIlroy and his wife Erica Stoll while he was playing on the 16th hole. However, Team Europe successfully retained the title and won the tournament for the second time in a row.

Rory McIlroy started his campaign on Friday and played the first game in foursomes format. He teamed up with Tommy Fleetwood and registered a 5 & 4 win against Collin Morikawa and Harris English. In the Friday fourball, he played with Shane Lowry and finished in a draw against Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay.

In Saturday's foursomes, the Northern Irish golfer and Fleetwood defeated English and Morikawa, and later he and Lowry won the fourball game against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young.

However, McIlroy lost his Sunday singles match against Scottie Scheffler.

About the author

Ankita Yadav is an NFL and Golf writer at Sportskeeda with over three years of experience in journalism (and counting). She’s previously covered the world of entertainment with OtakuKart and TV Season & Spoilers and worked as an editor at ComingSoon. Her stories have racked up nearly nine million reads, and she’s had the chance to interview top athletes like professional golfer Yuvraj Singh Sandhu.

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Edited by Anisha Chatterjee