Rory McIlroy’s interactions with local fans at the Ryder Cup sparked controversy. While many slammed the US fans for their rowdy behavior, the European star also faced some flak for his retaliation. Ex-US side skipper Paul Azinger also fired shots at the Northern Irishman.For the unversed, McIlroy famously took down a few fans at Bethpage after they reportedly hurled slurs at him and his wife Erica Stoll. The ace golfer was spotted saying ‘shut the f*** up’ to a group of fans and even called the security on a fan who attacked him with a homophobic slur. Now, Azinger has come out to ‘take a shot’ at the reigning Masters champion for being vulgar towards the fans in a two-way conversation.The former PGA Championship winner partly defended the New York fans by accusing the European veteran of double standards.Commenting on Rory McIlroy’s fan interaction at the Ryder Cup, Paul Azinger said on Golf.com’s Subpar podcast:“I give Rory credit for that, but now I want to take a shot at Rory (McIlroy), who I love… In the press conference after it’s over, he is saying that I think golf should be held to a higher standard of decorum, but in the meantime, he says ‘F you, F you, F you’ in full voice for the world to see…He turns around and says to the guy, ‘Shut the F up.’ The guy in the media asks him, ‘How did that feel Rory, to tell him to shut up and then hit it to two feet?’ And he said, ‘It felt pretty f’ing good.’ And I’m, like, which is it, Rory? Is it that golf is held to a higher standard or are you just going to ‘F you’ the fans and act like that’s OK? So, I love Rory, but you can’t say that.”Paul Azinger says Ryder Cup fans 'could've been worse'Paul Azinger, who was famously involved in a controversial episode with Seve Ballesteros at the 1991 Ryder Cup, reiterated McIlroy couldn’t ‘say the fans need to behave better’ and ‘lay them to waste’ at the same time. The 12-time PGA Tour winner further defended the American fans by stating there was no surprises in how they behaved.He questioned the organizers for not dealing the fan outrage better.Speaking about the wild atmosphere at Bethpage, Paul Azinger added:“Didn’t the PGA of America know when they came here what was going to happen? Of course, we all knew. We’ve all been talking about it for 10 years, that this crowd could go crazy. Hey, if the beers weren’t $16 a piece, it could have been worse.”More than the fan behavior, Azinger was stunned to see the Europeans’ performance at the Ryder Cup. The former skipper, who led the US team to its first victory over the European squad since 1999 at Valhalla Golf Club in 2008, said the away side did the ‘slaughtering the first two days.’ He dubbed the competition a ‘nail-biter.’