After falling behind 4-0 in the early matches today at Hazeltine, Team Europe stormed back in the afternoon at the Ryder Cup to close the final day one gap 5-3 favor Team USA. A big part of that comeback was a pissed off Rory McIlroy.
After losing a morning match to Ricky Fowler and Phil Mickelson while his Euro squad was on the way to that 0-4 morning start, McIlroy stormed back in the afternoon with teammate Thomas Pieters to help his squad pull back into a 3-5 deficit going into day two. During an end of day press conference after that victory, McIlroy made it clear sticking it to some in what he called a “hostile” American crowd was a prime motivator.
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While not a stranger to the Ryder Cup or the intensity of their galleries, the Irishman and 2016 Fed Ex Cup Champion obviously felt it was getting particularly ugly out there. He made it clear during the post match presser that he didn’t think that ugliness was in keeping with the etiquette of golf.
“It’s a hostile environment out there when the people don’t want you to hole a putt or don’t want you to hit a good shot,” McIlroy said to reporters here Friday. “I think when you do hole a putt or hit a good shot, it just makes it that much more satisfying.”
In other words, McIlroy used the crowd’s anti-Team Europe sentiment to motivate himself for that little extra kick while winning the afternoon session. He punctuated that win with an exaggerated bow to fans on the green.
“We’re not going down without a fight. It was four to zip after the morning session. We pulled it back a good bit, and we plan to pull it back even further tomorrow.”
As for Saturday, if McIlroy thought the crowds were “hostile” today, may St. Patrick help him tomorrow. The minority of obnoxious folks in the gallery causing the trouble will only get louder, and their numbers will grow following these remarks.
Then again, if McIlroy uses such verbal vitriol to drive himself, maybe the American crowds might want to take it down a notch. He is still one of the absolute best in the world. Does Team USA want him to find extra motivation?
