Rory McIlroy slams Ryder Cup fan after heckling in crowd bust-up – ‘shut up’

Rory McIlroy slammed a Ryder Cup fan after he was fed up of the heckling American crowd – telling him to “shut the f*** up” in an X-rated rant while on the green

Rory McIlroy slammed a Ryder Cup fan after he was fed up of the heckling American crowd.

McIlroy is currently stateside with Team Europe, and he grew tired of the home crowd during Saturday’s morning fourball when he was lining up to hit his second shot on the 16th hole at Bethpage Black, New York.

The Northern Irishman swung his club, but once he was met with a shouting fan an angered McIlroy turned around and launched into an X-rant at the stunned supporter.

His rant was picked up by TV cameras on the green: “Can you shut the f*** up?” After the round, he was asked about the hostility of the crowd: “You do have to focus on the task at hand.

“I think in the team format, foursomes and fourballs you can stick together with your partner which makes it easier.”

McIlroy was partnered with Tommy Fleetwood as Europe continued to stick the boot into Team USA. The pair did their part, beating the pair of Harry English and Colin Morikawa 3&2.

Speaking ahead of the Ryder Cup, McIlroy said: “I feel at times in the Ryder Cup, I have engaged too much with that, too much with the crowd.

“But then there’s times where I haven’t engaged enough. So it’s really just trying to find the balance of using that energy from the crowd to fuel your performance.

“I felt like at Hazeltine [at the 2016 Ryder Cup], I probably engaged too much at times, and then Whistling Straits [at the Ryder Cup in 2021], I didn’t engage enough and felt pretty flat because of it. It’s just trying to find that balance.

“I can’t tell anyone on the team what that balance is. They really have to find it themselves. But that’s the challenge of playing away, right. You’re not just trying to perform to your best level, but someone in the American team holes a putt, and then you have to try to follow them in.

“But you know, you’ve got the crowd going crazy and you’re waiting for them to quiet. There’s a lot of little things like that that I guess takes you out of your normal routine that you just have to deal with, and that’s part of the challenge of this week.”