I do not follow this game except for passing glances at headlines but was under the impression that decorum among players and spectators was highly valued, at least in public. Even TV commentators would theatrically resort to hushed voices whenever a player was about to hit a shot, even though they were nowhere near the action and could not disturb the player even if they shouted. I remember the fuss some years ago when some wag among the spectators would shout “You da man!” at key moments in major tournaments when a player was about to hit the ball, much to the discomfiture of players and officials who could not locate him.
The usual competitive ugliness that is endemic to most sports would take place behind the scenes in golf. Hence I was surprised to see this report of spectators at the Ryder Cup match between the US and Europe, taking place this weekend in the US, making rude chants at a European player. What surprised me even more is the tone of the article suggested that this was no longer considered that shocking.
The comedian employed to warm up the crowd at the Ryder Cup has apologised and stepped down from her job before the final day’s play after she was recorded leading a foul-mouthed Rory McIlroy chant on the 1st tee on Saturday.
…McMahan had been employed to stoke up the crowd on the 1st tee in an attempt to build the atmosphere, and was using a megaphone to lead them in their chants. She tried to persuade them to join her in a chorus of “Scottie! Scottie! Scheffler!” to the tune of Queen’s We Will Rock You but was booed into abandoning the effort. “Fuck you Rory!” was more popular, and became a persistent chant throughout the day. McIlroy responded by blowing the crowd kisses when he came to the tee.
It set the tone of an ugly day at Bethpage, when the atmosphere around McIlroy in particular became so toxic that the PGA of America brought in squads of state police and park police to walk the course with his group midway through their round. Several spectators were evicted.
McIlroy was repeatedly targeted with personal abuse and grew so exasperated with people shouting out during his backswing that at one point he turned around and told the crowd to “shut the fuck up”. The PGA of America repeatedly posted spectator etiquette warnings on the screens around the grounds. They were widely booed every time they appeared.
McIlroy described the atmosphere as “very, very challenging”. He won both matches regardless.
It looks like while I was not paying attention, standards of behavior at golf tournaments have deteriorated considerably. Given that golf is Trump’s favorite game, I suppose that it should not be surprising that fans are behaving in the same coarse manner that he routinely exhibits.
I dont follow golf either. Has anything even remotely like this ever happened outside the USA?
Yeah, Trump happened. Yes, there was plenty of poor sportsmanship and asshollery before, but Trump did the most to explicitly condone and encourage it. And not just in golf either.
Surely the Scots who invented the game played with a claymore in their bag of clubs, if not in their hands.
Being put in that spot is pretty rough and obviously unfair to McIlroy. I don’t follow golf at all and I’d never even heard of him before but I’m glad he won. That’s the best response to bad sportsmanship possible, if you can pull it off.
So…the American conservatives (golf is mostly a game for wealthy conservatives) were acting like British football (soccer) hooligans?
@ Katydid
Nah, not really. They’re more into beating each other up.
This is actually more of a cricket thing -- it’s called “sledging”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sledging_(cricket)
@Silentbob
Sledging is commonly when the team says stuff to disrupt their opponent. In this case it is the audience (usually heckling) -- also known as “home court advantage”
@sonofrojblake @1
Im not sure about golf either -- but its common in sport , worldwide. See football for e.g. , especially in the UK.
That great West Indian cricketer Viv Richards knew how to deal with sledging.
@Deepak Shetty, 7:
What a remarkably obtuse response. Football is and always has been a fast-moving action game with large numbers of players on the pitch at once, actively and legally interfering with the progress of their opponents, with a vocal crowd encouraging them on on both sides. Cricket pits the eleven men from one team against two batsmen from the other, and while sledging is certainly a thing I’ve been to many cricket matches where the home crowd have been very respectful of the visiting team -- it’s just part of the game. I understand crowd behaviour varies but I’m not aware of any crowds being especially hostile -- perhaps Mano could comment on how well behaved international cricket crowds are?
But golf -- golf is, for starters, not really a competitive sport in the usual sense. The only other sport I can think of off the top of my head that is anything like it is darts, or more niche target sports (shooting, archery etc.). Consider: no player has ANY legal way to interfere in any way with their opponent’s progress. Literally all they can do within the rules is continue to play their own game to the best of their ability and hope that that on its own psychs their opponent out. If you’re playing golf, you’re not really in any meaningful sense playing against the other people walking round the course with you -- they just happen to be there at the same time. If you’re playing against anyone, it’s against the designer of the course, who came up with the obstacles you’re finding your way around. This is what makes the game so stultifyingly fucking dull to watch*. But in civilised countries golf crowds have, as far as I’m aware, always understood that since taking a shot requires a certain degree of concentration, that shouting at players while they’re trying to do so isn’t acceptable behaviour.
That this generally accepted standard of behaviour has been rudely ignored by Trump-era Americans should surprise nobody. I was asking whether it had happened before IN GOLF, since it’s blindingly fucking obvious that crowds in other completely unrelated and very different sports (football, boxing, basketball, you fill in the rest of the list) are loud and try to interfere with the progress of what they see as “the other side”. The difference is that in those sports people in the crowd are generally deluding themselves if they think they’re going to actually interfere with the outcome of the game, whereas in golf it’s realistically possible that disruptive crowd behaviour could affect an outcome. Tennis has suffered such behaviour in recent years, and perhaps surprisingly not only from Americans.
I ask again, hoping for a less clueless response: has this sort of thing ever happened before OUTSIDE America (and, subtitle for the hard of thinking, OBVIOUSLY I mean in golf specifically)? And if so, when and where?
*About 25 years ago, having stood watching a friend lining up a shot on a fairway for what seemed like hours but was probably no more than a whole minute, I reflected that golf would be a lot more fun if, while he was hitting the ball, I was allowed to use one of my clubs to hit HIM. And thus the concept of Full Contact Golf sprang almost fully formed into my mind. It’s a properly competitive game, for starters. I’d not be able to interfere with his SHOT per se, I’d just be able to set about his person with a club from my bag. Obviously I would need a different kind of club, so I’d have to sacrifice one of the “proper” clubs from my bag. No matter -- I heard a story about Seve Ballesteros winning his first tournament with a five iron… just a five iron, for driving, chipping and putting, since IIRC it was the only club he could afford. It would make the game much more interesting to watch. The Japanese would love it, since they’re obsessed with golf and with a long history and tradition of martial arts also culturally interested in beating people up. Commentary would be incendiary instead of restful. The dolts who dress like pimps to play it could spend even more of their too much money on all the extra gear they’d need -- helmets, pads, padded gloves, body armour and so on. Every course would become an instant par 372, because getting round the course would become fantastically more challenging. It would be impossible to be that person everyone hates at the course -- the lone golfer going round on their own. You’d absolutely require an opponent, ideally someone with a similar weight and reach -- there’d be divisions. I’m yet to find a course that will let me and three of my friends actually play Full Contact Golf, but as soon as I do it’s going to go viral. It’s the future.
And for any Americans reading this and thinking of playing, let me answer your first question right away -- no, you can’t use a gun.
@9 sonof
I like the idea but it’s just too person-on-person violent for me. For example, the very idea of a “sport” that involves two people getting in a ring and beating the snot out of each other until one them is no longer physically capable, is not something that I consider “sporting”.
But as I said, I do like the idea of changing things up to make it more interesting to watch. Case in point, I find US football to be incredibly boring (“OK, everyone, line up, and then smash into each. Then we’ll stop the clock and do it again.”) Probably 30 years ago I came up with an idea to make football more appealing to folks like me. First, the entire field is made of metal mesh covered in artificial turf. Underneath this, a large grid of fast responding hydraulic jacks are installed. Each jack can raise or lower several feet independently from the others. A computer controls the actuation of the jacks. As soon as play begins, a random equation describing a surface flashes on the giant viewing screens. The jacks then move into position accordingly. Thus, instead of remaining flat, the field could turn into a hill or valley, slump to one side, or even an assemblage of moguls. To keep things more interesting, the shape could be a function of time, allowing the field to dynamically morph during play. Imagine someone leaping to catch the ball only to find the ground receding below them (or rushing up to meet them).
Sounds crazy, I know, but one thing is for certain, fans will suddenly find an interest in 3D geometry.
As far as televised sports are concerned, I simply do not care. We (along with much of the rest of the globe) have become watchers instead of doers. Don’t get me wrong, watching someone who is incredibly good at something “do their thing” can be both entertaining and motivating, but it seems few people take it up for themselves (e.g., learning a musical instrument). I guess when it come to that, my favorite sport is turning the TV off.
I should add that another non-contact sport where it is illegal to interfere with your opponent’s progress is track and field. The closest you get to that is drafting someone in distance races (a practice I find unsporting). This goes all the way down to the local 5k race: everyone runs the same course at the same time under the same conditions. No touching (ideally)! Ultimately, it’s you against yourself.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/oct/04/swearing-booing-spitting-crowds-out-of-control