Fan Behavior at Bethpage Black Ryder Cup Sparks Controversy
One of the most contentious Ryder Cups in recent memory has triggered predictable debate over fan behavior at Bethpage Black, where Team Europe players faced days of relentless ridicule and vocal abuse.
PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague addressed these concerns in an interview with GolfChannel.com, discussing both the fan conduct issues and Bethpage’s future as a championship venue.
Golf Channel: I spoke with a PGA member this morning who told me he was disgusted with some fan behavior at Bethpage. What do you tell your membership about what happened?
Derek Sprague: “Certainly, it’s not the values of the PGA of America or our 30,000 PGA golf professionals who work every day in this game to bring joy and laughter and fun to golf. There’s no place for that [poor fan behavior] at the Ryder Cup, no place for it in the game of golf and we are not happy with what happened last week.”
Sprague explained that security planning had been underway for years, with New York State Police as the lead agency supplemented by private security. When asked specifically about increased security for Rory McIlroy’s group on Saturday, Sprague confirmed they redirected resources as problems emerged.
“When we heard those things going on Saturday we immediately redirected more of the security forces to those matches, whether it was Rory’s match or other matches or fan behavior in certain parts of the golf course,” Sprague said. “On Sunday we made sure to keep that amount of security in place.”
Bethpage’s Future as a Championship Venue
Despite the fan behavior issues, Sprague firmly dismissed any notion of moving the 2033 PGA Championship away from Bethpage Black.
“There’s no thought of that. Bethpage Black is just a great championship layout,” Sprague said. “We will take all our debriefs from this week, everything from logistics – we were not perfect on logistics, either – and we will be looking at that for the next championships.”
When pressed on why Bethpage remains so important to the PGA of America despite the behavior concerns, Sprague highlighted several practical advantages.
“Having five great golf courses at Bethpage, Bethpage Black obviously standing out as a championship venue, is a great example of a private-public partnership,” he explained. “It has a lot of space for our vendors, corporate hospitality, helicopter pads on one of the golf courses… We need a lot of space today for TV compounds and infrastructure.”
That’s why Bethpage is also set to host the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2028.
Addressing European Players and Future Ryder Cups
Sprague plans to personally apologize to Rory McIlroy and other European team members.
“I haven’t spoken to Rory or Erica [McIlroy], I do plan on sending them an e-mail with my heartfelt apologies because of what occurred. There’s no place for that in the Ryder Cup or the game of golf,” Sprague said. “I heard Rory say it, we’re better than that in golf.”
Looking ahead to future Ryder Cups, including Hazeltine in 2029, Sprague emphasized the need to maintain the event’s core values.
“Any championship that we run, whether it’s the Ryder Cup or any of the other majors, with our partners at Ryder Cup Europe… there is no place for this type of behavior that crosses the line,” he said.
The PGA of America will conduct a thorough review with their operations team. Sprague, who co-chaired the Ryder Cup task force that began in 2014, looks forward to rejoining those discussions as the new CEO.
“I look forward to getting back on that task force or Ryder Cup committee, and see what we can do, not only to make the competition reflect the values of the Ryder Cup but also to give the American team our best chance at success.”
Despite the controversy, Sprague hopes fans remember the competition itself. “These were the 24 best players in the world and I think they gave golf fans around the globe just an incredible event to tune into. That’s what the Ryder Cup should be remembered by.”
