European Ryder Cup Players Turn Focus to Dunhill Links After Bethpage Experience
Four members of the European Ryder Cup team are heading straight to Scotland for this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, trading the intensity of Bethpage Black for the classic courses of Fife – Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Three-time Dunhill Links champion Tyrrell Hatton, who went 3-0-1 at Bethpage, is looking forward to partnering with his dad, Jeff, with whom he won last year’s pro-am tournament.
“The atmosphere will be world’s apart,” Hatton said. “Last week was pretty intense.”
That intensity came largely from the New York crowds, who targeted European players and their families with relentless heckling. Rory McIlroy, who bore the brunt of the jeering, called the behavior “not acceptable” after Sunday’s matches. PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague followed up Monday, saying the organization was “not happy” with what he described as conduct that reflected “not the values of the PGA of America or 30 plus thousand PGA golf professionals.”
Hatton wasn’t spared from the taunts, revealing that fans frequently targeted his height and hairline.
“If it was my choice, and obviously what I say isn’t really going to affect how people behave, but I don’t really think that the insults is the way forward,” Hatton said. “I would much prefer it to be a respectful atmosphere; you let the guys play and the best team wins, rather than trying to affect the outcome by trying to put off players or things like that.”
Tommy Fleetwood, another European Ryder Cupper in this week’s Dunhill field, offered a more measured take on the experience.
“There’s a big difference between a hostile environment and personal comments,” Fleetwood said. “Again, I think we were all prepared for it. Of all the talk that’s been, it’s not about the entire U.S. fans or the crowd. I don’t think that we should be sort of using that as a whole.”
Fleetwood emphasized that the issue wasn’t with American fans generally. “I have so many friends that are Americans and that were at the Ryder Cup, people close to me, saying, I’ve got to support my own team, things like that. That’s just what it is. You’re going to get a tough environment when you get to an away Ryder Cup.”
He added: “Personal comments can go too far, and you obviously hope that that doesn’t happen again, or it shouldn’t happen. But it’s just so out of our control.”
“How many people were there? 50,000 people? 60,000 people? You can’t have a go at everyone because the majority don’t do that. I have no hard feelings about it at all.”
When some suggested the Bethpage atmosphere was comparable to what American players experienced at Marco Simone in Rome two years ago, Hatton strongly disagreed.
“Personally, I don’t think they were close at all,” Hatton said. “I certainly, with what I heard last week, I don’t think Rome comes anywhere near that… I think they are quite far apart to be honest.”
