The 2025 Ryder Cup ended more than a month ago and left the golf world reeling. Hostile crowds hurled abuse toward the European team at Bethpage Black — especially Rory McIlroy and his wife, Erica — marring the event.
One PGA of America executive’s dismissive comments about the inappropriate crowd behavior caused even more controversy.
But on Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that another PGA executive had a radically different response after the Ryder Cup, sending the McIlroys a “gracious” apology. McIlroy also praised the players on the U.S. Ryder Cup team for how they behaved amid the hostile atmosphere at Bethpage.
Here’s what you need to know.
PGA president Don Rea causes controversy at 2025 Ryder Cup
By Sunday morning at the 2025 Ryder Cup, the abuse the European team faced from rowdy fans had already become the story of the tournament. At that point, it was hard to dispute that fans had crossed the line.
PGA of America president Don Rea, however, was reluctant to accept responsibility on behalf of American fans.
Rea was interviewed by the BBC on Sunday at Bethpage, where he tried to dismiss the crowd’s behavior and suggested European fans were just as bad at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.
“I haven’t heard some of that — I’m sure it’s happened,” Rea said when asked about the abuse McIlroy faced at the Ryder Cup. “It happened when we were in Rome on the other side and Rory understands… things like that are going to happen and I don’t know what was said. But all I know is golf is the engine of good.”
Rea’s comments further infuriated the European players, and suggested the PGA of America was out of touch with what was going on outside the ropes at Bethpage.
It took the efforts of another PGA executive, CEO Derek Sprague, to calm the waters.
McIlroy says PGA CEO Derek Sprague sent McIlroy ‘apologetic’ letter
On Wednesday, in an interview with BBC Sport at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, McIlroy revealed that he’d received a “lovely email” from Sprague apologizing for the horrible treatment the McIlroys faced at the Ryder Cup.
“Erica [McIlroy’s wife] worked with Derek at the PGA of America back in the day, so we know Derek and his wife pretty well,” McIlroy said. “He couldn’t have been more gracious or apologetic, and he wrote us a lovely letter, which we really appreciated.”
McIlroy also said that he saw the crowd abuse as a “compliment,” because it showed they felt the need to “get inside our heads” to have a chance to win.
He quickly clarified that he was talking only about the U.S. fans. As for the American players, McIlroy had only good things to say.
“[The U.S. players] were amazing and incredible, and couldn’t have been more, I guess, apologetic of some of the stuff they heard on the golf course.”
All that being said, McIlroy said that he thinks the fan abuse helped the European team perform better.
“It galvanized us and it really made us put our arms around each other.”
On Thursday, McIlroy opened with a four-under 68 at the Abud Dhabi HSBC Championship, putting him four shots off the lead shared by fellow European Ryder Cuppers Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry.
