Keegan Bradley snapped at a Ryder Cup journalist for suggesting that Team USA played a part in the behaviour from rowdy American fans at Bethpage Black on Saturday.
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were targeted with insults throughout their fourballs match on day two, leading to expletives directed back at the crowd and police called in to calm the scene after tensions boiled over.
Europe built a commanding lead to move to the brink of victory with USA facing a hammering on home soil, but Bradley refuses to accept both he or his players played into the mayhem on Saturday, despite Collin Morikawa and others urging home support to bring “chaos” in the build-up.
“I thought the fans were passionate. I mean, their home team is getting beat bad. You know, they are passionate fans. I wasn't at Rome, but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well,” Bradley said before hinting at his side’s poor play for provoking frustration among the home supporters.
“But the fans of New York from what I have seen have been pretty good. You're always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that's unfortunate. I was happy to see our players trying to quiet down some people that were like that.
“Part of it our fault. We are not playing up to the standards that they want to see, and they are angry, and they should be.”
A journalist then asked whether Bradley would accept that his USA players were partly to blame for some of the fans crossing the line, prompting a terse response.
“I did not say that,” Bradley fired back. “That's not what I said. I said the fans are probably upset that their home team is losing. I did not say that.
“What words were those? Ryder Cups are wild. I don't appreciate those words that you just said. I know what you're trying to do.
“The Ryder Cup is full of passionate fans. They're full of passionate players. And that wasn't right.”
