It has been a long weekend for Team USA at the Ryder Cup. Team Europe came out with a dominant showing on Friday and simply never slowed down, carrying a dominant 12–5 lead into Sunday singles after an injury to Viktor Hovland invoked the “envelope rule,” marking his match a draw.
Fans who came to cheer on Team USA at Bethpage Black have not had much to cheer for, and on Saturday, they turned their angst against Team Europe. While the Ryder Cup is always one of the rowdiest environments in golf, there is a pretty clear line between good-natured jeering and inappropriate behavior. That line was crossed several times.
On Saturday, extra security had to be brought out to follow the Team Europe pairing of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry after a few hecklers went too far. Later on in the day, after McIlroy and Lowry had won their match and McIlroy was working his way back to support his teammates, someone in the crowd threw a beer in his direction which grazed off the hat of his wife Erica.
Dylan Dethier of Golf Magazine shared video of the incident on Sunday.
Here’s the full scene as Rory McIlroy’s wife Erica got hit with a beer (glanced off her hat) on Saturday afternoon.
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) September 28, 2025
Rory and Lowry had just won on 18 and he was coming back to 17 to cheer on the groups behind — and celebrate with Euro fans.
Looked like someone hit the drink out… pic.twitter.com/vdG4mAny1s
As Dethier notes, it appears that one fan was holding the beer while another slapped it out of their hand and inside the ropes.
in slo-mo — one guy holding it, another guy hitting it out of his hand pic.twitter.com/S7NZ4KIwfb
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) September 28, 2025
Regardless of how it happened, it’s an absolutely terrible look, and something McIlroy and Team Europe should not have to deal with.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as New Video Shows Ryder Cup Fan Throwing Beer at Rory McIlroy's Wife.
