Tommy Fleetwood comes out and defends American Ryder Cup fans despite the abuse Rory McIlory took at the tournament

Unfortunately, one of the main storylines the 2025 Ryder Cup will be remembered for is the behaviour of sections of the crowd at Bethpage Black, with Rory McIlroy dealing with constant abuse.

For the last decade, there had been an expectation that the 2025 Ryder Cup was going to be like nothing else the event had seen before, with Bethpage Black in New York providing the stage.

It proved to be a remarkable week. Europe absolutely flew out of the blocks over the first two days – to the point where Luke Donald‘s men were able to win just one game on Sunday and still retain the cup.

But Team USA gave them a good scare in the singles, closing the gap by five points. Europe looked like a team who had given absolutely everything over Friday and Saturday and had nothing left in the tank.

What did not help was the abuse that some of their players faced at times.

Tommy Fleetwood comments on the fans at Bethpage during the Ryder Cup

Rory McIlroy, in particular, faced persistent heckling. The Northern Irishman lashed out on a number of occasions after clearly being pushed past his breaking point.

Former US captain Tom Watson felt compelled to apologise to the Europeans in the wake of their victory.

But one person who has come to the defence of the majority of the American fans is Tommy Fleetwood. Speaking ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the Englishman insisted that it would not be fair or helpful to tar everyone with the same brush.

“There’s a big difference between a hostile environment and personal comments. Again, I think we were all prepared for it,” he said.

Photo By Vaughn Ridley/Sportsfile via Getty Images

“Of all the talk that there’s been, it’s not about the entire U.S. fans or the crowd. Like I don’t think that we should be sort of using that as a whole. 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.

“Yeah, 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, and I think Keegan and — you just have to understand what you’re getting into and what you’re there for and go play golf.

“Like I say, 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. Like I said, it helps that we won, obviously. It’s hard to tell 50,000 people to act the right way. I think that’s one of the amazing things about the Ryder Cup is the home fans or away fans and the atmosphere that it creates. Who knows what happens in the future, but this particular Ryder Cup, we were all very prepared for and it showed how we played.”

Tommy Fleetwood discusses Team Europe’s celebratory bus ride back to the hotel on Sunday

Europe had the last laugh with their victory – although it was a lot closer than anyone would have expected. And with that, there has been all sorts of content to emerge from their team over the past few days.

Just like 2023, the bus ride home on Sunday night seemed to turn into something of a nightclub. And Fleetwood outlined how special it was to have those moments.

“Yeah, the bus ride in Rome, since that one, it was so spontaneous and the best bus ride we’ve ever had in Rome. All of us, like without mentioning it, all of us I think had an image of that bus ride on the way home from the golf course to the hotel at Bethpage at the end of the week,” he added.

“When you think of, there’s so many moments that you can pick beforehand in terms of a vision or as a goal, whether it be someone holing a putt like Shane did to win; you can envision that moment. Or you can envision Luke lifting the trophy in the ceremony. But the bus ride was one of those things, and you know it’s going to be a high. You know it’s going to feel amazing.

“So yeah, we were all looking forward to that journey, and it’s becoming — it will be tricky at Adare Manor, we will be staying on site. If we can get one to go around the block for a while. Yeah, that one we were excited about. It’s a high moment for all. We’re lucky that we have those songs and chants that fit and we can get them going on the bus. Yeah, it’s an amazing 30-minute ride home, that.”

Fleetwood has become a talisman of the European side, having won 12 points from his 17 Ryder Cup matches. He finished as the leading points scorer on either team this past week.

Nevertheless, he insisted that you never quite get used to the size of the stage when it comes to the Ryder Cup.

“It’s the Ryder Cup, you’re nervous the entire time. I think as you go on in the week, like Friday morning, Friday morning is such an intense feeling to start. No matter how nervous you are, everybody else is feeling the same, and you have to remember that,” he said.

“The way me and Rory started and how well we played on that Friday morning, continuing that into the afternoon session, and then we had another good day.

“Again, I had amazing, amazing partners. The way those two guys played, it makes it a lot easier to play well and to be a good partner out there. You’re always very proud of whatever contribution you can give to the team. So yeah, individually, that felt great. But no, I don’t know what it looks like from the outside or how people see it or how people think. I feel very motivated. I was wanting so badly to do my part for the team last week and be a good teammate, whether you’re playing well or not, that’s what you want to do.”

A lot of American fans will appreciate Fleetwood’s comments about the atmosphere. But they will also be desperately hoping that he somehow loses whatever magic touch he has by the time the two teams head to Adare Manor.