Rory McIlroy has spoken out after his wife, Erica Stoll, was hit by a flying beer during a tense Ryder Cup in New York.
The 36-year-old golfer was caught in the middle of a hostile crowd as Europe sealed a 15-13 victory over the US at Bethpage Black, just their third win on American soil since 2004.
But the tension boiled over when Erica, who walked with the Northern Irishman during much of the tournament, was struck by a plastic cup after a fan slapped it from someone’s hand near the 17th green.
A video shared online showed McIlroy wiping beer off the top of her hat and comforting her.
“She handled it with class and dignity”
Speaking after the match, McIlroy praised Erica for handling the abuse with “class, poise and dignity,” despite being targeted by fans throughout the week.
“Erica is fine. She’s a very, very strong woman,” he said, cited by The Telegraph. “You know, she handled everything this week with class and poise and dignity like she always has. I love her and we’re going to have a good time celebrating tonight.”
Along with the beer incident, Erica also faced chants and jeers from the crowd, including digs about the couple’s brief divorce filing last year and baseless online rumors tied to it.
“Golf should be held to a higher standard”
The five-time major winner added that the scenes in New York should serve as a wake-up call for the sport.
“Look, I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf,” McIlroy said. “I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons... Sometimes this week we didn’t see that.”
The golfer's teammates were quick to rally around him and Erica in the aftermath. “Can I just pick up on that, if you don’t mind, because I actually had no idea that Erica had a beer thrown at her yesterday, so fair play to Erica,” said Justin Rose.
“She didn’t bring that to the team room. We didn’t make that a big deal. That’s news to me. That says a lot about the strength of Erica and everybody on this team," he said.
Shane Lowry added: “I was out there for two days with Erica McIlroy, and the amount of abuse that she received was astonishing... kudos to her for that.”
Their comments drew cheers from Team Europe. Captain Luke Donald echoed the sentiment: “It was rough. It was brutal at times out there. It really was. It was nasty sometimes.”
Targeted chants and rubber ducks
McIlroy was met with chants of “F*** you, Rory” on the first tee on both Friday and Saturday - with Saturday’s jeers reportedly led by a PGA of America emcee.
The abuse continued through Sunday, when fans disrupted his backswing with squeaky rubber ducks linked to a drink called “Cherry Fairway Fizz.”
“I wish they had let the dogs off the leashes,” he joked about the heavy security. “There was a lot of language that was unacceptable and abusive behaviour.”
Despite the abuse, McIlroy delivered a key fourballs win on Saturday and finished with 3½ points from five matches.
“It was a rough week for all of us,” he said. “But at the same time, we shut them up by our performance and how we played. I chirped back a few times... but we tried to handle everything with class and poise."
According to The Independent, the golfer has now urged fans to set a better example when the Ryder Cup heads to Ireland.
“We will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable,” McIlroy said. “Come and support your home team. Support your team.”