Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter has launched a scathing attack on American fans ahead of this year’s tournament at Bethpage Black. The prestigious team event is being held in the United States for the first time since 2021. Keegan Bradley will be hoping to lead the home side to glory in front of their own fans, while Luke Donald is eyeing back-to-back titles for Europe.
The visitors will be expecting a hostile atmosphere with American fans known for their raucous support at the Ryder Cup. Not everybody sees it as a good thing, though, with Poulter firmly in the opposite camp. The six-time winner unloaded on the home support in an extraordinary interview with SPORTbible, hitting out at the hecklers in a brutal dressing-down.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he said. “I mean, f****** ‘mashed potatoes’ and all that f****** b******* that you hear is madness. ‘In the hole, get in the hole!’ It’s a 600-yard par five, you f****** idiot.
“I actually just want to borrow the taser [from] the security guard just to let one go per hole would be amazing. Imagine that, you got one taser per hole. That’d be awesome. That’d go right between the eyes. Have it.”
Poulter described the nonsensical heckling from American fans as ‘complete and utter embarrassing stupidity’, pointing out how British fans would not stoop to those levels.
“We don’t get that at the Open Championship,” he added. “You don’t get it anywhere. It’s only in America the stupidness comes out. I mean, it’s just so annoying. It’s annoying. There’s no need for it, right?
“Our fans, when they come and watch golf, are very respectful. I’m not completely dissing the American fans because the atmosphere in America is amazing.”
It comes after Justin Rose played down the significance of the partisan American crowd, insisting that players will take no notice of the heckling once the Ryder Cup is in full swing.
He told National Club Golfer: “Medinah in Chicago was pretty hostile. I remember walking through the ropes and there’s grown men screaming at you. It was like an out-of-body experience, like, what is going on?
“But there comes a point where it just becomes noise and it just becomes colour and noise. If it gets to that point, then it won’t do us much harm.
“We’ll need to be ready for every eventuality. They’re New Yorkers, they’ve got to live up to being that rough, tough New York mentality. It’s dog-eat-dog.
“We’re expecting all of that to come to life, but the Ryder Cup is a very international event. There will be European support as well. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect, so I’m trying to go into it with eyes wide open and no preconceived ideas.”
