Rory McIlroy and his European team-mates clashed with abusive American fans as the Ryder Cup turned ugly on Long Island.
And Luke Donald’s fearless side responded with a gorgeous display of match play golf – and led in all four matches at one stage during a chaotic and highly-charged day.
Europe will take a massive seven-shot lead into the final day seeking a first away win for either side since 2012. The only miracle here is if Keegan Bradley’s bedraggled team finally win a session.
Tommy Fleetwood won all four of his matches and now has the highest ever win percentage of a European player (75%) who has played more than 10. And world No.1 Scottie Scheffler summed up the American effort by becoming the first man since 1979 to lose all four of his pairs matches at a Ryder Cup.
The biggest opposition in this one-sided contest came from the hostile American crowd. Even requests on the electronic scoreboards to respect golf “etiquette” were booed.
At one point, Shane Lowry even had to call on European fans to calm down with police, state troopers and bodyguards – along with police dogs – trying to restore order.
Team Europe had rehearsed for the raucous atmosphere here with virtual reality headsets able to dish out personalised insults
But even by New York standards, the heckling was horrible and personal and crossed the line at a sporting event. European Wags left the course and police dogs came out.
And team talisman and top-ranked player McIlroy was the biggest target but he remained unbeaten and unbowed.
“When you play an away Ryder Cup, it’s really, really challenging” said the Masters champion. “People can be their own judge of whether they took it too far or not. I’m just proud of us for being able to win today with what we had to go through.”
After Europe took a three-point Friday lead, the second day had started with the Masters champion blowing kiss to home supports who chanted: “**** You, Rory!” on the first tee of the morning foursomes.
But the noise only grew along with the beer consumption. Comments were shouted about McIlroy’s American wife – and US TV presenter Amanda Balionis.
After more heckling on the 16th fairway, the Ulsterman turned and told fans: “Guys, shut the **** up!”He then firing his wedge to three feet on the 16th green to win his match with Tommy Fleetwood. Europe again won the morning foursomes 3-1.
But the noise only grew along with the beer consumption as the day wore on.
After more expletive-laden abuse on the fourth green, Lowry drained an eagle putt and turned to the crowd and gave some back.
And McIlroy called in the referee – and police and state troopers intervened – as he waited four minutes for the din to stop on the 6th green before the Irish duo closed out the opening fourballs match with five straight birdies. They celebrated everyone.
Lowry said: “it was intense. It was like something I’ve never experienced. But this is what I live for. This is it. This is, like, honestly, the reason I get up in the morning, for stuff like this. This is what I love doing. I love being a part of this team. I really want us to win this tournament.”
The chaos nearly got worse after Justin Rose emulated McIlroy in Rome by confronting an American caddie during a heated Saturday afternoon match.
The former Olympic champion was unhappy with Bryson DeChambeau’s bagman Greg Bodine walking on the green as he prepared to putt on the 15th green.
And it led to vice-captain Francesco Mollinari and even the affable Tommy Fleetwood getting involved with DeChambeau and Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott.
Rose, who nailed the winning putt on the 16th, said: “It was a shame that the match got to that point because it was actually a really great match. “Maybe I didn’t say it as politely as I could have said it in the moment, but by no means was there any disrespect or anything like that, but obviously it was taken the wrong way.”
At one point Europe led in all the fourball matches before JJ Spaun and Xander Schauffele claimed a late point. But English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick sealed the 3-1 afternoon win as chants of “Ole, Ole, Ole” rang around the course.
