Ryder Cup MC who led abusive Saturday chants at Rory McIlroy steps down from role
SWEET AND SOUR: Rory McIlroy celebrates on the 18th green after he and team-mate Shane Lowry defeated Justin Thomas and Cameron Young 2 up in the Saturday afternoon four-balls. Pic: Carl Recine/Getty Images
The US PGA's Ryder Cup MC who led chants of “F--- you Rory!” on the first tee on Saturday has stepped back from her role with immediate effect, it's been confirmed.
Heather McMahan, 38, a comedian and actress, has apologised to Rory McIlroy for leading the chants. Said a statement from the PGA of America: “Heather has extended an apology to Rory Mcllroy and Ryder Cup Europe and has stepped down from hosting the first tee of the Ryder Cup.”
McMahan, is best known for her role in the romantic comedy Love Hard, and has released a stand-up comedy show on Netflix called Son I Never Had. McMahan, who previously described herself as a “golf widow”, was at Bethpage where she was employed by PGA of America while also working with sponsors.
The move came as European captain Luke Donald accused American fans of "crossing the line" after a fractious second day at Bethpage Black.
The visiting players, most notably McIlroy, were subjected to heckling throughout both sessions of Saturday's play. Comments were repeatedly aimed at McIlroy as he prepared to play shots.
At one point in the morning the Irish man told the heckling galleries to 'shut the f*ck up' and his afternoon match was held up a number of times as appeals for calm - some from opponent Justin Thomas - were made.
Donald said: "It was loud, it was raucous. What I consider crossing the line is personal insults and making sounds when they are trying to hit on their backswings or very close to when they are trying to go into their routines. That did happen a little bit."
McIlroy and partner Shane Lowry heard much of the abuse sent Europe's way, repeatedly clashing with fans on their way to a win in their match with Thomas and Cameron Young.
McIlroy described it as a "really challenging day" while Lowry seemed to relish the atmosphere.
"It was intense. It was like something I've never experienced," he said. "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."
McIlroy said: "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."
The clashes were not only with the crowd. Bryson DeChambeau screamed in the face of Tommy Fleetwood after his partner Justin Rose had complained about DeChambeau's caddy Greg Bodine walking across the line of his putt - with players and caddies getting involved in the spat.
"I was ready to hit my putt," Rose said. "I didn't feel like that space was being honoured. I made my feelings known. Asked him to move. Maybe not as politely as I could have done, but in the scenario, it's coming down the stretch, we both have a lot on our minds and it's intense out there."
Ultimately, Europe shut out the noise to win both sessions convincingly on Saturday and open up a commanding 11.5-4-5 lead.
"It's something we prepared for and we can see, I think, how well they have dealt with it," Donald said.
US captain Keegan Bradley reacted angrily to suggestions that he or his players might have been responsible for some of the more unsavoury aspects of crowd behaviour.
Bradley has notably been trying to rally fans throughout the week and ran down the 18th fairway with a giant US flag on the final practice day.
Collin Morikawa, meanwhile, said he hoped fans would bring "absolute chaos".
"Ryder Cups are wild I don't appreciate those words that you just said," retorted Bradley in a press conference. "I know what you're trying to do. The Ryder Cup is full of passionate fans, they're full of passionate players.
"That isn't right. I thought the fans were passionate. I wasn't at Rome but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well. But the fans of New York, from what I have seen, have been pretty good.
"You're always going to have a few people that cross the line and that's unfortunate."
DeChambeau/Young (USA) beat Aberg/Fitzpatrick (Eur) 4&2 Fleetwood/McIlroy (Eur) beat English/Morikawa (USA) 3&2 Hatton/Rahm (Eur) beat Cantlay/Schauffele (USA) 3&2 Hovland/MacIntyre (Eur) beat Henley/Scheffler (USA) 1up.
McIlroy/Lowry (Eur) beat Thomas/Young (USA) 2up Fleetwood/Rose (Eur) beat Scheffler/DeChambeau (USA) 3&2 Spaun/Schauffele (USA) beat Rahm/Straka (Eur) 1up Fitzpatrick/Hatton (Eur) beat Burns/Cantlay (USA) 1up
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