USA captain Keegan Bradley called out a reporter after he was asked about a series of fan incidents during the first two days of the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Europe stars have received major hostility from the American supporters in attendance at Bethpage Black, New York - with a number of fans crossing the line.
Rory McIlroy told a group of spectators to 'shut the f**k up' on Saturday after he was repeatedly heckled during his backswing.
Team-mate Shane Lowry was held back from confronting another fan during the evening's foursomes, while one of the MCs for the three-day tournament apologised to McIlroy and resigned after being filmed leading a chant of 'F**k you Rory' earlier in the day.
Team USA declined interview requests on Saturday evening after they ended the day 11.5 to 4.5 points behind, with 12 points up for grabs in the singles matches on Sunday.
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Bradley was therefore the sole American representative on media duty - and he understandably faced a series of questions not only about his team's performance, but also the behaviour of fans in attendance.
The 39-year-old - who earned enough points to play for USA but decided not to choose himself - defended the fans as 'passionate' and added: "I mean, their home team is getting beat pretty bad. They are passionate fans ... You're always going to have a few people that cross the line and that's unfortunate. I was happy to see our players trying to quieten down some people that were like that."
During McIlroy and Lowry's fourballs match against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young, Thomas was seen on numerous occasions asking fans to calm down.
But Bradley took issue when a reporter asked whether other members of Team USA had contributed negatively towards the hostile atmosphere experienced by McIlroy, Lowry and co.
Collin Morikawa - who lost all three of his pairs matches - told reporters on Wednesday that the crowd during practice days had been 'kind of tame', and added: "I hope Friday is just absolute chaos. I'm all for it. I think it feeds into who we are and the American players and the American team. We want it. Like we want to use that to our advantage."
Bradley said: "Ryder Cups are wild. I don't appreciate those words that you just said. I know what you're trying to do.
"The Ryder Cup is full of passionate fans, full of passionate players."
Topics: Golf, Ryder Cup, United States, Rory Mcilroy
Ryan Smart