Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@NicholasTeigen
Topics: Ryder Cup, Golf, United States
Ryan Smart
Fans queueing to watch the start of the 2025 Ryder Cup were caught up in chaos after an electrical power line exploded outside the course.
This year's event takes place at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.
The first foursomes match got underway at around 7am local time, with the USA team of Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas taking on Europe's Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton.
But there was major concern outside the venue minutes before the action got underway.
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Footage posted by a fan showed an electrical power line near one of the entrances to the course catching fire, before a significant explosion took place.
Several fans ducked for cover after there was a brief flash of white light.
Officials had to re-route the entrance to the course, causing delays for fans waiting to get in - though there appeared to be no injuries.
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An officer outside the Bethpage Black course told The Sun: "An electrical line came down on the crowd. There was a loud bang.
"We had to reroute the entrance. This [the entrance] wasn't meant to be like this."
Ryder Cup officials are expecting 50,000 fans to attend the event per day, as USA look to end a streak of three consecutive defeats.
Anyone not American on the first tee has been greeted with major hostility from the majority of those in attendance as they look to create a cauldron for the host nation to play in.
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That hostility has caused some to think twice about travelling the course, though - including the parents of British star Matt Fitzpatrick.
The Sheffield-born golfer, who is lining up alongside Sweden's Ludvig Aberg on day one, told The Times: "They didn't have a great experience in Whistling Straits [the venue when the USA last hosted in 2021].
"There is no denying they had a bad experience in the past, but there's no reason why it has to be like that this time."