Tommy Fleetwood defends American Ryder Cup fans despite Rory McIlroy abuse

But Tommy Fleetwood has since spoken up in defence of most American fans. Ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he pointed out that it wouldn’t be fair or helpful to paint everyone with the same brush.

“There’s a big difference between a hostile environment and personal comments. Again, I think we were all prepared for it,” he said.

“Of all the talk that there’s been, it’s not about the entire U.S. fans or the crowd. Like I don’t think that we should be sort of using that as a whole.”

“I have so many friends that are Americans and that were at the Ryder Cup, people close to me, saying, I’ve got to support my own team, things like that. That’s just what it is. You’re going to get a tough environment when you get to an away Ryder Cup.”

“Yeah, personal comments can go too far and you obviously hope that doesn’t happen again or shouldn’t happen.”

“But it’s just so out of our control and I think Keegan and — you just have to understand what you’re getting into and what you’re there for and go play golf.”

Tommy Fleetwood reflects on Team Europe’s bus ride back to the hotel after their win

Europe had the final say with their win, even if it ended up being tighter than most people anticipated. In the days since, plenty of content has surfaced from inside their camp.

Much like in 2023, the trip back to the hotel turned into a celebration. Fleetwood spoke about what it meant to share that experience again.

“Yeah, the bus ride in Rome, since that one, it was so spontaneous and the best bus ride we’ve ever had in Rome. All of us, like without mentioning it, all of us I think had an image of that bus ride on the way home from the golf course to the hotel at Bethpage at the end of the week,” he added.

“When you think of, there’s so many moments that you can pick beforehand in terms of a vision or as a goal, whether it be someone holing a putt like Shane did to win; you can envision that moment. Or you can envision Luke lifting the trophy in the ceremony. But the bus ride was one of those things, and you know it’s going to be a high. You know it’s going to feel amazing.

“So yeah, we were all looking forward to that journey, and it’s becoming — it will be tricky at Adare Manor because we will be staying on site. If we can get one to go around the block for a while? Yeah – that one we were excited about.”

Fleetwood talks about his record-breaking performance

The 33-year-old has now taken his tally up to 12 points from 17 matches played and topped this year’s event as leading scorer overall – beating both sides across all competitions.

No matter how much experience players have under their belt when playing for Team Europe or even when they are new faces taking part for only their first time – nothing quite compares until stepping onto that iconic stage itself; something which even someone who plays regularly still feels every time they walk out there according to Tommy himself:

“The way me and Rory started and how well we played on that Friday morning – continuing into afternoon session – then another good day following too.”