Tyrrell Hatton rejects Keegan Bradley’s take on Ryder Cup crowds after Bethpage abuse

“I thought the fans were passionate,” he said, as reported by the Guardian. “I mean, their home team is getting beat bad. They are passionate fans. 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. I was happy to see our players trying to quieten down some people that were like that.”

Hatton disagreed when asked about Bradley’s comments before this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“Personally, I don’t think they were close at all,” he said. “I certainly, with what I heard last week, I don’t think Rome comes anywhere near that. To be honest, personally, I don’t agree with what they both said there.”

“I don’t know what else to add to that,” Hatton continued. “I think they are quite far apart to be honest.”

Tyrrell Hatton explains how he managed the crowd abuse at Bethpage

Players handled the crowd noise in different ways. Rory McIlroy, for instance, didn’t shy away from it, and Paul Azinger later criticised him for some of his reactions.

Hatton, known for wearing his emotions on his sleeve, might have been an obvious target before play even began.

He spoke about why he felt able to handle it over the course of the week.

“To be honest, I think some guys on the team had a lot worse than others. For me personally, yeah, there was a lot of insults maybe around height or hairline or weight, some of which I pretty much said to myself anyway, so it wasn’t like anything new,” he added.

“How I went about last week – I don’t feel like I did anything to wind up the crowd. If I celebrated, it was generally toward my teammates or with my caddie. That’s just how I dealt with everything. And certainly Friday and Saturday – I was really happy with how I managed my emotions on the golf course. Even if I hit bad shots – didn’t overly react. Pretty calm.”

“Sunday is a different beast,” he continued. “You’re out there by yourself and you don’t have your teammates there with you as you do in doubles and foursomes.“I think that’s when maybe it’s easier to let things get to you or little things kind of build up inside.”

The Ryder Cup needs passion from fans outside the ropes and that’s part of what makes this event stand out from everything else in golf.

But there were moments at Bethpage that clearly crossed a line and left a mark on what should have been remembered as another memorable edition of one of sport’s great events.