Rory McIlroy, the pro-golfer from Co Down, and his wife Erica Stoll have received an apology from Derek Sprague, the CEO of PGA America, for the abuse they received at the Ryder Cup last week.
“I sent a long email to share with Rory and Erica and just told him that we will do better in the future,” Sprague told The Athletic in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
“I’m the CEO now. I don’t condone this type of behavior. This is not good for the game of golf. It’s not good for the Ryder Cup. It’s not good for any of the professional athletes, and we will do better.”
Sprague, who took over as CEO of PGA America in January, told The Athletic that he had a lengthy phone call with McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty, on Wednesday morning, in which he apologized and asked O’Flaherty to share a letter with the McIlroys.
Sprague mentioned he has known Rory's wife Erica since her time working with the PGA of America last decade.
Sprague went on to tell The Athletic: “I’m disappointed in fan behavior, disappointed in the first tee and the emcee that it’s just that’s not who we are.
“And I was just really, really, really disappointed.”
He went on to admit: “It’s hard to define what crosses the line, right?”
“You almost have to be there, and when we were getting reports of those incidents, the security — state police or private or whoever — we were dealing with those as they came up.
"We threw out a number of people, or we moved people to other places away from the matches if they were heckling certain players of that match.”
Sprague added thaty in the coming weeks, the PGA of America and the DP World Tour will do a debrief to discuss the events of the 2025 Ryder Cup and how to improve conditions for Ireland, the host country for the 2027 Ryder Cup.
“We will make sure that we focus on what the Ryder Cup is all about,” Sprague told The Athletic.
“It’s about decorum and sportsmanship and integrity. The game has the highest values in all of sports, and we need to sort of have a guiding light to focus on from both sides of every match.”
During the tournament staged at Bethpage Black on Long Island in New York, McIlroy, his wife, and European teammates fielded explicit insults and taunts.
Imagine not only thinking this is acceptable behavior but also then posting it online. Pretty gross. pic.twitter.com/z3THbr7bUT
— Zephyr Melton (@zephyrmelton) September 29, 2025
At one point, McIlroy's Irish teammate and clsoe pal Shane Lowry had to be held back as the jeers intensified:
Shane Lowry just had to be held back from going after someone in the crowd...
I’ve never seen anything like this at a golf tournament before. pic.twitter.com/5G2sS90u2o
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) September 27, 2025
Footage on social media also appears to show a drink being thrown at Rory's wife, Erica.
Here’s the full scene as Rory McIlroy’s wife Erica got hit with a beer (glanced off her hat) on Saturday afternoon.
Rory and Lowry had just won on 18 and he was coming back to 17 to cheer on the groups behind — and celebrate with Euro fans.
Looked like someone hit the drink out… pic.twitter.com/vdG4mAny1s
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) September 28, 2025
Despite the abuse, McIlroy's Team Europe narrowly edged Team USA to win the Ryder Cup 15-13.
Speaking to reporters after the big win, McIlroy condemned the abuse: "I don't think we should ever accept that [behavior] in golf.
"I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week.
"Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people.
"Sometimes this week, we didn't see that. So no, this should not be what is acceptable in the Ryder Cup.
"But you know, we will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable.
"For me, it's - you know, come and support your home team. Come and support your team. I think if I was an American, I would be annoyed that people - I didn't hear a lot of shouts for Scottie today, but I heard a lot of shouts against me.
"It's like, support your players. That's the thing."
"It was a rough week for all of us, but at the same time, we shut them up by our performance and how we played.
"I chirped back a few times because it got to me a few times, but we tried to handle everything that came our way with class and poise, and for the most part, I feel we did that."
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