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The Ryder Cup has shown its reasonable proportion of heartwarming moments, but at the end of the day it is still an intense rivalry.
It feels like there’s more fist pumping during these three days golf than in the whole golf season.
And sometimes golfers get a little worn with their feelings. Here are some of the most heated moments in the history of the tournament.
Hats of
It is likely that the most intense moment in the Ryder Cup story, with tension that was good after games, occurred in the latest tournament.
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Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and Justin Leonard are parts of some of the most intense moments in the Ryder Cup story. (Getty Images)
First, we will rewind to earlier Saturday in 2023, when Patrick Cantlay didn’t have a hat because he claimed it didn’t fit him well. However, the speculation was that he was not paid to wear the sponsor -free hat or play, and that was a sign of protest. Ironically, the US players are paid this year, while Europeans are not, maybe providing some motivation for the team from abroad.
Back to golf. With this speculation that floated around the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, Cantlay was mocked by European fans waving their hats throughout the round. Well, the hatless cantlay drained a 43-foot Birdie Putt at 18 to get at least half a point. His teammates responded by returning the hat waves, like Cantlay’s Caddy, Joe Lacava.
However, Lacava may have taken it a little too far by waving the hat right in front of Rory McIlroy, who had a chance to tie the fight. It got a conversation between McIlroy and Lacava before Putt, where Lacava told Shane Lowry from the green to “shut down f — up.”
All parties seemed to be civilians at the end of the game, but McIlroy, still warm about the incident, actually had to be held back by Shane Lowry while taking his frustrations beyond Jim “Bones” McKay.
18 holes with fire
For a guy who once called the Ryder Cup an “exhibition” that he probably wouldn’t even fist pump pump, McIlroy is on this list a lot.
But while he is an important part of perhaps the greatest temperament-blinding moment in the history of the tournament, he also played an important factor in perhaps the most intense 18 holes ever.
When Europe needed a comeback at Hazeltine in 2016, they sent McIlroy first out to go against Patrick Reed, who wanted all the smoke.
Team United States Patrick Reed and Team Europe’s Rory McIlroy Shake Hands on the Green during the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. (Robert Beck/Sports Illustrated Via Getty Images)
While McIlroy would shoot the crowd, Reed would bow to them and it was a touchdown in the Super Bowl. The two even gave respect to each other when McIlroy drained a 45-foot and screamed emphatically, and Reed replied by making his birdie and cradling his finger. The Duo-Nyt fist bumped and clapped each other on the back.
From a Tiger Woods Major Victory to the 2025 Ryder Cup, here is the story of Bethpage Black
In a 2025 Ryder Cup feature, McIlroy admitted that they both wasted a ton of energy on the front nine, but the match still went through 18.
If you ever want to know about the fire that can occur at the Ryder Cup, feel free to watch this match online.
Premature party
The United States was in the middle of ending the biggest comeback in the Ryder Cup story in 1999 on Brookline.
After 10-6 who entered Sunday’s singles, no team had ever made up even a two-point deficit on the last day to win the cup. Ben Crenshaw held the famous finger up Saturday night and said he had a “good feeling” on Sunday.
And understandably. Team USA won each of the first seven single matches for sudden leaders, 13-10. Europe earned two points, but Jim Furyk beat Sergio Garcia to take a 14-12 lead.
Necessary half a point to win the Ryder Cup, drained Justin Leonard a 40-foot birdie-putt on the 17th hole, causing absolute madness on the green. Players, wives and apparently cameramen stormed the green, all while Jose Maria Olazabal still had a put to keep the fight tied. The cameramans apparently entered Olazabal’s line and affected his putt. Olazabal missed out and got us to their half points.
Fans storm the 18th fairway after the last twin at the 33rd Ryder Cup in Brookline, Massachusetts on September 26, 1999. (Bill Greene/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
A headline in London Evening Standard read: “How to win a cup but lose all dignity.” Olazabal called the green ruckus “an ugly picture to see,” and European-Vice Captain Sam Torrance said Team USA should have been “ashamed.”
Europe would get its revenge by winning each of the next three Ryder Cups, with the latter two each with nine points.
Awake eyes
Seve Ballesteros and Paul Azinger had a dispute in the Ryder Cup 1989, but tension continued two years later on Kiawah Island.
Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal were paired together against Azinger and Chip Beck. The Spaniards caught the Americans who changed the type of ball they used depending on the wind that is against the rules. The Americans denied it first, but admitted it after it was revealed that they would not be punished when the Spaniards confronted them too late.
The Americans were confronted on the 10th hole and it became the most important source of many calls by Europeans demanding the game crew of Team USA in the coming years.
