This wasn’t how it was meant to end.
Donald Trump—the world’s most famous golf nut—became the first sitting president to attend a Ryder Cup on Friday, flying in on Air Force One to give his backing to the American team in their attempt to wrest back the trophy from Europe.
With the blockbuster tournament taking place at Bethpage Black, near his home in New York, Trump had hoped his appearance—which saw some U.S. supporters chant his name—would gee up the players.
Instead, they were obliterated on the course by a rampant European team and—worse—shamed off it, by the conduct of a vocal minority of fans who abused the European players and even threw a drink over the wife of Rory McIlroy.
After Europe won a contest on Sunday that was much tighter than it could have been after the first two days, the victorious team delivered the ultimate troll to the U.S. president, chanting with glee on video: “Are you watching, Donald Trump?”
Trump responded to defeat with unusual good grace, posting the clip to Truth Social along with the caption: “Yes, I’m watching. Congratulations!”
Trump’s conciliatory tone was even more notable given the 72 hours that preceded it, which had embarrassed America on the global stage.
Fans’ behaviour went beyond the accepted good-natured Ryder Cup ribbing and descended into homophobic slurs and insults aimed at players’ wives. Even the first-tee’s official master of ceremonies, comedian Heather McMahan, was forced to stand down after encouraging a chant of “F–k you Rory!”
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
“What happened here didn’t invent the tone of American life so much as reflect what’s been an incremental breakdown in public behavior,” wrote The Guardian’s Brian Armen Graham.
“The country now lives in all-caps, from school-board meetings that sound like street rallies and comment sections that have spilled into the street.
“Some might argue golf, in the U.S. particularly, has always been a sport for white conservatives, but it’s hard to remember galleries calling opposing players “f—–s” and openly deriding their wives until recently. What could have changed?”
Others were even clearer in apportioning blame. John O’Brennan, a prominent Irish political scientist, described the fans as “a physical manifestation of the cancer of Trumpism.”
The Ryder Cup has always been lively, and has been getting more and more so in the past few years, but this weekend marked a new low.
So low, in fact, that the U.S. fans who behaved so atrociously at Bethpage Black have since been shown up by the good grace of Donald J. Trump, their very own Troll-in-Chief.
The post Trump Admits He Saw Europe‘s Ryder Cup Golfers Trolling Him appeared first on The Daily Beast.
