Rory Mcllroy dragged away after squaring up to caddie in car park
Sports can often cause tensions to rise between fans, but do you expect the same from players and crew?
Well, they certainly boiled over after one Northern Irish golfer decided he’d had enough and called out a Team USA caddie in the car park.
Rory McIlroy had to be held back by Shane Lowry during an altercation with Justin Thomas' caddie at the Ryder Cup on Saturday (30 September).
According to reports, McIlroy entered into an argument with the caddie, which started on the grass and ended in the car park, and allegedly shouted, 'that's f***ing disgraceful' after the caddie ‘upset’ the player during the 18th hole.
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Europe captain Luke Donald went on to speak to the media, as per TalkSPORT, to confirm that McIlroy wasn’t happy with caddie, Joe LaCava for stepping on his line.
Donald said: "Rory politely asked Joe to move aside. He was in his line.”
"He stood there and didn’t move for a while and continued to wave his hat. So I think Rory was upset about that.”
Initially, the game was going well with McIlroy one up with two to play alongside Matt Fitzpatrick until Patrick Cantlay snatched a 1up victory at the last moment.
It was then that the American team retaliated to some not-so-nice taunting from European fans by waving their caps back at the Ryder Cup crowd, who believed that Cantlay wasn’t wearing his team’s hat in protest at not being paid to play.
All seemed to be slightly tense until caddie LaCava appeared to step over the line of a European putt to wave his own cap too, sparking the altercation with McIlroy.
Sky Sports reported that McIlroy said of the incident: "They played a great match, and yeah, I mean, a few scenes there on 18 and just fuel for the fire tomorrow."
Donald added: "Obviously I was on 18 and I saw it unfold,"
"When Patrick (Cantlay) made that putt, Joe (LaCava) was waving his hat - there was some hat-waving going on throughout the day from the crowd, not our players.”
But Donald seems to be supporting McIlroy over the incident on the 18th hole, giving his perspective to the media in the aftermath.
He added: "I talked to Rory and he politely asked Joe to move aside as he was in his line of vision, he stood there and didn't move for a while and continued to wave the hat and I think Rory was upset about that.”
"Rory (McIlroy) felt the line was crossed on the 18th green. He is a passionate player - we all are in this event - and I will speak to him later about it."
Britt Jones