Heather McMahan opens up on Rory McIlroy-Ryder Cup…
Heather McMahan is offering more particulars about the “international incident” she discovered herself in during the Ryder Cup after she was heard chanting “F–k you, Rory” with the gang forward of the second day of the match held on Long Island over the weekend.
McMahan spoke in depth about the incident, which led to her resignation as emcee at the first tee, and in the 41-minute episode of her “Absolutely Not with Heather McMahan” podcast, the actress and comic took accountability for her half in the mantra, while detailing the “negative” and “toxic” environment at Bethpage Black while she was making an attempt to hype up the gang.
“I would just like to say that I immediately did not like the energy and the vibe from when that started to happen. I will take full responsibility and sincerely apologize to Rory [McIlroy] and Team Europe for saying that,” McMahan said. “It was so foolish of me. I did not start the chant, I would just like that narrative to get out there. I did not start it, but any way I participated in that, even just saying it once, was so foolish and so silly of me.”
A clip of that second went viral and drew scorn from European golf followers and ultimately turned one of the memorable moments on a day when crowds heaped jeers and over-the-line feedback at Team Europe gamers, significantly at McIlroy.
Heather McMahan spoke on the Ryder Cup on her podcast. Absolutely Not with Heather McMahan/YouTube
McMahan said she felt the “energy” shift after that chant.
“It went from us trying to be fun and funny and get it going to immediately was just negative and felt really toxic,” she explained. “As soon as I said that I used to be like I don’t need any half of this. This was just getting bizarre and I don’t know how to control this crowd of 4,000 dudes at 5 o’clock in the morning, shouting loopy s–t.
“As soon as that happened, I immediately turned to my producer and said ‘let’s just get the DJ to play music. I don’t know what to do with this audience right now, so I’m not going to participate.”
Team Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy during the singles. REUTERS
The crowds at Bethpage Black have been widely criticized for their conduct, which led PGA of America to deploy extra security around McIlroy’s group after a number of incidents during Saturday’s afternoon session and for Sunday’s singles matches.
Social media has already been criticizing another clip posted on Saturday morning of a failed attempt to train the grandstands chants with the gamers’ names.
An attempt at combining a chant of Scottie Scheffler’s identify with the tune of “We Will Rock You” was described by Golf Digest as the “most cringeworthy moment in Ryder Cup history.”
“I’m hired as a comedian, but unfortunately the gig turned into a little bit more of a court jester, pep rally cheerleader and we were trying to figure it out as we went,” she said of the gig.”
Team Europe golfer Rory McIlroy walks off the 18th gap on the ultimate day of competitors for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
“The crowd started to get really fratty, really intense, really quick,” she added. “I don’t want to speak for everybody in the crowd. There were so many wonderful people there that were being lovely. But unfortunately, the energy and the way the crowd moved it was not the vibe.”
Europe ended up successful the Ryder Cup despite a comeback attempt by the Americans, and McIlroy spoke out about the feedback he confronted during the week after the match ended, calling it one thing that “we should ever accept” in golf.”
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