Amidst the Ryder Cup excitement, Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton reignited the America-Europe debate.

Three months ago, Poulter and Hatton appeared on an episode of ‘Agree To Disagree’ by SPORTbible. They reacted to the statement, ‘American golf fans are better than European golf fans.’ And both of them strongly disagreed. 

Poulter said, “It’s not heckling. It’s just complete and utter embarrassing stupidity. We don’t get that at the Open Championship. You don’t get it anywhere. Like, it’s only in America the stupidness comes out.”

Poulter kept the banter light as he explained, "I’m not completely dissing the American fans, because the atmosphere in America is amazing."

And that's when Hatton chimed in, saying, "There are a number of times in the States where you can hit a four-iron to, say 15 feet, and that’s a great shot, but no one up at the greens clapped. And you’re kinda like, ‘Oh.’ You thought you’d miss the green. You can’t see where the ball’s finished. You get up there, and you’re like, ‘It’s a tough crowd!"

These comments turned against Team Europe at the Ryder Cup

Just days after, right before the final day of the 2025 Ryder Cup, heckling at Bethpage became the topic of conversation after Rory McIlroy and his wife had fans throwing comments their way. In fact, PGA of America chief executive, Derek Sprague, admitted his intention to apologise to the couple.

At the time, Hatton urged European fans to stay calm and let the team play as they would.

"I would much prefer it to be a respectful atmosphere. You let the guys play and the best team wins – rather than trying to affect the outcome by trying to put off players or things like that. I don’t think it will be as hostile as maybe it was last week. I’d like to think that it will be very respectful."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Written by

Krushna Pattnaik

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar