Collin Morikawa insists his Ryder Cup comments were ‘taken out of context’ as he defends himself after Bethpage Black

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Team USA played their part in the out-of-control crowd at Bethpage Black during the Ryder Cup. 

Everybody knew what to expect from the New York crowd entering the Ryder Cup. Luke Donald spent months preparing his team for the atmosphere in the build-up to the event. It was the Americans’ big advantage, and the reason they were favourites before the tournament. 

In the days leading up to the Ryder Cup, Keegan Bradley and his team did everything possible to generate a raucous atmosphere. Bradley ran down the fairway with an American flag and selected Bryson DeChambeau to tee off first on Friday to get the crowd fired up. 

Collin Morikawa said he wanted ‘absolute chaos’ from the fans at Bethpage Black before the tournament, and that’s exactly what he got. State Troopers had to be called in to handle the abuse hurled at Rory McIlroy and others. 

But Morikawa accepts no responsibility for the crowd’s behavior, and claims his comments were taken out of context. 

Collin Morikawa says Ryder Cup fan behavior ‘not on me’ 

In the week leading up to the Ryder Cup, Morikawa said, “I’ll be honest, I think it’s kind of tame so far, Tuesday and Wednesday… I hope Friday is just absolute chaos. I’m all for it.”

Speaking to reporters before the Baycurrent Classic, the American was asked whether he had any regrets about those comments. Morikawa explained why he doesn’t.

He said, “I think we’ve taken what I said a little out of context. I think Ryder Cups are meant to have a lot of energy, right, and I think me saying the word ‘chaos,’ I didn’t mean for them to be rude, right?

“So like that’s not on me, I believe, for me to take credit for people being rude. I think what I meant was like I wanted energy, right? You wanted people to be proud of the country, the countries they’re rooting for.

“So I don’t think me saying one word, everyone listened and then — I don’t think I have the power to do that amongst people. I think fans can do and say what they want sometimes. It probably crossed a line out there. It wasn’t in my groups but definitely what people were hearing.

“So I would say yeah, there’s a line that needs to be drawn, I believe.

“But I think that’s what’s so different and unique about golf is that we hear nearly everything what people say because people have access to be so close to us. You look at a lot of other sports, you don’t really hear much.

“Things are said, but golf has that different aspect to it. So I think you have to learn how to find that division of what’s appropriate and what’s not.”

Morikawa and Russell Henley were paired against McIlroy on Friday and Saturday morning. Before they played on Saturday, McIlroy put his hands to his ears while facing the crowd on the first tee. 

While Morikawa’s match with McIlroy didn’t feature the worst of the crowd behavior, it was where the fans began to turn on the Northern Irishman. It’s hard to believe that none of the abuse took place in that group.

Collin Morikawa looks to bounce back from Ryder Cup

Two weeks on from the Ryder Cup, and Morikawa is back in action. He went winless at Bethpage Black, continuing his disappointing form from 2025, and now needs a run of positive results going into 2026.

Morikawa said that he will do some introspection after the tournament in the hopes of returning to his major-winning form.

He said, “After this week I’ll have a little bit of time off to really reflect and look back at the season and see what I need to keep doing well and keep needing to do better.”

Morikawa is one of the shortest hitters on the PGA Tour, and that held him back at Bethpage Black. The way Bradley set up the Ryder Cup course punished players like Morikawa, completely neutralizing his biggest strength: accuracy. 

The Ryder Cup was a putting contest, and that’s been an inconsistent area of his game. He’s lost strokes on the green in nine of his last 10 events.

Morikawa said the Baycurrent Classic featured “some of the best greens I think we’ve played on on Tour”, so there’s no better place for him to fix his putting problems.

That has to be the priority for Morikawa entering 2026 if he’s going to survive against his hard-hitting competitors.