Collin Morikawa was part of the unsuccessful American Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black this year.
Morikawa was selected as a captain’s pick by Keegan Bradley for the US Ryder Cup team, despite his very poor form over the second half of the 2025 season.
Unsurprisingly, the 28-year-old lost two and halved one of the three matches that he played at Bethpage Black.
Bradley received huge criticism for pairing Morikawa with Harris English at the Ryder Cup in the foursomes both on Friday and Saturday.
And in fairness, the fact that Morikawa was selected for the Ryder Cup team in the first place was questionable to say the least.
The European team won the Ryder Cup by a margin of two points in the end, in spite of a fantastic fightback from the Americans during the Sunday singles matches.
Many fans and pundits suggested that one of the main reasons why the Europeans won was because they are a more tightly-knit group than the US team.
Collin Morikawa says if European Ryder Cup players get along better than US stars
The two-time major champion, his American teammates and, of course, captain Bradley, received huge criticism after the Europeans won the trophy for the sixth time over the past eight editions of the competition and the 11th time over the past 15 showdowns.
So why are the Europeans so dominant in the competition since the mid-1990s?
Morikawa was speaking on the Fore Play Podcast Plus about the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black and he was asked to give his opinion on the notion that the European players are closer friends than the US guys are.
He said: “That’s where the media kind of goes in the wrong direction. Like they might say that the Euros are all best friends and they go do stuff together.
“It’s like, no one hates each other in our team-room. We’re all mixing up our dinner tables, like if you want to sit with him or him, etc.
“That’s where people who don’t watch golf who want to tune in for a week and a half and they’re like … I mean i got called out for asking for chaos from the fans at the Ryder Cup like I’m the sole reason why people were saying ridiculous things.
“Look, the US team, it’s nice to have the consistency and all that, but we do a good job. This year it was great because we all went to Napa and we hung out, not that we needed to, but it just brings everyone together. Like you said, to throw everyone together for one week is a lot harder.
“Half the guys I have known for over half of my life, that’s just the nature of what we do.“
Collin Morikawa defended his Ryder Cup ‘chaos’ comments
Morikawa received much of the blame after some of the Ryder Cup fan behavior at Bethpage turned nasty.
That was because he called for ‘chaos’ from the US fans before the event began. However, the 28-year-old defended himself a couple of weeks after the Ryder Cup finished.
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.”
That’s a fair point from Morikawa. There has to be a line drawn somewhere, and unfortunately, some of the US fans crossed that line during the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
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