The unprecedented action European players were very close to taking as Ryder Cup heckling turned nasty

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The atmosphere at Bethpage Black during the Ryder Cup was electric but as we all know, things grew more and more toxic as the week went on.

Team Europe won the Ryder Cup despite a hugely impressive fightback from the Americans at Bethpage Black on Sunday

Small sections of US Ryder Cup fans disgraced themselves with the torrents of abuse they aimed at Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in particular.

However, they weren’t the only two European players who received personal insults throughout the week on Long Island.

• Read also: The truth about Bethpage Black and the American fans from three Europeans who were there

The PGA of America President Don Rea gave the European Ryder Cup team a watered down apology but the way that he made light of some of the abuse hurled at the players made his words seem hollow.

The key moving forward will be for the powers that be at the PGA of America to ensure that the kind of behavior on display at Bethpage is never repeated.

If nothing changes, and the personal abuse of the European players continues at the next Ryder Cup in America, perhaps something serious will need to happen.

By all accounts, it almost did at Bethpage…

The unprecedented action European players were prepared to take at the Ryder Cup

We all want to see partisan support at the Ryder Cup – it’s what makes the contest between the US and Europe so exciting to watch.

The real shame about what happened at Bethpage was that a small minority of American fans were more interested in abusing the European players than they were in supporting their own team.

Who knows what the outcome would have been had all of the American fans been right behind their players rather than wasting energy on spouting vitriol in the direction of the European players.

Things got so bad on Saturday at the Ryder Cup that the European players were prepared to take unprecedented action as things began to get nasty, according to a report from The Telegraph.

The British publication explained: “The entire Europe team were prepared to down tools if the hecklers began shouting during their swings. At that stage, the Ryder Cup could have witnessed an unprecedented stoppage until the players and Europe captain Luke Donald were assured it would not happen again.“

That would have been quite the statement of intent from Team Europe.

Hopefully it never comes to that in the future.

However, if similar levels of toxicity are on display at future Ryder Cups, perhaps the team on the receiving end of the abuse need to make a groundbreaking statement like walking off the course.

That would be one way of invoking real change.

PGA of America finally reach out to Rory McIlroy after the Ryder Cup abuse

McIlroy was on the receiving end of some of the worst abuse witnessed at Bethpage.

There is nothing wrong with giving players from the visiting team a tough time but there are lines which fans should never cross.

Unfortunately that line was breached on numerous occasions during the 45th edition of the Ryder Cup.

According to the Telegraph, US Ryder Cup officials have privately contacted McIlroy and his wife Erica to apologize after the ugly scenes at Bethpage last week.

Some may say it’s a case of too little too late and at the end of the day, it’s actions rather than words that really matter.

Will we see new measures taken at Hazeltine in 2029 to prevent a repeat of what happened at Bethpage? Only time will tell in that regard.