Tyrrell Hatton completely disagrees with what Keegan Bradley has said after USA’s Ryder Cup defeat

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Tyrrell Hatton almost went under the radar with what a brilliant Ryder Cup he had, with the LIV Golf star picking up 3.5 points and securing the result which confirmed Europe’s victory at Bethpage Black.

It was always going to be interesting to see how Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton performed at the Ryder Cup following their moves to LIV Golf in the months after winning in Rome.

Colin Montgomerie named Hatton as the best clutch putter on the two teams. Ultimately, the Englishman ended up having a fantastic week in New York.

However, the Ryder Cup this year was certainly overshadowed by the actions of a section of the crowd at Bethpage.

Tyrrell Hatton disagrees with Keegan Bradley’s comments after the Ryder Cup

Rory McIlroy, in particular, dealt with horrific abuse. The atmosphere even prompted Tom Watson to issue an apology on social media to the European team for the hostility that they faced. The US captain of 1993 and 2014 admitted that he was ashamed.

The same seemingly cannot be said for Keegan Bradley, with the 39-year-old going on to compare what Luke Donald‘s side faced to what the Americans were subjected to in Rome – despite not being involved with that team.

“I thought the fans were passionate,” he said, as reported by the Guardian. “I mean, their home team is getting beat bad. They are passionate fans. I wasn’t at Rome but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well.

“But the fans of New York from what I have seen have been pretty good. You’re always going to have a few people that cross the line and that’s unfortunate. I was happy to see our players trying to quieten down some people that were like that.”

And when that was put to Hatton ahead of this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he insisted that he strongly disagreed.

“Personally, I don’t think they were close at all. I certainly, with what I heard last week, I don’t think Rome comes anywhere near that. To be honest, personally, I don’t agree with what they both said there. I don’t know what else to add to that. I think they are quite far apart to be honest,” he said.

How Tyrrell Hatton said he was able to handle the heckling from the spectators at Bethpage

Clearly, the Europeans had different ways of dealing with the heckling. McIlroy certainly did not back down, with Paul Azinger criticising the Northern Irishman for some of his behaviour.

Hatton would have arguably been seen as a top target beforehand given that he rarely tries to hide his emotions while playing.

But he explained why he felt he was able to cope with the taunts throughout the week.

“To be honest, I think some guys on the team had a lot worse than others. For me personally, yeah, there was a lot of insults maybe around height or hair line or weight, some of which I pretty much said to myself anyway, so it wasn’t like anything new,” he added.

“How I went about last week, I don’t feel like I did anything to wind up the crowd to be honest. Like if I celebrated, I celebrated generally towards my teammates or with my caddie. Yeah, that’s just how I dealt with everything. And certainly Friday, Saturday, I was really happy with how I managed my emotions on the golf course. I didn’t really let anything affect me; even if I hit bad shots, I didn’t overly react. I was pretty calm, and as we know that can be difficult for me sometimes.

“Sunday I struggled a bit more with that. Singles is a different beast. Certainly, the first two days, you’re with your teammates, and then Sundays can feel a bit more lonely or in some regards back to normal because that’s how it is as an individual every other tournament that you play. And yeah, as the round went on, the pressure was building. I don’t think I overreacted but I definitely found it harder to stay as calm as I had done the previous three days.”

The Ryder Cup absolutely needs passion from those outside the ropes. The European players could not wait to get themselves in the cauldron of Bethpage Black and test themselves under the most intense pressure possible.

But clearly, a line was crossed over this past week. And it is a shame that the latest staging of the best event in the sport has been somewhat tainted.

It certainly does not help when one of the captains decides to make petty comments – which appear to be wide of the mark – rather than call out those who let themselves down.