There will be no “retaliation” in Paris for the heckling and occasional abuse the European team suffered at Hazeltine when the Ryder Cup returns to this side of the Atlantic in 2018, said Rory McIlroy.
Team Europe’s top man said that encouraging similar behaviour among the European galleries “is just not who we are, it’s not what we do.”
“There won’t be any retaliation and we’ll be making that clear,” he continued. “We want to play this tournament in the manner in which it should be played. And between us and the US team, it was.
“Really, it was just a very small minority; 95 per cent of the people out there in the American gallery were absolutely fantastic.
“At times, it went a little bit too far. But you know, that’s to be expected, when you are teeing off at 7.35 in the morning and you’re seeing people on the first tee with a beer in their hand and matches aren’t finishing until 4.30, 5 in the afternoon.
“Even with their beer, I know I would be done at that point, I don’t know what I would be saying!
“A couple of people out there crossed the line, but you know, we’ll take it on the chin. We’ll move on and we’ll definitely not encourage anything like that to happen in France next time around.”
McIlroy admitted that the emotion and energy expended “caught up with me” on the back nine on Saturday and on Sunday.
“I wanted to go out there and lead by example and give off the right energy and put as much blue on the board as possible. I felt like I succeeded somewhat, definitely because of a great partner I had in Thomas (Pieters).
“I think I’ve got my partner in the Ryder Cup for the next 20 years, I’m not letting anyone else have him.”
He added that by the end of the week he felt he was “running on fumes” mentally.
“Atlanta (where he won the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup last weekend) seems weeks ago,” he said.
“I think at Gleneagles, everything that could go right did go right for us, you were sort of cruising.
“Medinah was my first Ryder Cup in the US, I wasn’t a rookie but felt there wasn’t as much responsibility on my shoulders, but coming in this week after what I have done in the game but especially after the last few weeks playing, I wanted to go out and lead by example. I won three points, wish it had of been more, I did all that I could.
“But he thinks that the loss will galvanise the Europeans to greater effort to win the cup back in Paris in two years’ time.
“I think there have been positives to take going to Paris,” he continued. “Some of the new blood that we have now they know what it’s about and they know what they are going to expect next time.
“We’ll got to Paris with a more experienced squad and we’ll have great leadership again. It’s one of the great things about the culture of the European team, you have guys who have been involved for so long like Sam (Torrance) who have seen and done it all before, and it’s all passed down.”
Rory paid tribute to Darren Clarke’s effort as captain and didn’t think he “could have done anything else”.
“He has been a fantastic captain. Personally for me to play under him, I wanted to win so badly and even more so in the way he was in the team room all week, how great of an atmosphere he created.
“That’s why even in defeat, we were still quite jubilant; we’ve had a great week regardless of the result, but of course that is disappointing.
“I wish we could have the feeling that we had in Gleneagles two years ago, but it will make it that much better when we have that feeling again in Paris.”
