COMMENT: "A day that can never be allowed to happen again"

ON THE one hand, it was a great day for golf. But, on the other, it was one that can never be allowed to happen again.

Saturday’s second day at the 45th Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Long Island produced some mouth-watering golf, mainly, of course, from the Europeans.

But it also saw some of the most-shocking scenes ever witnessed in one of the greatest events in sport and, for some, the best of the lot.

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Rory McIlroy, in particular, was subjected to shocking abuse from idiotic home fans, especially in the afternoon session alongside Shane Lowry.

The Europeans had come into this week aiming to not get engaged with a New York crowd and had been given VR headsets by Luke Donald in the build up to the match to try and help them be prepared for what was to come this week.

There’s only so many times, though, that you can take being yelled at and hearing “f*** you, Rory” and it was no surprise that both McIlroy and Lowry did engage with spectators.

McIlroy told one fan to “shut the f*** up” while Lowry, a fiery character, roared “f*** you” in the direction of another home heckler.

It must have been absolutely horrendous for Gerry McIlroy, who was inside the ropes following his boy. And poor Erika Stoll, Rory’s wife, as well because it really did get very personal indeed out there.

"When you play an away Ryder Cup, it’s really really challenging,” said McIlroy, who had been Public Enemy No 1 in the eyes of the US fans from the start on Friday morning, afterwards.

“It's not for me to say [if the fans crossed the line]. People can be their own judge of that. I’m just proud of us being able to win today with what we had to go through.”

Yes, of course, we all feared this would happen in an event being held around 40 miles east of Manhattan and with fans who are more used to being at baseball, NFL, basketball or ice hockey matches in attendance.

Thankfully, it will be back to more acceptable banter in front of a welcoming Limerick crowd at Adare Manor in two years’ time and then it’s the duty of the PGA of America to learn lessons from this week and ensure that the 2029 edition at Hazeltine in Minnesota doesn’t have anywhere near the hostility towards the Europeans as we’ve seen here.