The Ryder Cup hasn’t started yet and tensions are already rising. Rory McIlroy has responded harshly to Bryson DeChambeau after comments in which he claimed he planned to “whisper in his ear” to annoy him if they met at Bethpage Black and if it was necessary to achieve a good result.
In an interview given to The Guardian last August at the Tour Championship, McIlroy downplayed the American’s plan with a sharp retort: “The only way Bryson gets attention is by mentioning other people. To get attention, he mentions me, Scottie [Scheffler], or others.”
The tension between them is not new. DeChambeau took the US Open from Rory in 2024 and the Northern Irishman struck back this year at the Masters in Augusta, sharing a match in the final round.
Beyond their personal rivalry, McIlroy also assessed the atmosphere he expects in New York: “I think it’s inevitable that something will happen in New York. It might not directly involve me, but something will happen, whether it’s like what happened in Rome last time or in another way. When you’re in that environment for so many days, with the crowd on you for eight hours straight, it’s inevitable that it will get to someone or even to us as a group at some point,” he explained.
The Northern Irishman, however, was optimistic about Europe’s chances: “We’re still the underdogs, but I feel much more confident than in 2016 or 2021 that we can do it.”
The Ryder Cup kicks off next Friday, the battle promises to be epic.
