European player has grim warning for Ryder Cup WAGs at Bethpage

Stay away from Bethpage.

That’s the advice former European Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart had for the significant others of European players ahead of this year’s event in Long Island.

“My wife wasn’t getting abused because she was back home as she’d just given birth the week before to our first child,” the Scottish-born Coltart told The Sun about his experience at Brookline, Mass. during the 1999 Ryder Cup.

“But some of the other wives and girlfriends had been getting abuse from the crowd. It was just normal derogatory things that, unfortunately, you would expect from a group of blokes that probably had too much to drink.”

The atmosphere is expected to raucous at Bethpage next week after the Europeans dominated the Americans in Rome two years ago.

The New York crowds have a reputation that the European squad appears to be wary of.

And, unlike other golf tournaments, the WAGs are often sporting the same team colors as the players and are often traveling together making them easier for fans to spot.

“So for Bethpage Black, I offered up the suggestion that it might not be a great idea to go out there and they can watch it from a room where it’s safe and secure,” Coltart said. “Now I know that’s not what they want, they’ll want to be there with their man or their son to give them support.

“But it potentially can be an atmosphere they will never ever be used to and it could be quite upsetting and challenging for them. As a player you deal with these things, but nobody wants their wife or partner to be abused and there’s no way the crowd control and the stewards are going to be able to stop that.”

Previously, the father of American player Xander Schauffele recalled seeing American fans calling Shane Lowry’s wife, Wendy, “a w—e” at Whistling Straits in 2020.

The German-born Stefan Schauffele said that was the reason he was skipping this year’s Ryder Cup.

However, there has been no suggestion that the wives and girlfriends of this year’s team plan to skip the event.

“You just hope nobody reacts to the crowd and gives them something to feed off,” Coltart said.

“You’ve got to deal with the 13th man over there and that man is going to be very tribal, very febrile. The American support is baying for blood. This is a cauldron of fire where the American supporters are just going to throw everything they possibly can at them.”