Paul Azinger questions if Rory McIlroy wants it both ways in his battle with fans

Paul Azinger does not lack for opinions, especially when it comes to the Ryder Cup. Considered one of the best U.S. captains in history, the major champ and longtime broadcaster has certainly earned the right to spout off.

In wake of Europe’s victory over the Americans in last week’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, Azinger got a chance to process it on Golf.com’s podcast, “Subpar,” and he touched on a few subjects—the most high-profile being the U.S. fans’ brutal treatment of Rory McIlroy. Azinger asserts that he’s a fan of the Ulsterman and credits him for taking the pressure off his European teammates by admitting in Rome two years ago how difficult it is to win on the road. (He also predicted the Euopreans would triumph in New York.)

“I give Rory credit for that,” Azinger said, “but now I want to take a shot at Rory, who I love.”

In Azinger’s view, heckling and being vulgar can be a two-way fairway.

“In the press conference after it’s over, he is saying that I think golf should be held to a higher standard of decorum, but in the meantime he says ‘F you, F you, F you’ in full voice for the world to see,” Azinger said. “He turns around and says to the guy, ‘Shut the F up.’ The guy in the media asks him, ‘How did that feel Rory, to tell him to shut up and then hit it to two feet?’ And he said, ‘It felt pretty f’ing good.’

“And I’m, like, which is it, Rory? Is it that golf is held to a higher standard or are you just going to ‘F you’ the fans and act that like that’s OK? So, I love Rory, but you can’t say that. You can’t say the fans need to behave better and then in the meantime lay them to waste. You can’t do both. You’ve got to be one or the other.”

In terms of the fan behavior, Azinger said no one should have been surprised by how wild it got.

“Didn’t the PGA of America know when they came here what was going to happen?” he said. “Of course, we all knew. We’ve all been talking about it for 10 years, that this crowd could go crazy. Hey, if the beers weren’t $16 a piece, it could have been worse.”

Like most everybody watching, Azinger was stunned to see the Europeans put the U.S. in a huge hole the first two days, heading into Sunday with a seven-point lead. The Americans needed to mount the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history and nearly pulled it off, losing only one match in singles in an eventual 15-13 defeat—the first loss for either team on home soil since 2012 at Medinah.

“I don’t know what happened in Europe’s team room, but they almost let it get away,” Azinger said. “But they did the slaughtering the first two days. That was a tough pill to swallow. There was a time when I thought it was just going to be the most devastating defeat ,and the PGA of America was going to have to restructure everything. And it turned out not to be that way at all. It was actually a bit of a nail-biter.”