Beaten European Ryder Cup golfer Lee Westwood, complained bitterly today about the ungentlemanly conduct of the galleries at the Valhalla course, and described US team captain Paul Azinger as a "wanker".
Westwood, from Sheffield, was speaking after Europe had lost the Ryder Cup for the first time in a century - this one - and was clearly upset by the baracking he received. He said:
"Golf is a game where fair play is more important than most. You applaud good shots, and stay quiet when someone makes a bad shot. Not in the US though. I've never experienced anything like it, except perhaps when I went to watch the Blades at Wednesday one year. It was shameful."
"Some people don't know the difference between supporting their team and abusing the opposition."
"They were incited to do that. Not by the players, it's down to the captain, that Azinger. He's a prize wanker."
Westwood went on to tell how nasty Americans had abused his mother, and telephoned, what they thought was, his hotel room at 4.30am to shout further obscenities down the phone.
"Fortunately, my mum had heard it all before. We're from up North where that sort of thing is dinner-table banter. Water off a duck's back!"
European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo was unavailable for comment, but BBC golf commentator Gary Lineker said:
"Just wait for 2010 when the event will be staged in Wales. We've got a few nasty surprises in store ourselves, and reprisals are already being planned."
