Ryder Cup emcee Heather McMahan has apologized for participating in a vulgar chant directed at Rory McIlroy last weekend.
The comedian and actress stepped down from her role as master of ceremonies following the incident on Saturday at Bethpage Black in New York, where video footage caught her saying “f— you, Rory” into a microphone.
“I would just like to say I immediately did not like the energy and the vibe from when that started to happen,” McMahan said on her podcast Wednesday. “I will take full responsibility and sincerely apologize to Rory and Team Europe for saying that. It was so foolish of me. I did not start the chant. I would just like that narrative to get out there. I did not start it, but any way that I participated in that, even just saying it once, was so foolish and so silly of me.”
McIlroy contributed to the unruly atmosphere by telling spectators to “shut the f— up” after being shouted at while sizing up a shot.
The Northern Irishman got the last laugh as Team Europe retained the Ryder Cup on Sunday with a 15-13 victory, its first on American soil since 2012.
“It went from us trying to be fun and funny and get it going to immediately was just negative and felt really toxic,” McMahan said Wednesday. “As soon as I said that, I was like I don’t want any part of this. This was just getting weird, and I don’t know how to control this crowd of 4,000 dudes at 5 o’clock in the morning, shouting crazy s–t.
“As soon as that happened, I immediately turned to my producer and said, ‘Let’s just get the DJ to play music. I don’t know what to do with this audience right now, so I’m not going to participate.'”
PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague told The Athletic on Wednesday that it had issued a lengthy apology to McIlroy and his wife, Erica.
