Ryder Cup MC Apologizes For Rory McIlroy Chant & Explains How First Tee Went 'Really Toxic' On Infamous Saturday
Heather McMahan, the Ryder Cup MC caught up in the Rory McIlroy chant saga, apologized again and explained how the atmosphere quickly turned toxic on the first tee


The MC who was caught on video singing 'F*** you Rory' has spoken about the incident at length for the first time - with Heather McMahan apologizing again while offering her version of events.
The now infamous Saturday started with thousands of USA fans engaging in the chant before McIlroy was abut to start his morning match.
Tensions boiled over throughout the day - with McIlroy seen telling fans to "Shut the **** up" before hitting a shot and plenty of instances of vile abuse and chanting that really let the Ryder Cup and Team USA down.
McMahan apologized at the time and stepped down from her role as MC at Bethpage Black, and now speaking on her own podcast has explained the wider context of the incident.
"The Ryder Cup is feral, the crowd was feral, it was a brutal environment," said McMahan as she explained she regretted saying the chant once in an antmosphere she admits got out of control quickly.
“I would just like to say that I immediately did not like the energy and the vibe from when that started to happen. I will take full responsibility, and sincerely apologize to Rory [McIlroy], team Europe for saying that,” she continued. “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.”
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Expanding on the atmosphere on that first tee box, McMahan said that even so early in the morning, it quickly turned from fun to feral and toxic in a hurry.
“It went from us trying to be fun and funny and like get it going, to immediately just was negative and felt really toxic,” she said.
“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 five o’clock in the morning, shouting crazy s***.'
“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.’”
'I can not control what 40,000 drunk men at a golf tournament do'
And after insisting she shut down the chant as soon as she realized her mistake, McMahan then was keen to point out that any reports that she helped to inspire the afternoon's vile abuse of players were way off the mark.
"The stuff that was said in the afternoon was just embarrassing for the New York crowd, tasteless, stupid, low brow," said McMahan.
"And when I saw headlines I was to blame for that, for thousands of drunk man to go out after that and make ass hats out of themselves - that would never be my intention and I would never participate in that.
"I can not control what 40,000 drunk men at a golf tournament do, much less could I control them that morning, 4,000 of them, it was very overwhelming."

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.
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