Rory McIlroy received letter of apology from Derek Sprague after Ryder Cup abuse

Rory McIlroy has revealed PGA of America chief executive Derek Sprague sent a personal apology for the abuse directed at him and his wife during Europe’s Ryder Cup victory in New York.

Europe held off a stirring fightback from the United States at Bethpage Black, where the Americans had gone into the final session 12-5 down before mounting a comeback in the singles, only to come up short.

Luke Donald’s team – and McIlroy in particular – were on the end of some unsavoury abuse from a partisan crowd across the three days, with a beer tossed from the crowd hitting the hat of McIlroy’s wife Erica.

McIlroy, though, has since received a “lovely letter” from Sprague looking to smooth things over.

“I got a lovely e-mail from Derek Sprague apologising,” McIlroy told BBC Sport as he prepared for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

“Erica worked with Derek at the PGA of America back in the day, so we know Derek and his wife pretty well.

“He couldn’t have been more gracious or apologetic and he wrote us a lovely letter, which we really appreciated.”

USA captain Keegan Bradley had refused to condemn the “passionate” home fans at Bethpage, where McIlroy felt the hostile atmosphere had actually spurred Europe on.

“I take it as a compliment that they targeted me, but then at the same time, it was a tough week,” McIlroy said.

“That made us better as a team. It galvanised us and it really put our arms around each other.”

Masters champion McIlroy is aiming to cap a memorable year as he prepares for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“I think back to the start in January of 2025 when I was last here and everything that’s happened since,” said McIlroy, who also won the Players Championship, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Irish Open.

“Honestly, in my wildest dreams, I didn’t know. I mean, I knew a year like this was possible, but it has just been an amazing 10 months.”

Meanwhile, McIlroy reflected on the recent change by LIV Golf to go from three rounds to 72 holes to align with golf’s traditional four rounds – in an effort to be recognised by World Golf Ranking.

“I think it’s a peculiar move, because I think they could have got ranking points with three rounds. I don’t think three rounds versus four rounds is what was holding them back,” McIlroy said.

“It certainly puts them more in line with traditional golf tournaments than what we’ve all done. It brings them back into not really being a destructor and sort of is falling more in line with what everyone else does.

“Because their strength of fields are going to be so weak, because a lot of the guys have fallen already in the rankings because they have not had ranking points for so long, I don’t know if the ranking points are really going to benefit them.”