Marc Warren ‘not offended’ by US fans

• Marc Warren said he ‘wasn’t offended’ by Ryder Cup spectators
• “We’re allowed to have that football atmosphere,” he said
• Believes Ryder Cup helps portray a more human side of players

Marc Warren has said he wasn’t offended at all by the US golf fans at last week’s Ryder Cup and believes that allowing a ‘football-type’ crowd on occasions can help to grow the game.

The spectators at Hazeltine drew criticism from a number of European players, especially on Friday and Saturday, with Rory McIlroy branding it ‘hostile’, Sergio Garcia said it was ‘quite poor’, while Martin Kaymer branded some ‘idiots’ and ‘bad role models’.

“Once every two years we’re allowed to have that sort of football atmosphere” – Marc Warren

But Warren, who doubled his yearly earnings with a fifth-placed finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship to secure his European Tour card for 2017, watched the biennial event on the Friday and Sunday and said he didn’t mind what he saw and heard from Hazeltine for the most part.

Read more -> BLOG: The truth about US crowds

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“I think once every two years we’re allowed to have that sort of football atmosphere as that helps grow the game,” Marc Warren told bunkered.co.uk. “You want people who aren’t golfers to come and see the potential for it being a great day out and to go and enjoy themselves.

“Not at all . Obviously when it becomes personal it’s not great but I think the way the fans were reacting in that when something was shouted, the majority of the crowd were encouraging them to be kicked out.

“When you create that sort of atmosphere, you’ve got to expect one or two bad examples” – Marc Warren

“That’s great to see because you still want some integrity to the event and not want it to be an absolute free-for-all.

“At the end of the day, it could be anybody from any walk of life who’s had a few to many drinks and got a bit carried away and shouted something they don’t mean which is fine. When you create that sort of atmosphere, you’ve got to expect one or two bad examples and that’s totally fine. It’s part of it and generates another talking point, which helps.”

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Warren also believed that the Ryder Cup helps to portray a more human side to the world’s best players, referencing the emotions displayed by both Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed in their titanic Sunday singles clash.

“We saw a more human side to the golfers in displaying their emotions,” added Marc Warren. “For example, when Rory won the FedEx Cup he did show emotion but quickly went back to being cool, calm and collected. Compare that to if someone scored the winner in the Champions League final they’d be going absolutely crazy – but I think that’s the difference in team events compared to individual.

“Golf is stand-offish in the fact that the guys inside the ropes do their own thing, it’s clinical how it’s done, whereas the Ryder Cup they tend to do more to get the fans on-side because it’s one team or the other and not just 156 individuals.”

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Marc Warren :: Do you agree?

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