Matt Fitzpatrick: Fan Behavior at Players Is ‘Child’s Play’ Compared to Ryder Cup

As Cameron Young and the Englishman battled down the stretch at TPC Sawgrass, it was a very pro-USA crowd. But nothing Fitzpatrick isn’t used to.

Matt Fitzpatrick said the pro-USA fans at the Players Championship weren't comparable to the 2025 Ryder Cup. | James Gilbert/Getty Images

Could the 2026 Players Championship’s atmosphere be characterized as Ryder Cup-lite?  

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick wouldn’t even go that far. 

“Listen, the crowd, that was literally child's play compared to Bethpage [site of the 2025 Ryder Cup on Long Island],” Fitzpatrick said. “If they think that that was anything, then they need to reassess. Get yourself up to New York.”

Down the stretch at TPC Sawgrass, Fitzpatrick was battling his American Ryder Cup foe, Cameron Young, who would eventually claim the Players victory (ironically, they are teammates on TGL’s New York Golf Club).

And the crowd was very pro-Young. That was particularly evident on the par-3 17th, when Young tied the lead with a birdie on the iconic island green. When the New Yorker’s tee shot landed 9 feet from the hole, chants of “U-S-A” broke out; though, that wasn’t the first time of the day. 

Young admits that helped him down the stretch. 

Conquering the 17th!

Cameron Young’s birdie ties him for the lead heading to the final hole.

📺 NBC | @THEPLAYERS pic.twitter.com/iEXDPQ0mgk

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 15, 2026

“Yeah, it does help,” he said. “I don’t think it’s—it’s kind of a passive thing, but to be aware that you have so much support out there is really cool and, yeah, I mean, any reminder of that Ryder Cup—obviously, we didn’t come out on the right side of it as a team [Europe won, 15-13], but I took a lot of positives from it. Anytime I’m reminded of that, it kind of takes me back to all the work we did to get there and the success that I feel like or the progress that I feel like I made during that tournament.”

Young also revealed on Golf Channel that Fitzpatrick, walking down the the 18th fairway, turned to him and joked, “Cam, do you hate me, too?”

The rowdy fan behavior at Bethpage was a hot topic. Vulgar obscenities were shouted at the European squad throughout the week, and Rory McIlroy’s wife, Erica, had a beer can thrown at her. 

“I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf,” McIlroy said after the Ryder Cup. “I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week ... so, no, this should not be what is acceptable in the Ryder Cup.”

Fast forward to the Players Championship, Fitzpatrick, who lost by a stroke with a bogey on the final hole, knew this type of atmosphere would occur. And he’d hope it’d be the same if he was playing across the pond, albeit less profane.

“Listen, that’s how it is,” the 2022 U.S. Open champion said. “That’s how it is. I would hope it’s the exact same if—well, it probably wouldn't be because we’re a little bit more polite in Europe, I would say, but I would hope it would be of similar intensity in Europe.”

This is nothing new for Fitzpatrick, though. And he doens’t take it personally. 

“I knew it was coming,” he said. “I had it with Jordan Spieth in 2023 [when Fitzpatrick topped Spieth in a playoff at the RBC Heritage]. Yeah, it’s funny to me. I find it hilarious.”