VIRGINIA WATER, England — Whatever heckling European players might face at the Ryder Cup in New York could be what they already have heard before, all because of virtual reality headsets that Rory McIlroy says can be adjusted to hear the harshest abuse.
Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has said his European team will be prepared for the noise at Bethpage Black, the public course with the reputation for having among the rowdiest and at times obnoxious golf fans.
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McIlroy told reporters after the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday that Donald handed players the VR equipment on Tuesday night after a team gathering. It allows players to visualize the course while adjusting the noise — and insults — from outside the ropes.
“It is just to simulate the sights and sounds and noise,” McIlroy said. “That’s the stuff that we are going to have to deal with. So it’s better to try to desensitize yourself as much as possible before you get in there. You can get them to say whatever you want them to say.
“So you can go as close to the bone as you like.”
Europe had 11 players at Wentworth and was headed for New York for practice at Bethpage Black. Sepp Straka was home with a newborn last week and is expected to join them.
Straka is among five European players who have never competed at Bethpage Black.
Europe last won the Ryder Cup on U.S. soil in 2012 at Medinah, and that required a stunning comeback led by Ian Poulter.
“We are doing everything we can to best prepare ourselves for what it is going to feel like on Friday week,” McIlroy said. “But nothing can really prepare you until you’re actually in that. You can wear all the VR headsets you want and do all the different things we’ve been trying to do to get ourselves ready, but once the first tee comes on Friday, it’s real, and we just have to deal with whatever’s given.”
Europe can at least count on more support than its last road Ryder Cup. That was in 2021 at Whistling Straits, with worldwide travel restrictions from COVID-19 still in place. There were hardly any European fans at all in an American rout.
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