30 September 2023 , 14:44
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Sam Burns has taken on the role of the Ryder Cup's pantomime villain after taunting the European fans in Saturday afternoon's fourball session.
Team USA had endured an opening day to forget on Friday, after being whitewashed 4-0 in the foursomes, before failing to win a full point in the afternoon fourballs. They began day two 6.5-1.5 behind, but things were about to get a whole lot worse as their misery continued in the Saturday foursomes.
Despite winning their first point of the event via Max Homa and Brian Harman, Europe won the three remaining games to extend their lead heading into the afternoon.
It was now or never for the United States, and the men tasked with lighting the spark were Burns and his partner Collin Morikawa, as they took on Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland in the opening match of the afternoon. As was required the U.S. got things off to the perfect start, moving to three-up across their opening six holes.
Burns was the man leading the way, and it was his birdie at the sixth that moved the Americans further ahead and into the driving seat. There was of course still a long way to go, especially looking at the scoreline, but this did not stop Burns giving a bit of bite back to the home crowd.
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After holing his putt, the American star stared down the home crowd with his ears cupped, as the boos rang around the sixth green at Marco Simone. Clearly pumped up, Burns then appeared to cry, 'I can't f*****g hear you!' in the direction of the galleries to cap of his fiery celebration.
Whilst it was no doubt nice for the away team to see some passion and fight within their team, many raised their eyebrows at Burns antics amid the damning scoreline. Criticising the PGA Tour star one golf fan tweeted: "None of this is cool when you’re getting pummelled."
Before another went on to add: "Maybe not the thing to do when it's 9.5-2.5 on the board." A number of U.S. fans were pleased to see Burns' reaction though, defending his taunting of the Europeans. "Good! Show some arrogance and passion. They need something!" One wrote.
Another then posted: "Fair play to him. Fans can give it easy enough have to be able to take it !!!" Whilst a third added: "Gotta find some fighting spirit from somewhere, I like this." Amid the split of opinion it clearly worked for Burns and his partner, as they went on to secure an impressive 4&3 win over Hovland and Aberg.