VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Whatever heckling European players might face at the Ryder Cup in New York could be what they already have heard before, all becautilize of virtual reality headsets that Rory McIlroy declares can be adjusted to hear the harshest abutilize.
Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has declared 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.
McIlroy informed 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 declared. “That’s the stuff that we are going to have to deal with. So it’s better to test to de-sensitize yourself as much as possible before you receive in there. You can receive them to declare whatever you want them to declare.
“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 declared. “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 testing to do to receive 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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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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