Rory McIlroy dishes it right back to 'hostile' crowd at Hazeltine

CHASKA, Minn. — Rory McIlroy admitted he had pre-meditated his boisterous celebration after spearheading an European revival on Friday afternoon, in order to show the pro-United States Ryder Cup crowd he would not be fazed by its “hostile” behavior.

McIlroy pumped his fist, screamed a jubilant expletive and glared at the gallery after holing the eagle putt on 16 that give him and Belgian rookie Thomas Pieters a fourballs victory over Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar to narrow the gap with the U.S. leading 5-3 after day one.

The FedExCup champion admitted he had been riled up by the antics of the patriotic American audience and that it had stoked his inner fire as the Europeans recovered from a demoralizing 4-0 whitewash in the opening session.

“Even before I hit that putt I wanted to put an exclamation point on that session for us,” McIlroy said. “Honestly I thought about the celebration before the putt. I knew it had a good chance of going in. It’s a hostile environment out there. We are not going down without a fight.

Europe storms back as USA leads 5-3 in Ryder Cup

“I’m all for people cheering for their team as much as they can, but this was a bit disappointing. But I’m not fazed by anything by the crowd or by anything the U.S. team throws at us.”

McIlroy was angered by the numerous occasions when the Hazeltine attendees cheered raucously for European missed putts, as well as an Andy Sullivan shot while paired with McIlroy in the morning session that found water.

Later, McIlroy capped off his celebration by bowing to the gallery and saying “You’re welcome for the show” in another clear display that he is more pumped up than ever to help Europe win the Cup for the fourth straight time.

He and Pieters finished off the session for the visitors after the pairings of Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia/Rafa Cabrera Bello had also put points on the board. Brandt Snedeker and Brooks Koepka grabbed the only American point of session two, beating Martin Kaymer and Danny Willett, 5 and 4.

Brennan: U.S. fails to close the door on Europe at Ryder Cup

Momentum is key in Ryder Cups and although the Americans would have been happy if offered a two-point lead at the beginning of the day, McIlroy insisted Europe “will be going into our locker room a lot happier than they are tonight.” Europe, he said, “couldn’t have dreamed” things would go so well after lunch.

While the crowd behavior at Hazeltine has not plumbed the ugly depths of Brookline in 1999, both McIlroy and Garcia made it clear they were not impressed by certain comments and instances of heckling out on the course. Willett, whose brother P.J. inflamed tensions by writing a magazine article full of offensive criticisms of American fans, was regularly targeted for abuse.

“There is a lot of energy going on, it is tough,” Garcia said. “Sometimes it is a little bit on the edge, but we carry on. We needed to go out here and do something better than we did this morning. Three points is amazing and we are back in it.”

However, Snedeker was adamant that while the crowd was loud and spirited, its behavior had not “crossed the line.”

PHOTOS: RYDER CUP