Rory McIlroy says Team Europe have turned to virtual reality to try and prepare for the abuse they anticipate from the New York crowd as they bid to end the drought for an away Ryder Cup win.
No team has won the title on foreign soil since 2012, an achievement Europe managed at Medinah Country Club in Illinois.
But as they take to Bethpage Black with glory in mind, they’ll have to shut out the infamously unforgiving sports fans of New York, which has led Europe captain Luke Donald to go ahead with a new training method so his team can adequately prepare for the noise.
“It is to simulate the sights and sounds,” said Rory McIlroy, who was competing at Wentworth on Sunday in the BMW PGA Championship.
“That’s the stuff that we are going to have to deal with. It’s better to try to desensitise yourself as much as possible before you get in there.”
McIlroy did not reveal what messages the players had been exposed to, saying “you don’t want to know”, but admitted he gave free rein for the simulators to go as heinous as they pleased with the insults.
“You can get them to say whatever you want them to say,” he added. “You can go as close to the bone as you like.”
Europe come to New York as the defending champions, having won 16½-11½ in Rome in 2023, and are the only team to have secured an away with in the 21st century – also emerging victorious at Oakland Hills in 2004.
And while stating that the crowd’s exuberance may not be “as bad as we thought”, the Masters champion did accept that VR can only ready for yourself so much for the “bear pit” that awaits Europe at Bethpage, as branded by Donald.
“We are doing everything we can to best prepare ourselves for what it is going to feel like,” 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.”
