![\"Rory](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_GettyImages-2241742934.jpg\")
Rory McIlroy (Image: Prakash Singh\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nRoy Keane hit out at Rory McIlroy over his reaction to crowd abuse at the Ryder CupRory McIlroy (Image: Prakash Singh\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy has previously shared his thoughts on Roy Keane, who delivered a scathing comment regarding the Holywood man’s wife Erica Stoll. McIlroy faced jeers, whistles and harsh words from the American spectators throughout the recent Ryder Cup victory.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old <\/a>responded with a few expletive-laden remarks himself, but when his wife Erica had a drink hurled at her from the crowd, he condemned it as ‘unacceptable’. Manchester United<\/a> icon Keane, however, adopted a contrasting view on the incident, leaving his Overlap co-presenters Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville<\/a> and Ian Wright in fits of laughter.<\/p>\n Keane<\/a> had his fellow pundits roaring with laughter after displaying minimal sympathy and suggesting McIlroy should have instructed his wife: “Just stay at the hotel, love.”, reports the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I’m no expert in golf, I don’t play the game, but I watch top-level sport, and you’re telling me there is pressure on these players because some people were shouting,” Keane remarked.<\/p>\n “In football, if you go to Leeds or Anfield on a Tuesday night [that’s pressure].<\/p>\n “These guys are playing in tournaments every week, and all of a sudden they are going to be upset by a few yanks.<\/p>\n “McIlroy has won all the big prizes, do you think he’s going to be upset by a few people? It’s ridiculous. And then they do get upset because of their partners.<\/p>\n “Let me tell you, if I was a golfer and my partner or wife was getting abuse, I’d go, ‘Just stay at the hotel, love; I’ll see you tonight when I get back.’ You don’t come to the other tournaments, but you get into an outfit and come to the Ryder Cup; stay at home.<\/p>\n “If I’m getting loads of stick, go home. And I bet they go back to a nice hotel, they’re not going to be camping in a tent.”<\/p>\n Whilst Keane may have intended his remark to be tongue-in-cheek, it’s far from the first instance he’s sparked controversy involving the golfer, having previously rejected him for an autograph when McIlroy was merely 12 years old.<\/p>\n In 2017, McIlroy became an internet sensation after footage emerged of him presenting a golf ball to a young supporter.<\/p>\n The golfer expressed astonishment at the widespread attention the clip garnered, insisting such gestures were routine for him.<\/p>\n “It just shows what such a small thing can mean to a kid,” McIlroy said. “I had it go the other way for me, where I asked someone for an autograph as a kid and they didn’t give it to me. And I’ve never liked them since.<\/p>\n “It was Roy Keane. He should be one of my heroes because I was, and still am, a huge Man United fan. But I remember I went and asked him for his autograph at the Portmarnock Links Hotel when he was with the Ireland squad and he just said ‘no’.<\/p>\n “And it just sort of stuck with me ever since. So, that’s why if a kid asks me for an autograph, I always try to do it.”<\/p>\n McIlroy revisited the incident last year when Keane turned down his request for an autograph, setting the record straight about what actually happened.<\/p>\n Speaking on the Overlap last year, McIlroy said: “I was down at the Parmer Links hotel and the Republic of Ireland team were staying there too.<\/p>\n “I saw one of my Manchester United heroes, Roy Keane, in the lobby, and I must’ve been around 12 years old, so I went over to him asking for an autograph.<\/p>\n “He looked up at me and said, “not today kid”, but it was okay as it didn’t make an impression on me.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roy Keane hit out at Rory McIlroy over his reaction to crowd abuse at the Ryder CupRory McIlroy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,423,4287,1677,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-513671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-manchester-united-fc","10":"tag-rory-mcilroy","11":"tag-roy-keane","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115404972455961335","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Roy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Roy-Keane-as-a-pundit-for-ITV.jpg\")
Roy Keane (Image: (Photo by James Gill – Danehouse\/Getty Images))<\/p>\n