Hostility isn’t what it once was at the Ryder Cup, not with most of the European team playing primarily on the PGA Tour.
Euros and Americans are friendly, on a week-to-week basis. They live in the same locales.
The Euros might not “properly hate” the U.S. side, like Paul Casey said in 2004, but once every two years, the heat between the two sides is turned up.
“Rory [McIlroy] is a great example,” Justin Thomas said Tuesday. “I love Rory. We get along extremely well. He’s been a role model of mine. He was super nice to me when I was first starting up. He still is. We see each other a bunch.
“We played each other in the Ryder Cup and, yeah, we hated each other for 18 holes. Again, it’s nothing personal. It’s not a dislike as a person.”
Thomas, one of the most emotional players on the U.S. team, admitted that, whether it was for a week, for three days, or for just one match, anyone wearing blue and yellow is the enemy – anyone.
“It’s just, my wife knows,” Thomas said, “if Jill teed it up in the Ryder Cup for the other team, I’m going to try to beat her pretty bad.”