Virginia Water, UK – What European players might face in the New York Ryder Cup is something they’ve heard before because of a virtual reality headset that Rory McIlroy can adjust to hear the harshest abuses.
Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said his European team is ready for Beth Page Black noise.
McIlroy told reporters after Sunday’s BMW PGA Championship that Donald handed the players VR equipment on Tuesday night after the team gathered. This allows players to visualize the course while adjusting noise and shaming from outside the rope.
“It’s all about simulating the sights, sounds and noise,” McIlroy said. “That’s something we have to deal with. So it’s better to try to desensitize yourself as much as possible before you get there. You can say whatever you want to say to them.
“So you can go near the bones as you please.”
There were 11 players in Wentworth in Europe and headed to New York to practice at Beth Page Black. Sepp Straka is expected to return home with her newborn last week and join them.
Straka is among five European players who have never competed in Bethpage Black.
Europe last won the Ryder Cup in US soil in 2012 in Medina.
“We’re doing everything we can to get the best preparations to make it feel like it will be on Friday week,” McIlroy said. “But you can’t really prepare you until you’re actually in it. You can wear every VR headset you want and do all the different things we’ve tried to do to prepare ourselves, but if the first tee comes on Friday, it’s real and we just have to deal with what we’re given.”
Europe can at least rely on more support than the last Road Ride Cup. It took place in the Whistle Strait in 2021, with global travel restrictions still in place from Covid-19. There were few European fans in America’s defeat.
