Bethpage's notorious crowd is sticking by the struggling Americans at the Ryder Cup — for now

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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Keegan Bradley drew cheers and screams from U.S. fans on the 18th hole at Bethpage Black, even as the team he captains fell into the biggest Ryder Cup deficit after three sessions in nearly four decades.

Feisty New Yorkers are notorious for turning on a slumping home team, but American fans remained focused Saturday on giving it to the Europeans.

Rory McIlroy responded with an expletive and a match-winning shot in morning foursomes, then blew the crowd a kiss while being jeered on the first tee for afternoon fourballs. No reason to be uptight with the Europeans holding a commanding 8 1/2-3 1/2 lead.

“We’d love to be giving the fans a bit more of a reason to be going nuts,” said Bryson DeChambeau, who along with Cameron Young had the only U.S. point in foursomes on Day 2. “But I think that’s still coming.”

What has so far been a theme of the Ryder Cup is yelling — a lot of it — at visiting Europe. Fans counted down Robert MacIntyre before he attempted a shot on No. 17, and one called him “a big bag of milk.”

McIlroy has thrived under a barrage of profanities and barbs. He's only taken exception when the banter continued after he was over his ball.

“In between shots, say whatever you want to me," he said. "That’s totally fine. But just (give) us the respect to let us hit shots, and give us the same chance that the Americans have, I guess.”

Europe is hitting better shots than the U.S. The last time a team led the Ryder Cup by five points was 1987.

With his team rolling along, captain Luke Donald on Friday night applauded how players were dealing with the hostile atmosphere at a public course on Long Island where that was so expected Europe prepared for the noise with virtual reality headsets.

“Proud of the guys, how they handled the situation, a tough environment out there,” Donald said. “Obviously talked about that. To be prepared for an away Ryder Cup, you have to deal with that. I thought they dealt with it amazing.”

Now it remains to be seen how struggling world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and his American teammates might deal with the crowd if it turns its anger against them.

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AP Ryder Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/ryder-cup