Collin Morikawa endured an incredibly difficult few days at the Ryder Cup in September last year.

Morikawa has been in fairly poor form over the past two seasons on the PGA Tour, so much so that his place on the US Ryder Cup team was questioned by many fans and pundits alike.

The pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English at the Ryder Cup during the foursomes on Friday and Saturday was truly baffling.

Keegan Bradley surely realizes now that his decision to put the worst pairing statistically out two times in a row actually cost his country the Ryder Cup.

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It could also be argued that Bradley selecting Morikawa for the Ryder Cup team in the first place was a huge mistake.

He hasn’t won a tournament since October 2023 after all.

Would the US have won if Bradley had picked Chris Gotterup instead of Morikawa? There’s every chance that would have been the case.

Now Morikawa has opened up on why he believes the Europeans won the three-day showdown at Bethpage Black.

Collin Morikawa explains why the US lost the Ryder Cup at Bethpage

The Ryder Cup was a forgettable one for the United States team.

Despite a huge turnaround from them in the Sunday singles, the damage had already been done on Friday and Saturday.

During an appearance on Dan Rapaport’s Dan on Golf Show, Morikawa spoke about the week at Bethpage back in September.

Morikawa was asked whether the European players really do care more about the Ryder Cup than the American players do.

“No, I mean, maybe that was a narrative a while ago,“ the 29-year-old said.

“But I think our group of guys that have played over the last, at least my three Ryder Cups, like, we care, we get along well, maybe we have to push a narrative for people to believe it

“I could text any one of these guys and ask to go to dinner, ask them a question about anything.

“It’s we just didn’t play well. First two days, you know, we didn’t get that momentum, we didn’t get the few putts that we needed to drop.

“Condition wise, we had a real tough time controlling spin out of the fairways, and we played against Rory and Tommy, Harris and I did, and, like, it was almost better to play out of the rough, because there wasn’t any rough.

“But put all the excuses aside, like, simply, we just didn’t play well. It happens, that’s golf.“

Collin Morikawa’s honest opinion of US Ryder Cup fans at Bethpage

Morikawa was asked by Rapaport whether the aggressive nature of the US fans’ abuse of the European players actually affected them more than it did Luke Donald’s men.

“Yeah, it puts everyone in an uncomfortable position because I think in any sport, for one, like, you don’t hear like if you’re playing football, like you don’t hear anything,“ Morikawa said.

“Right? Like, you don’t hear what someone is saying who’s sitting in row 435. In golf, like, we’re this close. Literally.

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“So it’s not, you know, everyone thinks that rope is like the magical border that just nothing gets through.

“Like, it’s not, it’s not how it works.

“I mean, I think there’s a point of respect, and there’s a point of pushing the boundaries.

“I think the fans might have poked the bear a little bit too hard and I think they (European team) came in knowing it.

“And when it got over on that edge, that just was too far, you know, it probably just helped them to play well and keep playing well.“

It was clear to see that the vile abuse aimed at the Europeans actually did more harm to the American players.

Moving forward, US Ryder Cup fans must put all their energy into supporting their team, rather than abusing the opposition, just like they did at Hazeltine in 2016 and Whistling Straits in 2021.