Collin Morikawa Has a Message for the First Tee Crowd at Bethpage

New York is known for many things. Bagels, chopped cheese, the faint stench of urine. But in the sports community, it’s known for one thing above all: rowdiness.

This is a city that’s obsessed with its squads, and they’re not afraid to let you know about it. And if Collin Morikawa gets his way, the golf world will get a glimpse of that come Friday morning.

While meeting with the media at Bethpage Black on Wednesday, Morikawa admitted that the crowds through the first few days of practice have been a little “tame.” But he wants that to change once it’s go-time.

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“I hope Friday is just absolute chaos,” he said. “I'm all for it. I think it feeds into who we are and the American players and the American Team. We want it. Like, we want to use that to our advantage. I think every sport uses their home crowd to their advantage, and just because we don't play in a setting like this doesn't mean the craziness of New York and the rest of the country that people are traveling in from, it doesn't mean that we can't use that to our advantage. I think we really have to tap into that. I hope they come strong. Watching all these kids, I know they want autographs, but come Friday, I hope they go crazy.”

Morikawa played in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits—Team USA won 19-9—so he knows what kind of an advantage the home crowd is. But because the event was in the aftermath of COVID-19, he just got a little taste.

New York should, and better be, much, much different.

As a Boston sports fan, I’ve dealt with the folks in this part of the Northeast my whole life. I know what they’re about. I know the energy they bring to competition.

That first-tee build-out is going to be shaking come 7:10 a.m. ET.