Willett sorry for brother's article

Danny Willett has apologised for an article written by his brother in which he called American Ryder Cup fans a "baying mob of imbeciles.

In the article for National Club Golfer magazine, Peter Willett offered his opinion on what each side needs to do to win this week's competition at Hazeltine.

"They (Europe) need to silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling, irritants, stuffed on cookie dough and p**** beer, pausing between mouthfuls of hotdog so they can scream 'Baba booey' until their jelly faces turn red," Willett wrote

"They need to stun the angry, unwashed, Make America Great Again swarm, desperately gripping their concealed-carry compensators and belting out a mini-erection inducing 'mashed potato,' hoping to impress their cousin."

The Masters champion was made aware of the article during Wednesday's practice round at Hazeltine and he was quick to distance himself from the opinions of his brother.

"I'd just like to apologise obviously to everyone involved for what's been said," Willett told the Golf Channel.

"It's obviously not the thoughts of myself and of the team and of captain Darren (Clarke). I spoke to him (Pete) on the phone after I was made aware of what was said and what has been going on.

"And I said to Pete that I was obviously disappointed in what was said and what was written about the American fans that obviously took me under their wing fantastically back in April (at the Masters)."

US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III opted not to read the article and Willett personally apologised to the American skipper when he finished his practice round.

"He took it very well and I think he's drawn a line under it for himself and for the team. So hopefully everyone else can do the same and hopefully we can get on and have a great tournament," Willett said.

"I got made aware after a few holes today, it was obviously going crazy. It is tough to then concentrate, because you don't want people to think badly of yourself.

"You kind of wanted to get off the golf course and hopefully get it sorted, hopefully draw a line under it and get back to what we're doing."

European captain Darren Clarke added: "I showed it to Danny and he's bitterly disappointed in his brother's article. It is not what Danny thinks. It is not what I think. It is not what Team Europe stands for.

"Danny was unaware of it and he fully intends to speak to his brother, express his displeasure to his brother about it.

"I was obviously very disappointed in it, as well, because that's an outside person expressing their opinion which is not representative of what our thoughts are."

Conor McGregor will fight Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt at UFC 205 in New York on November 12 live on the eir Sport pack. The eir Sport pack is free to all eir broadband customers. To learn more about setting sport free visit www.eir.ie/sport .