USA star Patrick Cantlay finally speaks out on Ryder Cup cap controversy

Patrick Cantlay has hit out at claims he refused to wear a cap at the Ryder Cup in protest at not being paid to take part, branding the reports ‘outright lies’.

Team USA struggled over the first two days of action in Rome but threatened to mount a fightback in Sunday’s singles, with Cantlay seeing off Justin Rose to claim a point – though it was Europe who ultimately emerged victorious 16½-11½.

On several occasions over the weekend, Cantlay doffed an imaginary cap to the crowd after holing putts as the home crowd taunted him over reports he was refusing to wear the Team USA hat due to a pay dispute.

While the 31-year-old was happy to play up to the crowd, he slammed the reports afterwards and also dismissed suggestions Team USA’s players had been at loggerheads behind the scenes.

‘It’s totally false – it couldn’t be further from the truth,’ Cantlay told NBC on Sunday when asked about the furore surrounding his refusal to wear a cap.

‘There hasn’t been one word of that all week. The US team has been close all week. It’s just outright lies.’

Reflecting on his performance at the Ryder Cup, he continued: ‘I did my best – unfortunately dealing with some weird, completely false media stories from just one person and the crowd took it and ran with it and that’s alright – I had fun with them today.

‘That’s how this tournament should be, that’s exactly what I expected. Europe has played great all week, they’ve had the home crowd advantage – they’ve been pulling for them.

‘I just try to use it as fuel. You can take all that energy and turn it into focus and good adrenaline and that’s what I tried to do this week.’

There were also suggestions Cantlay did not wear a cap to avoid getting a tan-line for his wedding, which he confirmed would take place in Rome on Monday.

Team USA gave Europe a nervy end to the day with plenty of red on the board, but Tommy Fleetwood guaranteed at least a half when he went two up on Rickie Fowler on the 16th to guarantee the final half point the Europeans needed.

There had been a degree of animosity going into the final day’s play after Rory McIlroy – who won four points over the weekend – clashed with veteran caddie Joe LaCava late on Saturday for putting him off shortly before missing a decisive putt on the 18th.

It had been suggested that LaCava, who caddies for Cantlay, had reached out to McIlroy to apologise but the Northern Irishman said he had not spoken to LaCava while the caddie himself said he had been blocked from speaking about the altercation by USA captain Zach Johnson.

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