PIERS MORGAN called out Ryder Cup stars Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger after they downed cans of beer before the first tee on Saturday afternoon.
The incident occurred when Thomas and Berger, both 28, were in between Saturday fourball sessions, with Team USA boasting a 9-3 lead at the time.
A buoyant home crowd clearly confident of victory roared on the pair, who in turn were feeding off the Wisconsin atmosphere.
And when members of the crowd threw down cans of beers the golfers decided to ramp up the excitement even further.
Berger and Thomas picked up a can each, acknowledged the crowd with a raised fist and then proceeded to down the contents.
Thomas even went down on one knee to add to the spectacle before slamming his can down on the grass once he finished.
That sparked huge roars which only got louder each time the players tried to gee them up further.
Chants of “USA!USA!USA!” proceeded afterwards, prompting Morgan to respond Twitter.
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He said: “Hmmm. It ain’t over yet, you cocky American beer-guzzlers. Come on Team Europe – make them choke on it.”
But American captain Steve Stricker has defended the ‘frat boy’ antics of Thomas and Berger.
Europe were furious at the “disrespectful” attitude of the two American players, who were acting as if the match was all over given the USA’s lead.
Padraig Harrington and his players stayed tight-lipped about the incident, to avoid claims that it was just sour grapes. But they were said to be fuming over it.
Thomas and Berger were both benched for the final set of foursomes, but decided to head to the first tee to rev up the crowds, who are massively pro-American because of travel restrictions on European fans.
Stricker dismissed it as high jinks, and said his players were entitled to let off steam with a full day before they played in the singles.
The US captain commented: “I didn’t see it, but somebody told me about it. To be quite frank with you, it looked like they are having a good time and enjoying the experience
“We get ridiculed for being too tight and all that, and then we do something like that where it looks like our team is together and having a good time and trying to get with the crowd.
“I thought it was great. It’s kind of a Milwaukee Bucks thing where, if I’m not mistaken, I’ve seen “Chug a Beer” on the JumboTron at the Milwaukee Bucks games. It’s something that’s kind of a Wisconsin tradition, whether it’s good or bad.
“It just looks like they are having a good time. But I knew I was probably going to have to answer that question because they went to that first tee and they did that, and I’m fine with that.
“They had fun with it. Fans had fun with it, and it was just another good time that my guys are having.”
