Sheffield golf star Danny Willett apologises for brother's rant against "fat and stupid" American Ryder Cup fans
Schoolteacher Peter Willett wrote the piece for a golf magazine ahead of Europe's defence of the Ryder Cup which gets underway in the USA tomorrow.
"The Americans need their baying mob of imbeciles to caress their egos every step of the way," he wrote in National Club Golfer magazine.
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Hide AdHe added that Europe's golfers need to "silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling irritants" and "smash the obnoxious dads, with their shiny teeth, Lego man hair, medicated ex-wives and resentful children."
He also called the American fans "fat, stupid, greedy and classless."
Danny was forced to issue a statement and said: "I apologise. It's not the thoughts of me or the team."
Peter shot to prominence for his posts on social media during Danny's Masters triumph.
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Hide AdDanny said he told his brother he was "disappointed in what was written" and called it "a bad article written at a bad time" that he was "disappointed to be associated with."
As soon as he left the course, he went to see US captain Davis Love to apologise.
"He took it very well and drew a line under it and hopefully everyone else can do the same," said the Yorkshireman.
Europe captain Darren Clarke said: "It is not what Danny thinks. It is not what I think. It is not what Team Europe stands for.
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Hide Ad"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."
Love said he had resisted the temptation to read the article, adding: "If I read it, I'm just going to get mad. If I read it, I'm just going to get defensive. So I just try to ignore it."