Former Open champ Paul Lawrie today insisted that the hassle at Hazeltine during the Ryder Cup was nowhere near the hostility he experienced in the infamous Battle of Brookline in 1999.

Lawrie was part of Darren Clarke’s backroom team for the weekend’s match with the US but was left disappointed as the Cup holders, who were aiming for a third win in a row, went down 17-11 as the US won for the first time since 2008.

Lawrie, who was part of the European Miracle of Medinah in 2012, made his Ryder Cup debut as a player at Brookline in 1999.

It was an event that went down in infamy for the rowdiness of the crowd and the general atmosphere of animosity.

The weekend’s skirmish at Hazeltine was also marred by heckling and abuse from American spectators but Lawrie has moved to temper the fever surrounding it.

He said: “I played at Brookline and I don’t think this was as bad. Definitely not. The Sunday at Brookline was as bad as I’ve known. That was horrendous that year. I was out with Sergio (Garcia) a lot this week and Tom Lehman was there and in the crowd as much as I was in the crowd, so you have to take your hats off to their side for doing the job they did trying to stop it.

“It was very, very few out there. The one or two really bad comments are going to get the headlines.

“There’s very little of it that’s abusive. Sergio, for example, knows he hasn’t won a major and he gets that a lot from the crowd. I’ve got as many majors as you is what they shout. That’s not abuse, it’s just trying to wind him up. A lot of that goes on.”

Despite the set back of the result, Lawrie enjoyed his eye-opening experience as he swapped the frontline of the Ryder Cup for the backroom.

He added: When you watch the level that was on show, it’s gone up a level of two since I played. I would love to play again but I’m a long way off that at the moment.

“I like to play once more and I don’t see why I can’t. I need to get a little bit fitter, but I fancy playing one more and as long as that thought is in my head I’m just going to keep going.”

It may be something of a fanciful thought but, whatever the future hold, there will clearly be a Ryder Cup role for Lawrie.

“He’ll definitely be a captain,” said his compatriot and fellow vice-captain, Sam Torrance.

Team Europe took their defeat well. They were outplayed by the better team but despite the harassment from the sidelines, world No.3 Rory McIlroy has insisted that there will be no come back in Paris in 2018.

McIlroy, who was a target for much of the heckling, said: “First and foremost, we won’t be encouraging any sort of retaliation. That’s just not who we are.

"It’s not what we do. We’ll be making that clear. We want to play this in the manner in which it should be played. At times it (the behaviour of the crowd) went a bit too far but 95 per cent of the gallery out there were absolutely fantastic. A few crossed the line but we’ll take it on the chin.”