European golfer and Masters champion Danny Willett apologized Wednesday for an article penned by his brother that railed against American fans as “cretins.”

On the Ryder Cup driving range at Hazeltine National Golf Course in Chaska, Willett said shortly after finished his practice round this morning, he found American Captain Davis Love III “apologized profusely” for the article his brother P.J. published on NationalClubGolfer.com.

“It’s unfortunate it had to come out during Ryder Cup week,” Willett said. “It’s very disappointing. It doesn’t reflect anything myself or (European) Captain (Darren) Clarke thinks about fans or players or anyone for that matter. I had the best week of my life a few months ago, and obviously that was in front of a fantastic American crowd. … I’ve spoke to him, said that it was obviously a bad article, written at a bad time. I was disappointed. … I got off the golf and immediately tried to find Davis Love and had a chat with Davis about it. Obviously apologized profusely to Davis in the hope that we can draw a line under it and get back to what is a fantastic golf tournament, and play it with respect.”

Earlier in the day, Ryder Cup European Captain Darren Clarke vehemently disavowed the article.

“It is not not what he (Danny Willett) thinks,” Clarke said. “It’s not what I think. It is not what Team Europe is about.” Related Articles Why Hazeltine keeps nabbing huge events like the Ryder Cup

5 reasons the U.S. doesn’t win Ryder Cups anymore

Ryder Cup: Which team is the best ever? You tell me.

Clarke said Willett would speak to his brother about the article, which rips into a range of American targets, from Donald Trump supporters to Walter Palmer, the Eden Prairie dentist who shot Cecil the lion and drew an international firestorm.

Here’s a taste of what P.J. Willett wrote:

“They need to silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling, irritants, stuffed on cookie dough and pissy beer, pausing between mouthfuls of hotdog so they can scream ‘Baba booey’ until their jelly faces turn red.

“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.

“They need to smash the obnoxious dads, with their shiny teeth, Lego man hair, medicated ex-wives, and resentful children. Squeezed into their cargo shorts and boating shoes, they’ll bellow ‘get in the hole’ whilst high-fiving all the other members of the Dentists’ Big Game Hunt Society.

“Team Europe need to silence these cretins quickly.”

American Captain Davis Love III declined to get in the mud over the matter, saying he hadn’t read the atricle — and wouldn’t.

“If I read it, I’m just going to get mad,” he said. “If I read it, I’m just going to get defensive. So I just try to ignore it.”

Here are more remarks from Willett, via a Golf Channel interview transcript released by the PGA:

Q. There has been plenty of reaction and conversation regarding what your brother, Pete, put out there earlier today. How would you like to clarify some of his comments that were made?

DANNY WILLETT: I’d just like to apologize obviously to everyone involved for what’s been said. It’s obviously not the thoughts of myself and of the team and of captain Darren. 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, you know, 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.

As soon as I got done on the golf course, I went to see Davis and me and Davis had a chat for a few minutes about it all, and he took it very well and I think he’s drawn a line under it obviously 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.

Q. How much of a distraction was it for you throughout the course of the day?

DANNY WILLETT: I got made aware after a few holes today, it was obviously going crazy, obviously in the media and stuff. Yeah, it is tough to then concentrate, because you don’t want people to think badly of yourself.

You know, we’re 12 guys out here representing Europe and trying to do the best we can and like I said, it’s not really affecting what we think or what we say. Obviously everyone that plays in this team plays in America most weeks.

So yeah, it was tough then to kind of get your head around everything. You kind of wanted to get off the golf course and hopefully get it sorted, you know, like I said to Pete today, as quick as possible and like I said, hopefully draw a line under it and get back to what we’re doing.