London, Sep 23 : Europe's Lee Westwood, who spoke all weekend about the crowd's hostility towards him, has blamed United States captain Paul Azinger for inciting the home fans and Ian Poulter accused an American player of deliberately shoulder-barging him during the Ryder Cup.

Westwood and Poulter insisted that they were victims of a dirty tricks campaign in the Ryder Cup defeat, The Sun reported.

Westwood blamed Azinger for the over-the-top antics of the American crowds at Valhalla, saying he whipped them up too much at a mass rally before play.

And Poulter claimed even the USA players got involved, with Anthony Kim shoulder charging him as he walked off the green.

Westwood was the target for non-stop abuse during Europe's 161/2-111/2 defeat in the Ryder Cup.

He was woken at 2a.m. by a hoax call and said his parents were also subjected to vile taunts. And after he 'dared' to criticise crowd favourite Boo Weekley for inciting the crowds, a ghost confronted him!

Westwood explained: "The ghost was some guy with a white sheet over his head. He jumped out at me and went 'Booooooo' in my face. He was the only one that got ejected - but he was the one that made me laugh. The abuse that I got the rest of the time was fairly nasty. It was pretty shameful."

"Mostly the crowds were great. I expected them to get behind the Americans, which they did, but some don't know the difference between supporting their team and abusing the opposition. You have to say a lot of that is down to the captain," he added.

Azinger fired T-shirts into the crowd on the eve of the Ryder Cup, urging them to be "our 13th man". He also told them to cheer European misses, which infuriated Westwood.

Poulter said: "I was bodychecked by Kim as if he was someone who decided I was not there and that he would like to walk through me. He decided to drop his right shoulder into me. It was pathetic."

Poulter rose to the occasion brilliantly and was Europe's top scorer with four points. Azinger insisted that he had no reason to apologise for his behaviour, or that of the Kentucky galleries.

ANI