Europe back in the brawl
GOLF After Friday’s whitewash Rory McIlroy and Thomas Pieters form dynamic duo to spark comeback and sink misfiring Mickelson, observes Nick Rodger
BULGING eyes, popping veins, pumping fists, mouths contorted in frenzied endeavour? That’s just the spectators here at the 41st Ryder Cup. Or is it the golf writers battering away the daily dispatches?
Out in the heat of the battle, it’s even more fraught. Jack Nicklaus described the atmosphere at rip-roaring Hazeltine as “wild” and the mobs from Minneapolis and beyond have certainly made themselves heard in this cauldron of bawls, heckles, hollers and cans of Bud Lite. The liquid breakfast is alive and well in these parts.
“Go back to the European Tour,” barked one punter in close proximity to Rory McIlroy. “Nah, I’ll keep coming over here and taking your money,” responded the Northern Irishman. Touche.
McIlroy has been the target for many of the masses this weekend but is simply soaking in the hostility and using it to drive himself and Team Europe on.
From the debris of Friday’s 4-0 whitewash in the opening foursomes, the European salvage operation was continuing yesterday in the autumn sun. Having edged the first session of the day by 2½ points to 1½, the visitors had reeled themselves back to within a point of their hosts. It was very much game on.
Whatever the outcome of this Ryder Cup tonight, at least Darren Clarke, the European skipper, can say he got one thing right. The addition of Thomas Pieters to his team may have caused a bit of muttering in Scotland as the young Belgian was given a pick ahead of Russell Knox but Pieters has already lived up to his billing. Even Knox, holidaying in Bermuda, has probably been watching the telly and nodding his head with appreciation.
Upon announcing Pieters as one of his wild cards, Clarke bracketed him with the likes McIlroy and Tiger Woods in terms of natural talent and declared he had the potential to be a world No 1. In partnership with McIlroy, the 24-year-old has been something of a revelation. Unfazed and possessing a ruthless competitive instinct, Pieters has thrived in the whole Ryder Cup hoopla. His shushing action to the crowd, when he trundled in a birdie putt on the first hole against Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson in yesterday’s foursomes, underlined this swagger, resolve and uninhibited zeal.
McIlroy’s Ryder Cup record against Mickelson in the pairs is pretty wretched. He lost to him in the fourballs in 2012 and 2014 and again in the foursomes on Friday. In Pieters, he has found the perfect foil. Yesterday, this flourishing alliance prospered in a captivating top tie as they surged to a 4&2 victory over the American pairing. “When I saw the draw on Friday night I said ‘yes, I get to have a go at Phil again’,” said McIlroy. “My record against him isn’t what I’d like it to be and I may have wanted it a little bit more.”
Wearing the kind of steely game face that resembled Lee van Cleef in a Western shoot-out, McIlroy continues to be highly charged and animated. When Pieters holed a curling birdie putt on the 15th to push the Europeans three-up, he was roaring like a man possessed. That’s the Ryder Cup for you.
While Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker were easing past Henrik Stenson and Matt Fitzpatrick 3&2, and Justin Rose and Chris Wood were chiselling out a final-green win over Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson, things were swinging in the last match.
Sergio Garcia and Ryder Cup debutant Rafa Cabrero Bello had been four down through 12 holes against a rampaging Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, but this Spanish Armada wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Against the odds, they plundered a half which, in this contest of extremely fine margins, could yet prove crucial when it’s all said and done.
As the Americans wobbled, Garcia and Cabrero Bello upped the ante. Garcia coaxed in a 12-footer for birdie on 16 to reduce the leeway to just a hole before Cabrero Bello dunted another birdie on 17 to square the match after Spieth’s own birdie attempt halted on the edge of the cup. “It’s the Ryder Cup, simple as that,” said Garcia, when asked to explain the head-spinning turnaround.
There should be a few more of those Ryder Cup twists and turns to come as this thrilling tussle thunders to a climax.