RAMPANT RORY IS THE LEADER OF THE PACK
McIlroy now the figurehead of Europe team as he and Pieters rise above the heckling hordes
HEAVEN smelled like dew on freshly cut grass when Rory McIlroy stood on the first green at Hazeltine not long after dawn yesterday morning. Heaven sounded like the cheers and whoops of the American fans being strangled in their throats as McIlroy’s partner, Thomas Pieters, sank a putt to halve the hole and set the tone for another magnificent day at the Ryder Cup.
Heaven looked like the leaves beginning to turn to orange on the maple trees and the elms that circled the green, framed against the pale blue Minnesota sky. It looked like Pieters, the rookie who has cut a charismatic swathe through this competition, turning to the crowd and putting his finger to his lips.
Heaven sounded like the faint echo of American voices singing ‘I believe we will win’ as it drifted down from the stands around the first tee.
It looked like McIlroy striding off towards the second tee, feeding off the febrile atmosphere that is unique to the Ryder Cup, giving notice that this foursomes match against Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler was going to be one hell of a sporting spectacle and one hell of a fight.
To follow McIlroy’s match yesterday as he faced down the hostility of the American crowds, as he met their fire with fire, was to thrill to the repeated expressions of his brilliance and the many manifestations of his defiance. McIlroy revelled in the pressure of the occasion. He rose to it. He did everything he could to drag Europe back into this Ryder Cup.
The American fans did everything they could to will Mickelson and Fowler to victory. They taunted Pieters and tried to put him off by calling out on his backswing on several occasions. They cheered every European mis-step wildly. They and the American team knew how important this match was and that if they could win, Europe’s hopes would surely be over. McIlroy refused to bow to them.
The last time the Ryder Cup was played on American soil, at Medinah in 2012, it felt like McIlroy was just a boy. Sure, he was 23, he had already won two majors, the US Open and USPGA, and he was the World No1, but Ian Poulter was the leader of that team and McIlroy was along for the ride. That has changed now. At Hazeltine, McIlroy had made it plain he is the leader of his team. He stood up on Friday evening when he holed an eagle putt on the 16th to seal a point with Pieters in their match against Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar and reduce America’s lead to 5-3 after a morning when Europe had been staring at humiliation.
McIlroy bowed theatrically to the baying American crowd, unafraid of the flak coming his way
‘Even before I hit that putt,’ McIlroy, 27, said, ‘I wanted to put an exclamation mark on that session for us. I honestly actually thought about that celebration before I hit the putt. It’s a hostile environment out there and I just want everyone that’s watching to know how much this means to us and how much it means to me. We’re not going down without a fight.’ Pieters played beautifully, too, but it has been another sign of McIlroy’s growing role within the team that he has been given the responsibility to shepherd the Belgian rookie through his debut here. McIlroy has performed that role to perfection, too. The clumsy, regrettable way in which he handled his summer withdrawal from another team event, the Olympic Games, is a fading memory now. The Northern Irishman is playing with the kind of maturity and responsibility that
bodes well for his future as a fine ambassador for his sport.
This was McIlroy leading from the front and he started yesterday morning in exactly the same vein. European captain Darren Clarke stuck him and Pieters out first because he could sense the fire that burns within McIlroy for this event now and he desperately needed his team to get off to a fast start. McIlroy repaid him handsomely.
It was Pieters who drained that putt on the first but it was McIlroy who did it on the second, rolling one in from 12 feet to put Europe ahead.
Fowler’s fluffed bunker shot on the fourth allowed McIlroy and Pieters to go two up and when McIlroy chipped to within five feet at the fifth, Europe were three up. ‘What an a ****** ,’ part of the American entourage standing at the fringe of the green said in disgust, as McIlroy’s chip came to a halt near the cup.
The American fans tried to rattle McIlroy again at the seventh. Pieters found the water with his tee shot but McIlroy made a brilliant recovery with his approach shot and Pieters halved the hole.
The Belgian had to step away from his putt when an American yelled out just as he was about to make contact. When he sank it, Pieters grabbed the ball, stared at the grandstand and hurled his ball into the lake.
McIlroy stared at the heckler as he marched off the green. He knew this was the time to hold his nerve and when Mickelson drained a monster 60ft putt at the eighth, McIlroy was faced with a six-footer to halve the hole. Everyone knew the noise would be deafening if he missed, but the roar never came. He holed the putt and defiantly locked eyes with the crowd once more as he walked off the green. The Europeans wobbled over the next two holes but they did not crack and even though their lead was cut to one hole, they extended it again before closing the match out 4&2 to put Europe’s first point of the day on the board and reduce America’s lead, temporarily, to 5-4. ‘You want to set the tone for the rest of the team,’ McIlroy said as he stood on the 16th green being congratulated by the rest of the European side. ‘When they saw us up early, that’s exactly what we were trying to do — put blue on the board. We delivered for Darren.’ There was much more golf to come, of course, and McIlroy could not affect the splurges of red that bled down over the scoreboard but he had played his part. He had set the example for the rest to follow. He had established himself as his team’s new leader.