Tooth and claw
McIlroy defies the taunts of the US crowd to lead the European charge and set up a true cliffhanger on Super Singles Sunday
World No3 joins up with Pieters for two big wins
In the midst of high drama the Ryder Cup descended to a golfing low here yesterday as Rory McIlroy had one heckler ejected because of disgusting abuse. McIlroy, who was on his way to his third win in succession in the company of the immensely impressive rookie Thomas Pieters, was the target all day, with members of the crowd singing “Sweet Caroline” in reference to his former fiancée, the tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.
But as the world No 3 walked from the seventh green to the eighth green, the slating became deeply personal. “Go suck a d----, Rory,” the man shouted. One observer claimed the spectator followed this up by saying, “------- coming up short was why Wozniacki left your ass”.
McIlroy’s reaction was swift, moving into the crowd and pointing out the miscreant for the security staff to lead out of the gates. By this time, they should have been extremely busy. On the 11th green, Henrik Stenson was forced to back off a putt as one gallery member heckled. His partner, Justin Rose, approached the crowd in fury while Patrick Reed motioned for the fans to be quiet and shook his head in dismay.
Maybe some football observers think this is run-of-the-mill and believe the golfers should feel fortunate they are not the recipients of such mindless offence on a weekly basis. But this is not football, it is golf. And the Ryder Cup’s propensity for drama means it has no need for stepping over the line.
In an atmosphere which was becoming ever more hostile – and which inevitably raised fears that it could turn into a veritable bear pit for today’s singles – Europe continued their comeback from being whitewashed 4-0 in the opening foursomes.
Having won the Friday afternoon fourballs 3-1, Darren Clarke’s men nudged this foursomes 2½-1½ to take the scoreline to 6½-5½.
And when McIlroy and Pieters beat Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson 3&1 for their second win of the day, Europe had drawn level. However, out on the course, they were level in one and down in the other fourballs. Regardless, had Darren Clarke, Europe captain, been told that his side would be level going into the final hours of the penultimate afternoon he would have bought the messenger a villa. They were in there fighting.
Straight from the off there were fireworks. As the 55,000-strng crowd assembled on a sunny morning just before 7am, the chatter was still about the audacious eagle made by McIlroy on the 16th green the previous night – as well as the brassy celebration, when he enacted a double bow to the crowd to say: “You’re welcome for the show”.
Well, the show continued and it had everything, fans having a go at players, players responding to fans, players having needle with each other, excoaches calling out player. We witnessed one of the coldest shanks in Ryder Cup history, a drive finishing in a marshall’s pocket, balls in trees, in water – but more than all of this we watched some remarkable golf in the sports’ most intense arena.
As ever, McIlroy was somewhere near the centre of the theatre. Europe’s superstar again partnered up with Pieters, the brilliant young Belgian, and again they prevailed not only over the US pair, but also over the galleries. The the Golf Channel previewed the match against Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler by saying Mickelson was “inside Rory’s head”, having been on the winning team against the Ulsterman on two previous occasions.
The problem is Mickelson has not often been inside the ropes here. “I’m not sure Phil can even spell ‘fairway’, never mind hit one,” Butch Harmon said. Harmon is the swing coach Mickelson dropped 18 months ago. Ah, the harmony of golf.
It was not much in evidence on the first green when Fowler banged in a 25-footer, causing the throng to raise their voices in ecstasy. When Pieters followed in from 15 feet, silence fell and the he could not resist putting his finger to his mouth, just as Reed did at Gleneagles, year ago. And so the tone was set. It was not to be muted, that was for sure.
McIlroy and Pieters moved three up after five with the former holing a 15-footer on the second and then performing supremely thereafter. They looked like going four up on the eighth, but Mickelson holed from 40 feet, cueing mayhem.
On the ninth, McIlroy missed a three-footer and the screws were tumbling off the wheels. On the 10th, Pumped: Thomas Pieters celebrates a putt on the 13th hole in the fourballs, as Jordan Spieth (left) feels the heat McIlroy sliced it deep into the trees. This is where the fun started.
Pieters was obliged to reload, but as he did, Mickelson reminded him he must declare it was “a provisional”. Pieters did and asked: “Did I say it OK?”. The pickers found McIlroy’s drive and Pieters had a way through.
Mickelson came over and spoke to the referee, which made many question his sportsmanship. The left-hander had every right to make the query and enjoyed the last laugh on the hole anyway, converting the 15-footer for the win. “Just go and get in there baby,” Mickelson said as his ball went below ground. That was one of the more charming things heard.
On the seventh, Pieters had driven it into the creek and when he stood over his putt for a half, an American shouted: “Get in the water”. When Pieters rammed in the 12-footer for the half, McIlroy turned in the direction of the heckle, clapped his hands and shouted: “Come on!”
Eventually, Pieters and McIlroy came through 4&2 and their excellence deserved it. Believing, like many, that he had unearthed the latest dynamic Europe pairing, Clarke put them out in the fourballs and nobody saw any reason to argue. They dispatched Koepka and Johnson 3&1. The former had made it two out of two in the company of Brandt Snedeker against Henrik Stenson and the English rookie Matt Fitzpatrick and for a second successive session this was America’s only triumph, despite Koepka’s rank shank on the 11th.
Justin Rose and Chris Wood were involved in a nail-biter against Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson, leading by three with five to go, but being brought back to one-up going down the 18th. They held on and, despite Rose’s continued mastery in this event, much credit given to Wood, another of the four English rookies.
Like Fitzpatrick, he had been benched on Friday but waited patiently for his chance and more than confirmed he was worthy of his place. Yet Clarke resisted letting that pair spin again, reunited Rose with Stenson and sending them out for their third meeting with Reed and Spieth, with their own scoreline standing at 1-1.
The America double-act were reeling after Sergio García and Rafa Cabrera Bello’s fightback. Spieth and Reed had quickly taken a three-hole lead after one of García’s drives had ended in the pocket of a marshal.
But just when they looked impreg- nable they bogeyed three in a row from the 13th and it was game on. Cabrera Bello holed a long effort on the 16th and then another from off the fringe on the 17th, forcing the half.