American beauties
U.S. depth, experience keys to reclaiming Cup
CHASKA, Minn. — As it says in Matthew 20:16, and now also in the Ryder Cup history books, “So the last will be first and the first will be last.” So it came to pass yesterday afternoon at sun-dappled Hazeltine National Golf Club.
The best player in the world, Rory McIlroy, led off the Sunday singles matches at the 41st Ryder Cup locked in an 18-hole battle with a grizzly bear. In the end that grizzly, Patrick Reed, won by holing putt after fist-pumping putt until he had beaten the Tour champion by one hole.
It was one of the greatest head-tohead matches in golf history, one brilliant shot toppling on another until they had extinguished everything they had to give.
“I just ran out of steam on the back nine,” McIlroy said. “Not physically but mentally. I was trying to summon up energy. I was trying to do everything I could. It just wasn’t meant to be. There’s not really much more I could have done. I tried my best.”
He did and fell short, yet in the end it was the last player selected for the U.S. team, rookie Ryan Moore, who clinched what became a 17-11 victory for the U.S. — surging back from 2-down with three to play in his match with Lee Westwood to post the decisive point on what became a blood-red scoreboard by the end.
Were it not for their poor recent history in these confrontations, the U.S. team would have been looked upon as heavy favorites to reclaim the Ryder Cup from the Europeans because, well, they had better players and were playing on home turf.
If one took the time to break down the two 12-man rosters, one found the average American team member would be ranked 16th in the world. The average European player would have been ranked 28th. In addition, the Europeans brought six rookies to the Americans’ two. The U.S. pair, Moore and Brooks Koepka, finished 5-2. The six Europeans went a combined 7-9-1, and yesterday the American duo was 2-0 while the Europeans finished 2-4. This was a significant talent gap Europe simply could not close.
Yet past history made you wonder if that talent gap would mean anything. The U.S. had lost six of the previous seven Ryder Cups and eight of the last 10 despite a similar edge. Four years ago, the U.S. absorbed one of the worst spankings in Ryder history, blowing a 10-6 lead on the final day by losing eight matches and halving a ninth. Two years ago, the U.S. were handily beaten, 161⁄ 2- 111⁄ 2, and then threw team captain Tom Watson under the bus.
Yesterday, the Euros actually won three of the first five matches and halved the sixth, a spirited battle between Sergio Garcia (nine birdies, no bogeys) and Phil Mickelson (10 birdies, 1 bogey). Euro captain Darren Clarke needed more than that however from the top of his lineup, and he knew he didn’t get it.
He’d put a top-heavy lineup out in hopes a sea of blue early in the day might crack the Americans’ confidence and resolve. It was his only chance to win. But when McIlroy lost to Reed and Justin Rose blew a number of early chances to take out Rickie Fowler and ultimately lost to him 1-up, the die was cast.
Moore finalized the victory with his own stirring comeback against the fading Westwood, who missed two short putts on Saturday to cost the Europeans a valuable point, and withered at the end yesterday under young Moore’s constant pressure. But long before Moore loosened the Europeans’ vice grip on the Cup, the scoreboards dotting the landscape already told the story. It was an American tale, the second half of the draw a Red Sea of victory almost from the first ball strike to the last.
At one point, and for much of the afternoon, each of the final six matches were in red, taking considerable pressure off the individual Americans and ratcheting it up on the Europeans. In the end, the U.S. would win five of those matches on the back end as Clarke’s hope of hiding some of his rookies from exposure failed.
Of the six Ryder Cup rookies on the European side, four lost and three lost badly. Danny Willett finished off a difficult week of controversy caused by his bumbling brother’s mouthiness by losing 5-and-4 to Koepka, a match so one-sided it ended at the 14th hole. Young Matthew Fitzpatrick, who is 22 but looks 12, was wiped out by two-time major champion Zach Johnson, 4-and-3, and Andy Sullivan was beaten 3-and-1 by Brandt Snedeker.
Conversely, young Moore thrust the final dagger into the Europeans. Moore had been so late a pick that there was not even time for him to be properly measured for the team’s various outfits, so they had to cobble together a set of clothing that fit his, shall we say, husky frame.
However they outfitted him didn’t matter yesterday when he fell behind on the first hole, battled back to take the lead on the fifth, and then bogeyed 12 and 14 and lost the 15th to find himself two back with three to play in what was still potentially an important match.
His response was not that of a quivering rookie in ill-fitting clothing, but rather that of a pugnacious one. He eagled the par-5 16th and birdied 17 to square the match and put enough pressure on the aging Westwood that it was he who cracked, bogeying 18 to lose the match.
“This is unbelievable right now, to actually get the point that clinched it for us,” said Moore. “Obviously we had some great play going on behind me (in the later matches) so I was able to relax those last couple of holes and able to sneak a win out there.
“When I went 2-down with three to go, I didn’t want to let my team down. I wanted to do everything I could to try and hit a couple of great shots coming in. Eagle on 16 was huge. Then that birdie on 17 and then to win with the par on the last hole, honestly I don’t even know what to tell you.”
Perhaps the one person who did know what was Clarke, who had been a fountain of proper perspective all week. He understood why things ended as they had. His early Sunday blitzkrieg strategy didn’t work and so the better team won.
“At the end of the day, the American guys played better than we did,” he said. “They holed the putts when they had to and we lipped out. That’s happened the other way for quite some time. The bottom line is they played better.”