INDEPENDENCE DAY
U.S. poised to overthrow European rulers
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Remember Medinah.
The Illinois golf course will be on minds of both the U.S. and European teams as they enter the final day of the 43rd Ryder Cup Sunday at Whistling Straits.
The Europeans, down 11-5 at the halfway mark after Saturday’s matches, will be trying to duplicate what they did when they overcame a 10-6 deficit in 2012 at Medinah.
The Americans, who won Saturday’s morning foursomes 3-1 and split the afternoon fourballs 2-2, will be drawing from what that nightmare taught them.
The U.S. side, losers of four of the past five Ryder Cups and nine of the past 12, not only are on the verge of putting an end to Europe’s dominance, but also they have a chance to rout the Europeans in record fashion as they take a commanding six-point lead into Sunday’s 12 singles matches.
The U.S. needs just 3 ½ points to win the title for the first time since 2016. In Ryder Cup history, no team has won fewer than 3 ½ points in singles. To retain the cup, Europe must win nine of the 12 singles matches, to get to 14 points.
U.S. captain Steve Stricker’s message to his players after Saturday play was simple: Play on Sunday as if the match were tied.
“I just said that we’ve got another day [and] it’s not over yet and, ‘Let’s not rest on what we’ve done these first couple of days and don’t be content with where we’re at,’ ’’ he said. “We want to win the session tomorrow. These guys are still very focused. I think they have learned from our past mistakes, as well. They know. They have watched. No one is taking this day tomorrow for granted at all.’’
Stricker said he and his vice captains have “talked about’’ what happened at Medinah.
“I think we learned a lot of lessons from 2012,” Stricker said. He added that he has no plans to bring up Medinah to his players.
You can bet European captain Padraig Harrington will be talking a lot about it to his players.
“Six points is a tough one to make up, but I think we were a half-point short of that in the Miracle at Medinah on Sunday, so we’re just going to have to push for that,’’ Harrington said. “There’s no doubt that’s going to be very strong on our minds. These things can be done.’’
The Americans have had too good a week to date to allow that to happen.
“We haven’t had this good of an opportunity in a long time and hopefully we can get the job done,’’ Bryson DeChambeau said.
“We’ve got one heck of a healthy lead,’’ Tony Finau said. “We’ve got 12 hungry guys to get this thing done. They have a really tall task in front of them, a score that’s never been overcome. They have run the score up on us before. If we have the opportunity, we are going to run it up on them tomorrow.’’
The Europeans, who got a late psychological boost when Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton defeated Tony Finau and Harris English 1-up in a fourballs match to get their fifth point, put on a brave face, refusing to believe they’re out of it.
“We have a big task tomorrow. Let’s see if we can make history,’’ Sergio Garcia said.
“We’re still not out of it,’’ Hatton said. “It’s a long day tomorrow, 12 matches. If any 12 of us were going out against any of them in the match play, we would fancy our chances. We just have to believe.’’
Jon Rahm said the European team “is playing good, [but it’s] just putts not dropping in and a couple things here and there that just could happen that haven’t happened. “I’d like to believe that things even out. So tomorrow, if we get off to a good start, kind of like what happened in 2012, and things start going our way, you never know. Golf is a very complicated and ironic and sarcastic game sometimes.’’