Luke Donald is urging his European players to seize their chance to make history as they bid to seal an emphatic Ryder Cup victory in the face of a hostile New York crowd which boiled over on Saturday.
As they were subjected to personal taunts and repeated disruptions which Donald described as “crossing the line”, his side kept their cool to move within three points of glory at Bethpage Black heading into Sunday’s singles session after a record-breaking first two days.
Europe hold a commanding 11.5-4.5 lead over United States in New York after winning the first four sessions for the first time away from home.
They now have the chance to complete their first victory on US soil since 2012 and only the fifth since the team was expanded to include continental players in 1979. They may even be eyeing a chance to eclipse their record nine-point winning margin, achieved in 2004 and 2006.
Donald said: “I said it at the beginning of week we came here to try and win, to try and create history.
“Our goal is always to win every session, no matter where we are, and that will be our goal.
“We love to do things that haven’t been done before, and we’ve achieved quite a few things this week already.
“But the goal for me is still the finishing line. We still have a long way to go.”
Saturday’s session saw players arguing with spectators in the face of abuse from the crowd as extra police were drafted in to keep calm.
“These guys are very aware of how difficult the environment is going to be,” Donald added.
“We’re excited for the challenge but our goal will be to win the session.”
World number two Rory McIlroy and his partner Shane Lowry felt the brunt of a crowd who seemed to have responded to Collin Morikawa’s request earlier in the week to bring “absolute chaos” to Bethpage Black.
After he and McIlroy won their match against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young, Lowry said: “It was intense. It was like something I’ve never experienced. But this is what I live for. This is it. This is like, honestly, the reason I get up in the morning, for stuff like this.”
There were clashes on the course as well as off it. Bryson DeChambeau screamed at Tommy Fleetwood after his partner Justin Rose had complained about DeChambeau’s caddy Greg Bodine walking across the line of his putt – with players and caddies getting involved in the spat.
“I was ready to hit my putt,” Rose said. “I didn’t feel like that space was being honoured. I made my feelings known. Asked him to move.
“Maybe not as politely as I could have done, but in the scenario, it’s coming down the stretch, we both have a lot on our minds and it’s intense out there.”
On Sunday Rose will head out first against Young, with Tommy Fleetwood – with four victories under his belt already this week – then taking on Thomas.
In-form Matt Fitzpatrick faces Bryson DeChambeau before a tasty clash between McIlroy and out-of-sorts world number one Scottie Scheffler, who has lost all four of his matches.
Ludvig Aberg and Jon Rahm fill out the top six against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele respectively.
“I have 12 very good players,” said Donald.
“In singles you have to go a little bit with gut instincts. We obviously have a big lead. So we have to think about that, and we imagine that the US are going to come out pretty strong.
“We’re trying to kind of match them with some strength.”
Viktor Hovland has been named 12th on the European list after aggravating a neck injury during Saturday’s play. He is due to face Harris English but will be assessed before play.
Should he withdraw, his match will be halved.
