The ball vanished deep into the hole and so too did Shane Lowry’s senses in an impassioned, lumbering dance across the 18th green. An exorcism of nerves on a sizzling afternoon at Bethpage Black, the Irishman saved a staggering Europe from a state of shock after a wave of red in Sunday singles.
The birdie to tie with Russell Henley, nudged Luke Donald’s side to that magical mark of 14 points, ended an ominous American charge and the prospect of an even greater comeback than ‘The Miracle of Medinah’.
Jon Rahm mobbed the Irishman, as tears trickled down his face, relief after a chaotic 24 hours, in which he emerged as a part-time bodyguard for Rory McIlroy during a frenzied and menacing fourballs match on Saturday, which saw the event descend into chaos.
“I didn’t think it would come down to me,” an honest Lowry remarked. “But the whole week we have our teammates beside us, but on your own it’s incredibly difficult. Those last four holes, I hit three of the best iron shots of my life, I’m shaking. This is the best team in the world, the best tournament in the world, it’s the only thing I want to do for the rest of my life.”
Before edging to a 14-11 advantage, this gripping three-day battle on Long Island added a bizarre twist minutes before the Sunday singles could get underway. Viktor Hovland, sidelined late on Saturday after his heroics alongside an unlikely comrade in Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre, would not line up for Europe on Sunday. It enforced the bizarre envelope rule and dragged Europe a further half point closer with the match against Harris English deemed a tie. A tantalisingly two points still required.
The whispers late into the night on Saturday about a record-breaking victory, after the seismic move from Europe to clinch an 11.5-5.5 advantage, were made to look foolish though. Any lingering complacency fueled a wounded and proud American team.
The maligned Keegan Bradley has had his judgement questioned all week, notably the questionable pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English, who lost on two occasions. Yet the captain was left grimacing after more poor judgement to intervene on a ruling over Justin Rose’s ball, which cratered beyond the green and the road protecting it from the rear. The commotion appeared to light a fire in Europe’s wily veteran, inspiring him to make an improbable up and down from a scratchy lie, inches from the grandstand, to surge back from three down after 12 to an 18th hole shoot-out against Cameron Young in the first match. But the bearded New Yorker drained a birdie to snatch the first point of the day and trigger a nervy couple of hours for the away team.
Tommy Fleetwood had aspirations for a famous 5-0 week, replicating the only man to ever do it for Europe in former partner Francesco Molinari in 2018. But a fiercely intense match with Justin Thomas ebbed and flowed until the last. Running his fingers through his hair and staring away in disbelief at the way Europe had started to unravel. Thomas drained the birdie effort for a last-gasp victory and a second straight point to spark wild celebrations. The Kentucky man’s putter discarded, leaping into the air and pointing with menace at Young, who had lingered after his match to soak in the finale of another gripping match.
Hope conjured from nowhere and suddenly 50,000 pairs of eyes were fixated on the balls once more, that sinister edge to this contest following those vile barbs, mostly directed at Rory McIlroy and Lowry, had subsided.
Bradley’s strategy has been jarringly different to the methodical Luke Donald and his calculated, data-led approach with no stone unturned. Instead, the Bostonian has been magnetic to both aura and entertainment in players and pairings. Notably Bryson DeChambeau, with the beefy Texan wielded as a barrel of petrol to the flammable crowd and its vulgar barbs directed at Europe’s players.
But after four sessions, DeChambeau appeared fatigued on Sunday, with the crafty Matt Fitzpatrick reinvigorated in this competition after a bumpy start as a European player. The Sheffield man left DeChambeau staggering against the ropes with a series of haymakers in the opening seven holes, surging to five up. It even provoked DeChambeau into a tantrum on six after his approach flirted with the hole but failed to drop, leaving him furiously pumping his bulky arms. Fitzpatrick later made a stomping motion on the green with his icy demeanour hinting at the contest fizzling out. But DeChambeau rallied, slashing the deficit to three down after nine and slapping his putter down by his bag to march menacingly to the back nine. A run of three birdies in four holes set up an improbable win, but Fitzpatrick clung on to salvage a precious half point.
McIlroy was still subjected to a handful of barbs throughout another draining afternoon on the course in what he later admitted has been “a really tough week”. His heavyweight tussle with world No1 Scottie Scheffler headlined the action and he erupted after a putt on 17, twirling his fingers and begging the crowd to bring even more noise, while pounding the European badge in delight. But Scheffler salvaged some pride and avoided a dreaded 0-5 run to win one up.
As the blue suddenly vanished from the leaderboard, with four matches remaining, Tyrrell Hatton, 3-0-0 over the first two days, emerged as their saviour. From furiously barking at himself after a near miss on 15, that crucial half point against Collin Morikawa ensured an outright victory.
“It feels weird to get there this way,” Rose said. “If it was 14-14 it would’ve been a strange one, 14.5 is so much better.”
An almighty scare, but Donald’s Europe are now the fifth European team to win an away Ryder Cup. There were 37 players before, now 47 have succeeded on US soil. “Future generations,” in the words of Donald, will always remember this team.
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