Barring the comeback of all comebacks, the European team will not just retain the Ryder Cup, but win it convincingly, and do it on the most hostile territory imaginable.
Ryder Cup blowouts are something that we’ve unfortunately become used to. They may have shared victories in the past five editions (3-2 to Europe) but none have been close and the average margin of victory is 6.6 points and even a dead-even, 6-6 split in this year’s singles will see that average creep up.
But it’s not been without excitement, and there are many things to unpack from the two sessions on Saturday.
The foursomes pairings
For the second Ryder Cup in succession, Luke Donald played the same foursomes pairings two days running. But when you’ve won the previous day’s foursomes 3-1 and the two players who narrowly lost their match were both rested for the afternoon session, it was easy to rinse and repeat.
Keegan Bradley made one change, swapping Cameron Young in for Justin Thomas, but sticking with the much maligned Harris English and Collin Morikawa pairing. From a U.S. standpoint, it’s unfortunate that they ran into Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood – now a perfect four-from-four in Ryder Cup foursomes – but it’s hard to see the result being any different if it’d been Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, for example.
Given how he’d played on Friday afternoon, there was no way that Young could’ve been left out, and he and Bryson DeChambeau put the only U.S. point on the board, but given the statistical anomaly – ranked 132nd of 132 possible foursomes pairings from a statistical viewpoint – it’s incredible that he went with English and Morikawa again.
Lowry rises to the occasion
Shane Lowry didn’t play well on Friday afternoon. He had his moments, and sometimes that’s enough in fourball format, particularly when your partner is Rory McIlroy, and Luke Donald must’ve considered sitting him out for both sessions on Saturday.
He didn’t, and Lowry repaid his faith in spades.
With the atmosphere electric – and not in the good way – McIlroy was the lightning rod. For three matches, he’d taken it in his stride, let his golf clubs do most of the talking – his fingers and his mouth had small supporting roles – but by the time the fourball match against Thomas and Young reached the fourth hole, he was at the end of his tether.
The abuse and the heckling had gone beyond what any player should be subjected to, and McIlroy’s eyes betrayed him. He was exhausted, and it had gotten to him. Now, he needed Lowry, and Lowry was there for him. Eagle on four, birdie on five, birdie on six, Lowry was on fire and he carried McIlroy for long enough for him to regroup, to recover, and to catch fire again. They dovetailed over the closing stretch of the match, but this was a victory that was much more Shane’s than it was Rory’s and Rory was quick to acknowledge that afterwards.
They’d been through hell, but it’ll be a match and a victory they’ll remember forever. Truly one of the all-time great Ryder Cup Irish performances and there’s no shortage of competition.
Scottie on the verge of history?
For almost four years now, Scottie Scheffler has been doing historic things. Most money made in a season, most wins of anybody not named ‘Tiger Woods’, lowest scoring average of anybody not named ‘Tiger Woods’, highest Strokes-Gained numbers of anybody not named ‘Tiger Woods’….. We could go on.
Now, he’s one singles match away from a record that absolutely nobody wants. Should he lose to Rory McIlroy, he’ll be the first player ever to lose five matches in a Ryder Cup in its current format.
At the start of the week, it was virtually unthinkable that Scheffler would even have a losing record, never mind possible the worst losing record of all time.
It’s not all his fault, of course. He and DeChambeau were nine-under for 16 holes but still lost to Fleetwood and Rose, and on one of the holes they lost, he suffered a horrendous break by hitting the base of the flag and ricocheting off into the rough when it should’ve been a tap-in birdie or hole-out eagle.
Scheffler also holds the dishonour of having the largest margin of defeat in the 18-hole match era at 9&7. Maybe he bounces back stronger from it, but Rory has a chance to take his biggest rival and thrust a dagger into his heart. Regardless of what happens in the first three matches, this one is huge.
Fleetwood going for history of his own
Larry Nelson did it at The Greenbrier back in 1979, Francesco Molinari did it at Le Golf National in 2018, and Dustin Johnson did it at Whistling Straits in 2021, but since continental Europe entered the Ryder Cup fray, no player has ever gone a perfect five away from home.
He might’ve played second fiddle to Justin Rose in the fourball victory over Scheffler and DeChambeau, but Tommy Fleetwood has been superb from start to finish over the first two days.
Now, only Justin Thomas stands between him and the greatest points haul in the history of the Ryder Cup. He had the honour of sealing the winning point in Rome two years ago, and it’s not outside the realms of possibility that he could follow suit again if a few of the matches behind finish early.
We all expect Europe to get the three points they require, but there are plenty of other subplots in Sunday’s singles matches and this is one to keep a close eye on.
The Rose-DeChambeau bust-up
This was pure box office. At 45, and given the way he’s performed this week and all season long, Justin Rose should not be remotely entertaining captaincy thoughts for 2027. He’s got plenty of time for that, and if he’s even showing glimpses of form, he has to be a strong candidate for a playing role at Adare Manor.
There’ll be much debate as to the rights and wrongs of it, but I refuse to believe that Bryson DeChambeau and his caddie, Gregory Bodine weren’t aware that it was Rose’s turn on the 16th green. Even in the heat of battle – maybe even more so in the heat of battle – you are aware of who is away. Rose was fully within his rights to point it out, and politely or impolitely tell Bodine to move out of his eyeline.
Full credit to Rose for then sinking the 15-footer, and equal credit to Bryson for following him in from 11 feet to extend the match, but DeChambeau escalated the situation afterwards. Tensions were high, but it was unnecessary. As for Scheffler’s caddie Ted Scott, claiming that the extremely mild-mannered Francesco Molinari had shoved him… We’ve got video evidence, Ted.
Ultimately, all this did was make a European point all the sweeter.
The dregs of society
Dress it up however you want – passion spilling over, frustration in the face of watching your nation’s best getting manhandled on home soil, sinking a few too many of the $15 and $19 beers – a significant amount of the Bethpage crowd were a disgrace.
If you can spend $750 on a ticket, you’re not short of a few bob. But no amount of money can buy class. I’ll be saying the same in two years’ time at Adare Manor if the largely European and heavily Irish crowd don’t treat the American golfers with the respect they deserve, but there is absolutely no place in the game for personal insults.
I’m not even calling for polite applause for good shots from the opposing team. Be partisan, and be damn proud of it, but at least behave in a remotely civilised fashion. You didn’t have to be on the grounds to witness some of it, but all reports suggest that what carried to TV mics wasn’t even close to being the tip of the iceberg.
And having a mic’d up emcee joining a chorus of “F**k you, Rory!” on the first tee didn’t help.
It was a minority, sure, but when you’ve got 50,000 people on the grounds, 5,000 is still a minority.
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