There was an hour window on Sunday when it seemed like it could happen. It felt possible. The United States had a chance, however remote, to win the first six matches of Sunday singles at the Ryder Cup. Looking at the match board, there was a chance. After that, then all hell could break loose and we would be on our way to a redux of the two greatest Ryder Cups of all time: the 1999 American comeback at Brookline and the 2012 European comeback at Medinah. Both of those comebacks were from a 10-6 Saturday night deficit. The USA trailed 10-6 at the start of Sunday’s singles session.
Captain Jim Furyk put his power at the front of the 12-man lineup. That’s the way you do this when you have a sizable deficit to make up. Euro captain Thomas Bjorn countered with his strength up front, which is what you do when you’re sitting on a nice cushion with just one session to go. The last thing Bjorn needed to see was red all over the board early and Americans thinking they were starting something special on the final day. That was the path at Brookline and Medinah.
The power up front strategy delivered a Justin Thomas vs. Rory McIlroy matchup in the leadoff spot. Thomas started with a birdie on the first hole, to go 1-up and it was back-and-forth from there until the 18th green. Thomas called it a “pillow fight” because of some of the poor shots, but it was at least a competitive, interesting match and one that let American fans have some glimmer of hope.
The first point of the day went to the USA, they led in a couple of the others in that first six, and Europe led none of them. A flurry of tweets about how this “suddenly got interesting” rained down but then reality set in at Le Golf National.
Brooks Koepka, who was 1-up with two to play, had to fight to just scratch out a half-point against Paul Casey. That was a disastrous turn for the US side with the two-time major winner and Player of the Year getting caught and clipped by Casey, who was, admittedly, lights-out this week. The margin for error was too small to have that flip to a halve in the last two holes.
Jon Rahm wiped out Tiger Woods, who went a hideous 0-4 this week. Tiger had nothing, looked lethargic and frustrated, and finished the week with a fitting loss to Rahm, who danced around the 17th green with a 2&1 win. Tiger made no putts and couldn’t hit fairways. Just like last week was a throwback to so many victorious Sundays on the PGA Tour, this week was a throwback to so many underwhelming Ryder Cup failures.
Brooks halving his point and Tiger losing weren’t the final nails in the coffin. Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, losing to Ian Poulter was. DJ was also terrible all week. He’s the No. 1 player in the rankings and has to play every session. But he won just one point and screwed around with his putting all week, which finished for him with Poulter thumping and screaming his chest. It was the point that put the Euros just a halve away from taking the cup back.
The actual point that put Europe over the top came from Francesco Molinari, who went 5-0-0. The Italian dusted Phil Mickleson, now the all-time losses leader in the Ryder Cup. It’s an appropriate end to what will probably be the last Ryder Cup team with Tiger and Phil in Europe. They’ve never won over there and both were shutout this week. Molinari was a total mismatch. He’s been the best player in the Cup on either side and Phil was probably the worst on both sides.
Momentum is not a real thing, but it’s used every two minutes at the Ryder Cup. There were stretches early when it appeared the USA would get blown out one last session at this disastrous weekend in Paris. Then there were stretches when it appeared the path to 14 points and a comeback was relatively passable, or at least not some delusional climb. And then the team that was supposed to win, the one that played better all week, won. And they won by a lot.
Whatever optimism there was for that hour or so on Sunday was quite misplaced. It appears Europe is not just going to win the Cup, which was likely, but they’re going to win the singles session while doing it. We’re headed for another blowout. Europe has the Ryder Cup back, though, no matter how much the margin ends up being. Here’s your match board as they play out the string in Sunday singles:
- Justin Thomas vs. Rory McIlroy — USA wins, 1-up
- Brooks Koepka vs. Paul Casey — Halved
- Webb Simpson vs. Justin Rose — USA wins, 3&2
- Tiger Woods vs. Jon Rahm — EUR wins, 2&1
- Tony Finau vs. Tommy Fleetwood — USA wins, 6&4
- Dustin Johnson vs. Ian Poulter — EUR wins, 2-up
- Jordan Spieth vs. Thorbjorn Olesen — EUR wins, 5&4
- Rickie Fowler vs. Sergio Garcia — EUR wins, 2&1
- Phil Mickelson vs. Francesco Molinari — EUR wins, 4&2
- Patrick Reed vs. Tyrrell Hatton — USA wins, 3&2
- Bubba Watson vs. Henrik Stenson — EUR wins, 5&4
- Bryson DeChambeau vs. Alex Noren — EUR wins, 1-up
EUROPE wins the Ryder Cup, 17.5 to 10.5
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