It was shortly after 7am when the first chorus of disapproval rang around Bethpage Black. “F*** you, Rory” was the first classless chant of the day the Ryder Cup sank into a beer-stained morass. What followed went beyond banter, with bile about family members and deliberate attempts to disrupt the European players as they prepared to play shots. They can take solace that it is all over bar the shouting.
If you think this sounds a bit pious, the sight of extra police following the four-balls match of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young was unequivocally grim. At one point McIlroy called over the referee and refused to putt until the barracking stopped. Lowry pointed at another relentless heckler, who was ejected. There was fighting in the 18th grandstand. Players expected a degree of banality, but not this. On the course, the Irish duo showed remarkable resilience to fend off a determined challenge in the most stressful surroundings. Guts on Saturday, glory on Sunday.
By the end of it all Europe led 11½-4½, needing three points from 12 singles matches to win the cup, and 2½ to retain it. It has been a demolition, an evisceration and an American embarrassment. No team had ever won the first three sessions of an away Ryder Cup. That gave Europe a five-point lead going into the four-balls. They extended it to seven. To put it in context, Europe trailed by four before pulling off the Miracle of Medinah 2012, the Cup’s last away victory.
Ryder Cup resultsFriday foursomes
Rahm & Hatton (Eur) beat DeChambeau & Thomas (USA) 4&3
Aberg & Fitzpatrick (Eur) beat Scheffler & Henley 5&3
Fleetwood & McIlroy (Eur) beat Morikawa & English (USA) 5&4
Schauffele & Cantlay (USA) beat MacIntyre & Hovland (Eur) 2upFriday four-balls
Rahm & Straka (Eur) beat Scheffler & Spaun (USA) 3&2
Fleetwood & Rose (Eur) beat DeChambeau & Griffin (USA) 1up
Thomas & Young (USA) beat Aberg & Hojgaard (Eur) 6&5
Burns & Cantlay (USA) A/S v Lowry/McIlroy (Eur)Saturday foursomes results
DeChambeau/Young (USA) beat Aberg/Fitzpatrick (Eur) 4&2
Fleetwood/McIlroy (Eur) beat English/Morikawa (USA) 3&2
Hatton/Rahm (Eur) beat Cantlay/Schauffele (USA) 3&2
Hovland/MacIntyre (Eur) beat Henley/Scheffler (USA) 1upSaturday four-balls results
McIlroy/Lowry (Eur) beat Thomas/Young (USA) 2up
Fleetwood/Rose (Eur) beat Scheffler/DeChambeau (USA) 3&2
Spaun/Schauffele (USA) beat Rahm/Straka (Eur) 1up
Fitzpatrick/Hatton (Eur) beat Burns/Cantlay (USA) 1up
The USA saw a glimmer of hope in the last 20 minutes. JJ Spaun birdied the last to win a tight four-balls match against Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka. There was one match left on the course and another American turnaround might have pricked at the most pessimistic. Enter Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton, who was only playing because of an injury to Viktor Hovland.
Their match with Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns was tied going down the last. Fitzpatrick conjured up memories of his US Open triumph at Brookline, venue of another ugly Ryder Cup, when he played out a bunker to two feet. Hatton fired, hit Fitzpatrick’s ball and had the honour of winning the match. It may not seem a crucial point in the final reckoning, but it killed the American dream.
The sporting heroes of this parameter-pushing treat are lining up. Tommy Fleetwood has been magnificent here. After teaming up with Justin Rose to inflict yet more misery on the blunted Scottie Scheffler, who becomes the second player to lose his first four sessions after Peter Alliss, and a grousing Bryson DeChambeau, his personal record reads four wins and no defeats. If he makes that five, Fleetwood will be the first player with a perfect return in an away Ryder Cup.
McIlroy won’t be denied as he helps his team build a commanding lead
JOHN ANGELILLO/UPI/SHUTTERSTOCK
That final Fleetwood match was the highest quality, with par being the best score on only one hole. Rose, aged 45, put on a putting masterclass. There is much talk of him being captain in 2027, but he looks far from finished as a player. He can still fight his corner too, clashing with DeChambeau after his caddie, Greg Bodine, got in his way on the 15th green.
When and where it mattered, they delivered. On the 13th Fleetwood made a vital putt to halve the hole. At the same time McIlroy made another and exploded, bouncing around like Tigger on a SpaceHopper, pent-up frustration pouring out. And Rahm, well, just call him Seve-esque, spiking the guns of some of America’s biggest hitters.
The Spaniard was finally beaten when he and Straka faced Spaun and Xander Schauffele, two men with three majors between them in the past 19 months. It was close but the Americans went ahead on the 17th and held firm. Rahm was finally on the losing side but his importance to this team cannot be overstated.
The collective meaning of all this? America need more than a miracle.
For McIlroy, so central to every narrative thread, it had started with a kiss. He had been briefed not to wind up the crowd, but he smiled broadly on the first tee in the morning and blew a few to his abusers. At that point he looked happy to straddle the line between Europe’s emotional barometer and the USA’s panto villain. “I’m just the lucky person who gets to play with Rory McIlroy in a Ryder Cup,” said Fleetwood after their win in the foursomes restarted day two’s one-sided fare. Ditto, said McIlroy.
Fleetwood has now won six foursomes matches for Europe and lost none. He is the perfect partner for anyone. He buried his head in McIlroy’s shoulder as they embraced after an inevitable 3&2 victory over Collin Morikawa and Harris English, surprisingly sent out for a second beating by the befuddled US captain, Keegan Bradley.
State Police keep a check on American fans who were told to calm down and stop their heckling
MIKE EGERTON/PA
For the USA, DeChambeau flexed his muscle and strained nerve and sinew, but for much of this Ryder Cup, the USA’s top gun, Scheffler, has worn the expression of a man who would rather be anywhere else. Perhaps he is where McIlroy once was, deeming this an overblown exhibition, and would rather get back to playing golf without the help of DeChambeau or Russell Henley.
In truth, Henley might have similar thoughts. Their foursomes match with Bob MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland turned into one of those little epics. Europe were two up at the turn, but the Americans made three successive birdies to draw level. Like McIlroy, MacIntyre had received an inordinate amount of abuse from the spectators thronging the greens and fairways. At one point, he also blew them a sarcastic kiss. They had picked on the wrong shinty player.
Head to head: Rose, left, and Fleetwood celebrate after winning their match on the 16th hole during the four-balls
PAUL CHILDS/REUTERS
The end of that match was nigh-on unimaginable for those who watch Scheffler winning majors and tour events with unflappable precision. One down, one to play, his approach to the 18th was loose and wild. It missed the green and found the messy stuff between the bunkers. Hovland found the green. That was that. Total control.
DeChambeau and Young had won the first point of the day, but it was a red drip rather than wave, and in the second match McIlroy and Fleetwood were soon repairing the leak. Rose said this week that the world No2 has thick skin, but crass remarks about your personal life, when your wife is following inside the ropes, require a rhino hide. On the 16th he had taken enough. “Shut the f*** up,” he shouted at the noisiest morons as he prepared to take a shot from the rough.
The kiss-off was playing the shot to within three feet of the hole. It has been a wild, ugly, chaotic and brilliant rise to the cusp of something wonderful.
Sunday singles pairings (all times BST)5.02pm Cameron Young v Justin Rose5.13pm Justin Thomas v Tommy Fleetwood5.24pm Bryson DeChambeau v Matt Fitzpatrick5.35pm Scottie Scheffler v Rory McIlroy5.46pm Patrick Cantlay v Ludvig Aberg5.57pm Xander Schauffele v Jon Rahm6.08pm JJ Spaun v Sepp Straka6.19pm Russell Henley v Shane Lowry6.30pm Ben Griffin v Rasmus Hojgaard6.41pm Collin Morikawa v Tyrrell Hatton6.52pm Sam Burns v Bob MacIntyre7.03pm Harris English v Viktor Hovland