The American Ryder Cup Team has finally broken Europe’s strangle hold on the Ryder Cup. For the first time since 2008 the Americans found a way to get out of its own way and beat a European team that always seemed to find a way to stifle the Americans.
To a man each American player has said that this was a family of players, vice captains, caddies and others that found strength in each other and bought into repeat Captain Davis Love’s plan to return the cup home.
The final score was USA 17 – Europe 11 and many Americans played great golf on Sunday but it was the first match out that crystallized the heart of this American Team.
Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy may have played the most dramatic singles match in the history of the Ryder Cup.
Reed had forged a reputation as a bold, brash, arrogant bulldog that played with a huge chip on his shoulder and was not afraid to take on all comers, be they players or fans.
McIlroy, he of four majors and former number one in the world had taken on the leadership role of the European Team in the last two days. McIlroy who has been the best player on the team the last few cups transformed himself into their emotional leader and was ready to carry the team on his broad, defined shoulders.
Reed’s playing to the hometown galleries had made him the most visible player on the team and a lightning rod for drama and controversy.
McIlroy had done the same, but maybe not by choice. The fiery McIlroy had been the target of verbal attacks from unruly fans all week and while taking most of it with a smile some incidents on Saturday went over the line and fueled in him what already was a strong competitive fire.
The pairing of these two in the first match was all Ryder Cup fans could ask for. And they didn’t disappoint.
It started on the first hole as they exchanged pars and fist pumps, and exclamations of “Com’on.” And that was the rallying cry on each critical shot. Both Reed and McIlroy played to the animated fans and they responded with ear shattering cheers as each player urged them on.
Rory took first blood with a birdie on the third and then Reed evened the score on the fifth and they exchanged birdies on the seventh but it was the eight hole that defined this match, this day, this Ryder Cup.
McIlroy had a long fifty foot birdie putt while Reed was pin high barely on the green some 20-25 feet away.
McIlroy stepped up and rolled his unlikely birdie dead center and erupted in a relase of emotion rarely seen from him. Even the partisan crowd cheered as he jumped for joy and screamed “com’on.”
Not to be out done, Reed the originator of the “com’on” stood in there and dropped his birdie on top of McIlroy’s. Reed immediately turned to McIlroy and gave the “Oh no you don’t” finger wave and then let loose with his own fist pumps and “com’on.”
Two amazing birdies, one after another which may be the two most emotional birds in the history of the Ryder Cup.
As they walked off the green they shared fist bumps, smiles, laughs and a quick hug showing each other that while they are going at it toe to toe, they are still golfers and sportsman respecting each other.
They would go on to trade blows with Reed taking a 1 up lead as McIlroy bogeyed the twelfth. He went two up with another birdie on the sixteenth but McIlroy fought back with a birdie on seventeen to get it back to 1 up going into the last.
Fittingly, they both closed with birdies but that left Reed and the Americans with a 1 up victory. It was the most important match of the day from both a scoring perspective and the emotional lift it gave the Americans.
The American team would go on to win six more matches and halve another to claim the cup but it was this match that gave them the impetus to go on to victory.
The quality of the play and the spirit of sportsmanship that this match was played in is what the Ryder Cup is all about…or at least it should be.
Related Articles
