FARMINGDALE, NY. One man’s dream can become another man’s nightmare. The script coming into Bethpage for the 45th Ryder Cup matches was how the home squad had been a dominant team when the matches are played on the respective home soil.
The European team, winners of ten of the last fourteen Cup matches, opted to push that script aside and sent an early and loud message that their visit to New York was not going to provide an easy or predictable USA victory march.
The tone came early in the foursome matches. Europe was utterly dominant with the first three matches being relatively one-sided affairs. The lone USA bright spot came in the anchor match with Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay holding on to defeat the tandem of Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland.
The most head-scratching situation came with the world’s best golfer — Scottie Scheffler. The four-time major winner was expected to be a major contributor to the American team but inexplicably provided zero points in both sessions. Since the matches in 2023 in Rome the cumulative record for Scheffler is 0-4-2.
A 3-1 deficit after the first session need not be insurmountable if the trailing team can summon up the execution in the afternoon four-ball matches. A visit by President Donald Trump came just as the afternoon session started. It was hoped by American partisans the 47th President of the United States would jumpstart the squad.
Initially that seemed to happen. However, the lone bright spot came with USA rookie Cameron Young carrying his partner Justin Thomas in obliterating the pairing of Ludvig Åberg and Rasmus Højgaard. But that was countered with Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka pouring in birdies with equal ease in a 3 and 2 triumph over Scottie Scheffler and J.J. Spaun, the final hour or so was left to a pair of games that delivered magnificent drama.
For the record, those matches ended thusly: Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood holding on, 1-up over Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Ben Griffin; then Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns scratching out a half-point with a tie against Europeans Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
It added up to a 5½ – 2½ first-day lead for Europe, which needs 14 points to retain the Cup, 14½ to win on American soil for the fourth time in the last eight visits.
But the last two games provided huge drama and left emotions swaying. There was the very real potential for a 3-1 European session to make the score 6-2. Similarly, it was up for grabs for the Americans to create a 2-2 session and close the gap to 5-3.
The ending result from the two final afternoon matches made for an engaging back and forth of golf to keep matters interesting for both sides.
First, the Rose-Fleetwood and DeChambeau-Griffin match. The Americans had a 1-up lead through 10 holes at which time the Euros came alive. Fleetwood birdied the par-4 11th to tie and the par-3 14th to get his team 1-up.
Peppering flagsticks down the stretch, the hugely popular Fleetwood drained an 18-footer for birdie and a 2-up lead on 16, only Griffin stepped up big time – first with a tight birdie at the 174-yard 17th, then with an approach to 5½ feet at the 18th green.
It was great theater that got even better when Rose hit his approach to about 9 feet and when the oldest competitor in the field made it for a 1-up win, the buoyant Euro fans – of which there are many – let loose with cheers.
For a while, they figured their cheers could grow louder, only Cantlay was doing his best to salvage something out of the last game. He and Burns had trailed by two holes at the turn but Cantlay, perhaps showing that he might be team leader, birdied three times early on the back nine to pull his team even, after which the highlights really intensified.
At the par-4 16th, Cantlay made yet another birdie from 17 feet, but McIlroy matched it from 10.
At the par-3 17th, McIlroy made a birdie from 13 feet and Burns answered from 7.
At 18, there were three birdie tries from inside of 20 feet, but Lowry, then Burns, then McIlroy all missed to leave each side with a half-point. Fitting perhaps, since Cantlay and Burns had made five birdies on the back and McIlroy had put on a ball-striking exhibition but when the opportunity to exhale arrived, it was Europe that had to feel better about the scenario.
Down by 5½ to 2½, the challenge is great for American captain Keegan Bradley, whose first order of business is to figure out who can slow down a pair of European juggernauts in foursomes.
Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were 2-0 in Italy and steamrolled to victory Friday morning. They’ve needed just 48 holes in those matches.
McIlroy and Fleetwood have been no less dominant, also 2-0 in Italy and also cruising Friday morning, 5 and 4. They’ve needed just 48 holes in those matches.
The Saturday morning foursomes showcase a clear strategy. European captain Luke Donald smartly has kept together the same four teams that dominated the session Friday.
Fitzpatrick and Åberg will go first (against DeChambeau and Young).
Next will be McIlroy and Fleetwood (vs. English and Morikawa, a repeat of Friday).
Rahm and Hatton get the third game (against Cantlay and Schauffele).
Bob MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland, the only European team to lose Friday morning will play Scheffler and Henley in the final game.
Execution is central to Ryder Cup success and the European squad has been led by its heavyweights. Jon Rahm is now 8-3-3 overall in the Ryder Cup, Rory McIlroy is 17-13-5, Justin Rose 15-9-3, and Tommy Fleetwood 9-3-2.
Rahm and Fleetwood both improved to 5-0 in foursomes and Åberg appears to be equally adept at the alternate-shot stuff as he’s now 3-0.
Asked about Rahm’s stellar play Friday and how he’s kept a very low profile in all the hype that surrounds the Ryder Cup, Donald smiled. “I think Jon wants to do his talking with his golf clubs.”
Of the five rookies, only Young registered a point. He paired with Thomas for a four-ball win in the afternoon over Åberg and Rasmus Højgaard, who is the only Euro rookie. Both rookies who played alongside Scheffler (Henley in morning foursomes; Spaun in afternoon four-ball) also lost their match. Thomas will sit out Friday morning’s foursomes session.
Team USA needs to find a magical formula on Day 2 at Bethpage. The script can certainly flip but it’s up to the actors to deliver their best lines on the golf course. Thus far, the Euros have been up to the challenge. A loss on home turf for the Americans would be the sixth time that has happened since 1987.
