FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Despite a furious rally by an American team that had been historically terrible for the first two days on home soil, Europe has officially won the 45th Ryder Cup.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry birdied the 18th hole to tie his match against Russell Henley at Bethpage Black, earning the clinching half-point. Europe only needed 14 of the 28 available points to retain the Cup, having won two years ago in Rome.
Europe owned a seven-point lead Saturday night, 11½ to 5½, then picked up another half-point Sunday morning due to the Ryder Cup’s unusual “envelope” rule. Viktor Hovland was a scratch from his match due to a neck injury, and Harris English was the American name in the envelope for captain Keegan Bradley, so by rule each team earned a half-point for the match missed by each player.
That meant Europe needed to win only two points on Sunday, though it took longer than anyone would have imagined as the U.S. tried to mount the biggest comeback in the history of the event. The Cup was secured by Europe in the eighth match of 11 in the session.
The first three points went to the U.S., as Xander Schauffele never trailed in dispatching Jon Rahm 4-and-3 and then Cameron Young (over Justin Rose) and Justin Thomas (over Tommy Fleetwood) each won their matches 1 up with birdies on the 18th hole. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler also avoided a winless week with a 1-up win over Rory McIlroy.
But Ludvig Åberg won his match over Patrick Cantlay 2 and 1 and Matt Fitzpatrick halved with Bryson DeChambeau after the American came back from 5 down. That left just a half-point required for Europe to come somewhere from the final five matches.
Yet that didn’t come from Match 7, either, as U.S. Open champion and Ryder Cup rookie J.J. Spaun defeated Sepp Straka 2 and 1. And Match 8 appeared destined for the U.S., as Henley led 1 up on the 18th tee, but he left a birdie putt from under 10 feet just short. Lowry drilled his 6-footer on the same line to begin the European celebration.
The Europeans jumped out on the U.S. early and often on Long Island, becoming the first road team to win the first three sessions of a Ryder Cup—and then they won the fourth, too. Captain Luke Donald pushed all the correct buttons with his pairings, including riding foursomes duos of Fleetwood/Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, who are now 4–0 in the format over the last two Ryder Cups. The European team returned 11 of 12 players from Rome (and a different Hojgaard twin) and the winning experience showed, especially on the greens.
Since the Ryder Cup went to a 28-point format in 1979 (and players from Continental Europe were added to those from Great Britain and Ireland), no team had ever amassed 11½ points before singles, until Europe this week.
Meanwhile the Americans’ big guns failed to fire, with Scheffler losing all four of his partner matches and Bryson DeChambeau only winning one of four. Bradley also caught considerable criticism for a pairing of Harris English and Collin Morikawa that was drubbed on Friday yet sent out again for another resounding defeat on Saturday, both to the formidable “Fleetwood Mac” team.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shane Lowry Earns Clinching Half-Point as Europe Wins Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
