Europe has a 5-point lead in the Ryder Cup as the USA comes to life

(Photo credit: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)

Patrick Cantlay birdied the final two holes of the afternoon to deliver a needed point to Team USA, while Team Europe still holds a 10 1/2-5 1/2 lead in the 44th Ryder Cup after Saturday's play outside Rome .

Europe needs just four points from Sunday's 12 singles matches at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club to win the cup. The American team needs to win by 8 1/2 points on Sunday to keep it.

Cantlay and Wyndham Clark rallied to beat Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and England's Matt Fitzpatrick 1 up in the final four-ball match on Saturday.

McIlroy drained an 11-foot birdie putt on No. 14 to put Europe 1. Cantlay's tee shot at the par-3 17th landed within 10 feet, and he converted the putt to level the match again.

Despite a wayward tee shot on the par-5 18th, McIlroy reached the green at the third. Cantlay's flop shot from the greenside rough flew 43 feet past the hole to set up a long birdie attempt, but he rolled it in, setting off a wild American celebration.

McIlroy and Fitzpatrick then missed their birdie putts that could have leveled the match.

The United States, who last defeated Europe on home soil in 1993, are on course to hand over the Ryder Cup after winning in a 19-9 demolition two years ago in Whistling Straits, Wisconsin.

The biggest Sunday comeback in Ryder Cup history was the Americans' rally in 1999, when they trailed by four points through two days before winning 14 1/2-13 1/2.

The U.S. team trailed by five after Day 1 and continued to struggle Saturday morning, as Europe won three of four foursomes (alternate stroke) matches.

Scandinavian rising stars Viktor Hovland of Norway and Ludvig Aberg of Sweden trampled Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka 9 and 7 in a record-breaking morning celebration match. It marked the largest margin of victory for an 18-hole match in Ryder Cup history, leaving Scheffler to wipe away tears after the thorough defeat.

"We're facing two strong guys, No. 1 in the world and five-time major champion, so we tried not to give them anything, and we played really, really solid," Hovland said. "Obviously we didn't come up against a sharp Scottie and Brooks but we played really good golf today."

Scheffler and Koepka, two of the American team's most decorated golfers, were benched for the afternoon four-ball matches.

However, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were retained in the American lineup and went 0-for-2 -- losing 2-and-1 to McIlroy and England's Tommy Fleetwood in foursomes and 3-and-2 to England's Justin Rose and Scotland's Robert MacIntyre in four-ball.

With Rose and MacIntyre 3 up on the short par-4 16th, U.S. captain Zach Johnson spoke to Spieth on the tee, and Spieth traded his driver for a 3-wood. His tee shot then came well short of the green complex and bounced into the water hazard. Europe went on to victory from there.

The USA had its best stretch of the competition earlier in the afternoon. Sam Burns and Collin Morikawa defeated Hovland and Aberg 4 and 3, and Max Homa and Brian Harman beat Fleetwood and Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard 2 and 1.

Homa, the only American player who will play in all five sessions this weekend, leads the United States by 2 1/2 points. He had six birdies and an eagle in his afternoon four-ball and chipped in for par on No. 15 to make it dormie.

Fleetwood responded on No. 16 by chipping in for eagle from the thick greenside rough, but Homa's par on No. 17 was enough to put it away.

It had taken the USA until the eleventh game of the competition to earn a full point. Homa chipped in for eagle on the par-4 16th to secure a 4-and-2 win for himself and Harman over Ireland's Shane Lowry and Austria's Sepp Straka.

"We're obviously in a big hole but we've got the right guys to dig ourselves out of it," Homa said.

To end the morning, Spain's Jon Rahm and England's Tyrrell Hatton combined to beat Cantlay and Xander Schauffele 2 and 1.

The American duo went eagle-birdie-birdie on Nos. 12-14 to win three straight and move 1 up, but the Europeans leveled at No. 16 and Rahm came 7 inches from a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th . Cantlay responded by hitting his tee shot 3 1/2 feet from the hole, but Schauffele's birdie putt to extend the match dropped out.

--Field Level Media


https://nord.news/2023/09/30/europe-has-a-5-point-lead-in-the-ryder-cup-as-the-usa-comes-to-life/?feed_id=47487

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