HAVEN, WISCONSIN - The all important Saturday matches have concluded at the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and the US has taken a commanding lead of the event. As it stands heading into the Sunday singles matches, the score is 11-5 for the US.
It was a day filled with many ups, downs and lost opportunities, especially for the Europeans who needed a strong counter to the impressive US scoring seen on Friday.
Let's take a look at all the action and drama from the Saturday matches.
MORNING FOURSOMES
1) Brooks Koepka/Daniel Berger vs Jon Rahm/Sergio Garcia (3&1)
This match featured Rahm and Garcia, the only members of Team Europe to score points in the event so far. They were hands down the best performing European players at that point, but things started out poorly for them. After three holes, Koepka and Berger found themselves with a three point lead. While demoralizing to European fans, Rahm and Garcia fought back, chipping the lead all the way down by the end of the front nine. The comeback culminated with a chip-in by Garcia at the 9th to bring them to all square. It was all Europe from then on, managing to go 1UP after the 12th and building on their lead right until the end. The Spanish Duo remained undefeated.
2) Dustin Johnson/Collin Morikawa (2&1) vs Paul Casey/Tyrrell Hatton
Johnson and Morikawa were a fun pairing to watch on Friday and their play Saturday morning cemented them as a power team for the US. From the start of the match, it was all US, with Johnson and Morikawa taking a 4UP lead at the turn. Credit must be given to Casey and Hatton, who remained determined to win right until the end. The two brought the lead all the way down to 1 point on the 14th, when Casey holed out from 100-yards after Hatton's tee shot found the rough. However, the consistency of good golf on display by Morikawa and Johnson was too much to overcome. They remain undefeated as well.
3) Justin Thomas/Jordan Spieth (2UP) vs Viktor Hovland/Bernd Wiesberger
Thomas and Spieth admittedly were not performing at their best thus far, as neither of them managed to win a match. This looked to continue during their morning match, when Hovland and Wiesberger took a 1UP lead at the 1st hole and grew their lead to three points after the 6th hole. But, Thomas and Spieth would fight back, taking advantage of some poor putting and approaches by the Europeans, and cutting the lead to one after the 9th. A birdie on the 10th squared up the match, but the Europeans would counter with a birdie on the 11th after Thomas and Spieth found trouble. The Americans wouldn't strike again until later in the match, carding birdies on holes 14-16 and swinging the lead to two shots in their favor. Despite a European birdie on the par 3 17th, the match was clutched by Thomas and Spieth after a bogey by the Europeans on the 10th.
4) Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (2&1) vs Lee Westwood/Matt Fitzpatrick
Westwood and Fitzpatrick were again paired up for their morning matches, hoping to win a point this time. This was a very close match on the front nine, with the lead going back and forth between the two teams. But the US, aided by some great iron-play and putting, took over on the back nine, taking a three point lead after birdies on the 10th and 11th holes, a lead they would hold until the end of the match. Schauffele, despite being a Ryder Cup rookie, has played amazing team golf thus far, and has been key in the US's dominant performance.
At this point in the day, things were looking dismal for Team Europe. The score was 9-3 for the US and only Rahm and Garcia had managed to win matches against the Americans thus far. But, all hope was not lost. The Europeans could put themselves back in it with a strong performance during the afternoon rounds. Plus, the winds were starting to pick up, making for a windy afternoon session at Whistling Straits.
AFTERNOON FOURBALLS
1) Brooks Koepka/Jordan Spieth vs Jon Rahm/Sergio Garcia (2&1)
The Rahm and Garcia show continued into the afternoon, where the Spaniards struck early, taking a three point lead after carding four birdies on their first seven holes. This match was very exciting and saw some impressive golf shots, between Rahm holing some super long putts that looked like they had no chance at all, to Garcia's indescribable ability to attack the green. You couldn't help but feel that if they lost, Team Europe would have lost. For the US, Koepka, was instrumental in holing long putts to close the gap. The Americans managed to square up the match after a birdie on the 13th hole. But Rahm and Garcia rallied back, making birdie on the 15th hole to retake the lead. A chip-in from Garcia on the 16th hole sealed the deal and kept the two undefeated.
2) Tony Finau/Harris English vs Shane Lowry/Tyrrell Hatton (1UP)
When this match began, the winds were howling along the coast holes. This was the perfect scenario for links veteran Shane Lowry, which European captain Padraig Harrington had banked on when he made his pick. This was a very tough match though and a real duel between the two teams. Only three birdies were made between the four players: two for Europe and one for the US. In particular, it was Lowry who was holding up the European side, sinking putt after putt in the most clutch of situations, showing emotion like we've never seen before. It all climaxed on the par 4 18th hole. The Europeans found themselves 1UP, needing to at minimum halve the hole to win. After landing his approach into the steep greenside, Hatton effectively eliminated himself from the hole after his ensuing chip landed short of the green. This put Lowry in a tough spot, as he still had a 10-foot putt to save par and Finau and English had already made their par putts. With the match on the line, Lowry sank the putt, letting out a massive, inspiring yell heard by all. This was probably one of the most important putts of the tournament for Europe, would could not afford to lose anything at this point.
3) Scottie Scheffler/Bryson DeChambeau (3&1) vs Tommy Fleetwood/Viktor Hovland
This is the match that the Europeans will be wishing they had won. Scheffler and DeChambeau were struggling with the winds all afternoon, missing fairways and greens at key moments, but Hovland and Fleetwood could not capitalize on their mistakes. The match bounced between 1UP for either side until the par 4 14th hole. DeChambeau was on the green with a lengthy birdie putt, but many believed he was simply lagging the putt to make par. He did not though, and holed the putt, providing a huge momentum boost for DeChambeau and Scheffler and more importantly to square up the match. The duo would birdie holes 15-17 to take the lead and ultimately win the match. This goes to show just how big momentum can be in match play.
4) Dustin Johnson/Collin Morikawa (4&3) vs Ian Poulter/Rory McIlroy
The Johnson/Morikawa Effect was felt full force by Pouler and McIlroy during this match. The steadiness by Johnson allowed Morikawa to go full out and take on everything. The Americans took an early 1UP lead, but a huge putt by Poulter on the 5th squared up the match. Morikawa then went on a three-hole birdie streak from the 6-8th to boost themselves up to a 3 point lead heading onto the back nine. It was easy sailing for them after this, with Morikawa carding another birdie on the 15th hole to end the match. Johnson and Morikawa were the best pairing of the event, in my opinion, and their dominance proves this. They just seemed to jive together. Playing with a consistent player like Johnson really allowed Morikawa to take chances, and succeed, since he is such a high quality player, particularly his approach game. On the other hand, this is perhaps one of the worst Ryder Cup performances we've seen by Rory McIlroy. He simply could not hole anything, and has only carded two birdies the entire event. Poulter, did show sparks of mounting a comeback, but could not battle Johnson and Morikawa alone.
***
With the afternoon matches split, the score stands at 11-5 heading into the Sunday singles. There's no need to deny it, a US win is most likely, unless the Europeans can mount a historic comeback. But is a comeback even realistic? To put things into perspective, the infamous "Miracle at Medinah" in 2012 saw the Europeans win after being down 10-6 heading into Sunday. This was the biggest comeback in history.
Is it theoretically possible but to get to the magic 14 points to retain the cup, Europe will need to win 9 of 12 available points on Sunday. That means nine European players need to outperform nine US players, when to date, only four have managed to do so. It is improbable, but not impossible. The Europeans have nothing to lose, so why not give it a shot.
The Sunday single matches start at 12PM EST and the pairings can be found here. Have the US storylines already been written for the 2020 Ryder Cup? Or can the Europeans make a comeback?
Stay tuned to see who has won it,
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
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