-
Mark Schlabach
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The bleeding continued for the U.S. team at the 45th Ryder Cup on Saturday, as the Americans lost three of four foursomes matches and trail the Europeans 8.5-3.5 in what is quickly becoming the “Bethpage Black Blowout.”
For the third straight session, very little went right for the U.S. team, as only one of its three losses reached the 17th hole.
Barring a miraculous comeback, the U.S. team is in danger of losing the Ryder Cup for the 11th time in the past 15 matches and falling to the Europeans on American soil for the first time since 2012.
Europe is only the second road team to win each of the first three sessions of a Ryder Cup.
“Excited with where our team is, and we have to keep the foot down,” Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy said.
Trailing by 1 with two holes to play, the U.S. team of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley had a chance to come back in the anchor match. But Henley missed a 13-foot birdie try on the par-3 17th that would have won the hole.
On the par-4 18th, Scheffler hit one of the worst shots of his career, flaring a wedge from 116 yards into the right rough. Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Norway’s Viktor Hovland had two putts to win the match.
Scheffler’s 1-up loss dropped him to 0-3 this week. He hasn’t won in his past seven Ryder Cup matches going back to Europe’s 16.5-11.5 victory in Italy two years ago.
Spain’s Jon rahm and England’s Tyrrell Hatton continued to torment the Americans, beating Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele 3 and 2 to give the Europeans a 7.5-3.5 lead.
Whenever it seemed like the Europeans might be in trouble, Rahm rescued them with his amazing short game. On the par-3 eighth, Hatton’s poor tee shot left Rahm with an awkward stance on a bank above a greenside bunker. Somehow, with his feet in the sand and the ball in the rough above him, Rahm knocked it in from 49 feet for birdie.
Rahm is 9-1-3 in his past 13 Ryder Cup matches; Rahm and Hatton have never lost in a foursomes match while playing together.
The Americans picked up their only point of the session with a 4-and-2 victory from Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Young over England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg. The U.S. team won four of the first 10 holes, and the European duo never could apply much stress.
Young, who grew up in New York and set the Bethpage Black scoring record as a 20-year-old, became the first American rookie to win his first two Ryder Cup matches, both by at least four holes, since Patrick Reed in 2014. Young and Justin Thomas routed Åberg and Rasmus Højgaard 6 and 5 in a four-ball match Friday.
Young’s pairings lost only one hole in his first two matches.
“For our country, it was just pedal to the metal,” DeChambeau said. “Cam played unbelievable today. We struck it well, we executed when we needed to, and we just put the pressure on them all day. They struggled to get momentum, and when we had our opportunities, we took advantage.”
The Europeans didn’t have to wait long to go back up three points in the match, however, as McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood won again, 3 and 2 over Collin Morikawa and Harris English.
English and Morikawa were 4 down after eight holes, and Bradley is surely to be criticized for sending them back out together after they were trounced 5 and 4 by McIlroy and Fleetwood in foursomes on Friday. The U.S. duo won back-to-back holes late in the match before it ended on No. 16.
Fleetwood is now 10-3-2 in his Ryder Cup career, the highest winning percentage (.733) among 51 European golfers who have competed in at least 10 matches, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Fleetwood and McIlroy are 4-0-0 in foursomes matches together.
“It’s Rory McIlroy,” Fleetwood said. “I can play from a lot of the places where he hits it. Yeah, we loved getting the chance to play together in Rome. Our games match nicely. Obviously, we’re very close off the course. Like Rory has already said, our families are so close. I’m just the lucky one that gets to play with him in foursomes, and I’ll take that.”
