Allez les bleus? Well, not quite. As Europe established a hearty 10-6 lead to take into today’s final 12 singles matches of the 42nd Ryder Cup at Le Golf National, there was plenty of sartorial surmising about the actual colour of the home team’s shirts.
Burnt orange, terracotta, autumnal brown, Ronseal quick-drying woodstain? It was actually kummel. No, me neither. Whatever it was, Europe were dressed for success. They probably could have worn team tutus and still looked the part on another day of fist-pumping, chest-pumping gusto.
Thomas Bjorn’s men are not home and hosed yet, of course. A four-point margin is certainly healthy but it’s not insurmountable for a team playing catch up.
Europe came back from such a deficit in 2012 to complete the Miracle of Medinah while the US managed an equally substantial salvage operation in 1999. The hosts are out in front. But they are not out of reach.
The Europeans need four and a half points to recapture the cup lost at Hazeltine two years ago. The Americans need eight to retain it.
It will require a monumental effort, though, for a team that has simply struggled to rise to the various challenges presented. With so many players misfiring and lacking their mojo, finding those points will need a significant upsurge in form and fortune.
Wins in the foursomes matches, from the impressive pairings of Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, at least gave the toiling visitors a lifeline to cling to as they prepare for a blazing, final day shoot-out that could make the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral resemble a quiet game of cribbage. Then again, it could be a European procession?
A 2-2 share of that afternoon session stopped the haemorrhaging for the US after a prolonged spell of complete and utter dominance from the Europeans.
Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari, a dazzling, dynamic duo that have made Batman & Robin look like Steptoe & Son, made it four out of four in partnership as they became the first European pairing ever to post such an unbeaten record.
The last player to go five out of five was America’s Larry Nelson back in 1979. Both Fleetwood and Molinari have that target in their sights now. Not that Open champion Molinari is bothered about those kind of statistics. “We came here to do a job. It wasn’t to go in the records books, it’s about the team,” he said of the collective cause.
Europe’s rousing clean-sweep of the foursomes on Friday afternoon had completely changed the complexion of the contest. The momentum didn’t just swing in Europe’s favour at that point, it seemed to pack its bags and move into the team room.
It was business as usual in yesterday’s morning fourballs as the hosts pounded the beleaguered Americans with another series of poised, polished and purposeful performances.
In contrast, the USA could barely find a fairway or hole a putt as they looked completely flummoxed by Le Golf National’s robust examination in the bright, chilly and menacingly breezy conditions.
The general wretchedness was illustrated by Patrick Reed. Dubbed Captain America due to his previous Ryder Cup heroics at Hazeltine in 2016 and on his debut at Gleneagles two years earlier, the Texan was more like Captain Chaos from the Cannonball Run as he thrashed and swiped all over the parish in partnership with a thoroughly brassed-off Tiger Woods.
Forget a strokesaver. Reed would’ve needed Jacques Cartier’s navigational nous to get him on the straight and narrow. One solitary birdie in a 4&3 defeat to Fleetwood and Molinari was a pitiful contribution from the Masters champion.
Europe had shining stars everywhere. Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia inspired each other as they staved off a late rally from Tony Finau and Brooks Koepka while Paul Casey, making his first Ryder Cup appearance in a decade after ending his self-imposed exile, and Tyrell Hatton had a better-ball of nine-under in a mighty 3&2 win over Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.
“There was a tear, yeah,” said an emotional Casey. “I care about this, it means an awful lot to me.”
That trio of points garnered in the first three matches of the morning meant Europe had won a staggering eight points in a row, the first time that had been done since the current Ryder Cup format was adopted in 1979.
For a forlorn Woods, barely a week on from his first PGA Tour win in five years, the misery was unrelenting. Two outings with Reed and one with Bryson DeChambeau resulted in three defeats to the unwavering Molinari and Fleetwood. He must have been sick of the sight of them as he slumped to the 20th loss of his Ryder Cup career, just one shy of Phil Mickelson’s grim, unenviable record.
“Pretty p***ed off that I lost three matches and didn’t feel like I played poorly,” grumbled Woods.
As the afternoon unfolded, it slowly became apparent that the top match, between the tried and trusted pairing of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson and the US coupling of Johnson and Koepka, would become pivotal.
The Europeans had been two-up with four to play but a birdie from the US duo set up a nail-nibbling finale. If they could turn it around – or even plunder a half – the morale boost would be significant.
Step forward Stenson. In the intense heat of the cut-and-thrust he demonstrated an ice-cool resolve. Or “balls of steel” as Rose put it.
The former Open champion trundled in a seven-footer for par on the 16th to halve the hole and stave off the American advances before draining an equally nerveless putt on 17 which confirmed a pivotal 2&1 victory.
“We knew how much was on the line there,” said Stenson. It will all be on the line today.
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