It is now official. Viktor Hovland will not play the singles in the Ryder Cup this Sunday at Bethpage. Neither Viktor Hovland nor Harris English. The former due to injury, and the latter due to the so-called Envelope Rule that governs this competition. As it stands, Europe and the United States share half a point, and the score is 12 to 5 in favour of Europe. Luke Donald‘s team needs to score just two points in the eleven matches that will be played this afternoon to reach the 14 needed to retain the cup won two years ago in Rome.
As everyone knows, Hovland played the foursome yesterday morning alongside MacIntyre and they won 1 up against Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley. However, he withdrew at the last minute from the afternoon fourballs. He was scheduled to play with Matthew Fitzpatrick in the last match of the day, but intense neck pain kept him out. The discomfort started in the morning during the match but subsided with treatment and medication. Just before going out to play the fourballs, while warming up on the practice range, he experienced another sharp pain when hitting the drive, and it was decided he would not play. An MRI was conducted at the end of the day.
The European team has not clarified exactly what the issue is, but it is obviously related to the neck discomfort. According to the aforementioned Envelope Rule, the Ryder Cup captains must write a player’s name on a piece of paper and keep it in a sealed envelope. If any of the 24 Ryder participants cannot play the singles that Sunday, the opposing team opens the envelope and reveals the name of the player who will also not participate. According to the agreement between captains, the point is not played, and the teams share half a point each. In this case, the chosen one was Harris English.
Precisely, Hovland and Harris English were supposed to play the last match of the Ryder Cup, so it will no longer be played, and both Europe and the United States have added that extra half point to their score. Europe now has 12, and the United States has 5. The eleventh and final singles match at Bethpage this Sunday will be between Sam Burns and Robert MacIntyre.
With two more points, Europe will have retained the cup and will therefore be considered the champion of this edition.
This is what the official statement says:
Viktor Hovland, from Team Europe, cannot compete in the Sunday singles due to injury. The substitution Rule 3.d) of the Ryder Cup Captains’ Agreement (full text below) requires each team captain to provide the name of a player, in a sealed envelope, who will not play in case of injury to a member of the other team.
The player from Team USA is Harris English and, by virtue of the Ryder Cup Captains’ Agreement, the match between Viktor Hovland and Harris English is considered tied (½ point for each team).
The overall score of the match is now:
USA 5 — Europe 12
“3.d) When the captains present their team selection for the singles matches, they must provide a sealed envelope containing the name of a player who will be considered paired with a player who, due to illness, injury, or other emergency reason, has to withdraw from the opposing team. Such pairing will be considered a tied match. If this requires re-pairing a match, it will proceed by descending the order of play.”
