The European golfers chosen to play in the last six singles of the Ryder Cup this Sunday at Bethpage were hit by an unexpected tsunami. Who could have imagined, given how the week had gone, and considering who they were, that the cup wouldn’t be won and well secured in the first six matches of the day. Playing were Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg, and Jon Rahm. Top-notch players. They needed to score two points between them. Piece of cake.
To top it off, it turned out that they all started their matches quite well. In fact, there was a moment when the first five duels of the day were in blue. The last six Europeans had almost put on their flip-flops. They wanted to win, of course, and remained focused, but the tension wasn’t the same. Imagine the situation when suddenly, oh God, the scoreboards start turning red. One after another. In a cascade. With the only exception being Ludvig Aberg. It’s understandable that Hatton said at the end: “it was the most stressful day of my life. The last two hours were horrible.”
Suddenly, players who thought their point would simply embellish their record and complete a good victory, start to become crucial to avoid the biggest Sunday disaster in Ryder Cup history. The team is now in their hands. It’s not easy to digest something like that. You need to have a lot of courage, and that’s why it’s important to give all the credit in the world to what Shane Lowry did, coming back from two down against Russell Henley to win the half point that secured the cup.
It’s not confirmed if two hours after the Ryder ended, Lowry was still jumping around crazily on the 18th green at Bethpage. What is confirmed is that he was fully aware that they had been hit with an unexpected challenge. “To be honest, I didn’t expect to finish the Ryder Cup with a three-metre putt to win the trophy. Obviously, I trust my team and thought we were going to win the Ryder much earlier. But in the end, it’s not about that. The plan was to go out and win our own match. That was the main objective,” he explains.
The big guy, as Rory McIlroy calls him, wanted to make it clear to the journalists that there wasn’t a shred of overconfidence. It just happened that way. “We were all prepared for something like this last night. The last thing you want is to stand on the 1st tee with a hint of complacency in that scenario and against those players. The US team are 12 incredible players and we knew it was going to be very tough,” he notes.
“Darren, I have the chance to do today the best thing I’ve ever done”
Having said that, it had never crossed his mind that he was going to win the Ryder. Until it happened. No one can take away the tough time he went through. “I never imagined walking up the 18th to the green needing a birdie to retain the Ryder Cup. It was… yes, definitely, the worst two hours of my life. Horrible. It was.”
In any case, the moral of this story is that these players, these world stars of their discipline, the best, are made of something else. That’s why, as Lowry was leaving the tee heading for his second shot, he told his caddie: “Darren, I have the chance to do today the best thing I’ve ever done,” and I did it. And I’m very proud of myself.”
And he did it. The big guy.
