It was 13:17 in the morning at Bethpage Black. At that moment, Europe was turning the scoreboard blue in the first five matches that opened the Sunday session. The atmosphere was calm, even in the press room, you could say there was a certain tone of boredom. Two years of waiting, and it seemed like Sunday was almost unnecessary. Not at all. At 16:22, barely three hours later, Bethpage roared, feeling that the comeback was not just an impossible tale. It was a feasible reality. The European crowd present in New York, at that moment, felt fear in their veins.
In a Ryder Cup, regardless of the result, there is a window of opportunity for the team that is trailing. Let’s not forget that in Rome, despite the final result, there was also that tension. That window gradually opened.
How could it happen? Little by little, the Americans started recovering, and the scoreboard turned red. It was a labour of ants. Step by step and without drawing attention. However, it must be said, thinking of any hint of a comeback seemed like a real chimera. In fact, walking along the 14th hole in the Scheffler and McIlroy match, a pair of Spaniards well-positioned in the stands admitted they were grateful the scoreboard had tightened, but they believed Europe would win comfortably. However, it was no longer so clear…
At that moment, a certain nervous smile began to appear on some European fans. Three holes completely changed the perception. The first was Cameron Young‘s victory on the 18th, the second a few minutes later with Justin Thomas’s birdie that gave him the win on the same hole.
At this point, the crowd started to believe it was true. The fans responded marvellously to the players’ momentum. The logical order. If the players respond, the crowd gets behind them. The first step was taken by Keegan’s boys. The brutal explosion came on the 17th… It was the aforementioned 16:22 when Matthew Fitzpatrick suffered a painful lip-out, and the match in which he led by five holes against DeChambeau reached the 18th tied. At that moment, in the funnel created between the 15th tee, the 16th green, the 17th, and the 18th, more than thirty thousand people roared in unison. They shouted “USA, USA, USA,” and you could clearly hear a “yes we can” in very large capital letters. For the first time that week, the New York inferno was felt.
The calculations for Donald‘s team started to waver. Europe couldn’t quite get the numbers right. The crowd sensed it. The stands were in an uproar. Bryson closed his match in a draw that seemed like a great victory. Rory couldn’t tie the match on the 18th, and even though Aberg left Europe half a point, the doubts were significant.
Lowry reached the 18th one down, and it seemed everything was in the hands of Hojgaard, Hatton, and MacIntyre, who were tying their matches with several holes still to play. However, the Irishman had his moment. A spectacular second shot, and the ball stopped two metres away. Henley would putt first, the momentum suggested he would make it, no one doubted it, although it was not easy at all from the fringe. They seemed immortal at that moment. However, Rusell left it short on a putt he would dream about for the rest of his days, not because it was easy, but because it had no chance of reaching. Lowry had it in his hands. The European fans held their breath, the Irishman holed it. Madness erupted, celebrations broke out, but before the euphoria, there was first a sigh. “Thank goodness,” said the faces of the Old Continent’s fans, there was joy, but the first feeling was one of relief. The reality was that the roar on the 17th still resonated among the Europeans’ heartbeats.
