For second day, Tiger’s charge falls just short
Team USA will take a commanding 10-6 lead into the last day of the 39th Ryder Cup on Sunday at Medinah Country Club near Chicago. Twelve singles matches will be contested, with Europe needing 14 points to retain the cup and the Americans needing 14 1/2 to regain it.
There was great action on the course Saturday, when players from both sides electrified the estimated 50,000 spectators with clutch shot-making and heroic putting. They saved their best for last, as two-of-the- four fourball matches went to the 18th green as the sun was setting.
Europe prevailed in both to gain momentum and an outside chance of overtaking the U.S. in singles, but it figures to be an uphill climb.
In the second-to-last-match, Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker nearly rallied from 4 down with nine holes to play to earn a halve against Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia.
For the second-straight afternoon session, Woods poured in five of his six birdies on the back nine, and gave the Yanks a chance at the 436-yard, par-4 18th hole. Tiger missed a 20-foot birdie putt, and Garcia missed from 18-feet, leaving it all up to Stricker, who hit a nice approach shot 12 feet left of the cup. His birdie putt looked true, but jumped out of the hole, giving Europe a point.
“We fought hard,” said Woods, who consoled his partner with a hug. “Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough. It was a great match all around.”
In the final match between Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson vs. Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter of Europe, the Americans trailed 1-down going to the 18th hole. Dufner made birdie, putting all the pressure on Poulter. He didn’t flinch, rolling in a 12-foot putt for his fifth-consecutive birdie to preserve a 1-up win for Europe.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. stormed to a 3-1 victory over Europe in foursomes. For the first time in seven Ryder Cup appearances, Woods sat out the session. Tiger was fine with the decision.
“Absolutely,” he said. “That was the plan going into these matches — to sit everybody once. I put so much effort into that last match yesterday afternoon, I was pretty spent. It was nice to get a little bit of rest.”
It didn’t seem like good strategy early-on, when Garcia birdied the par-4 first hole, and Americans fell 4 down at the turn. But Woods birdied the 10th hole and Stricker birdied the 12th to cut the lead in half.
Tiger almost aced the 236-yard, par-3 13th hole to trim the deficit to 1 down, then halved the par-5 14th with Donald with a seven-foot birdie putt. The U.S. lost the short par-4 15th hole, when Donald hit a beautiful sand wedge about five feet from the cup and Woods missed from just inside 10 feet, Europe regaining a 2-up advantage.
But Tiger hit a nice approach shot at the 470-yard, par-4 16th, then hit a center-cut 15-foot birdie putt to pull his team to only 1 down. The high-drama continued at the downhill 178-yard, par-3 17th over water, where Woods flushed a towering 8-iron five feet left of the hole, the fans going crazy. But again, Donald answered, nearly holing out his tee shot, the ball stopping three feet from the cup. Both converted their birdie putts to send the match to the 18th hole.
“We were 6-under on the back nine with one to go,” Woods said. “We gave ourselves two good looks on 18 and didn’t get it done.”
Tiger is excited about singles play on Sunday. He enters with a combined record of 4-1-1, and will face Francesco Molinari of Italy in the final match of the day.
“We are really looking forward to going out there,” said Woods. “We are in a great spot right now to win the Ryder Cup.”
A European win would equal the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history. That came in 1999 at the Country Club in Brookline, Ma., when the U.S. trailed Europe 10-6 and won 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.
