Despite Winning Session, Americans Face Big Deficit Going into Sunday at Ryder Cup
SI writer Bob Harig recaps Day 2 of the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome as the U.S. finally wins a session, but faces an uphill battle heading into Sunday.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Well, the US finally showed some life on Saturday
00:03 at the Ryder Cup in the afternoon matches,
00:06 getting a little bit of production out of their players,
00:08 winning three out of four points.
00:10 But will it be enough?
00:12 Probably not.
00:13 Score through two days is 10 1/2 Europe, 5 1/2 US.
00:18 That means a big road ahead on Sunday
00:20 during the 12 singles matches.
00:22 The European side only needs four points
00:25 to regain the Ryder Cup that it lost to the US
00:29 two years ago at Whistling Straits.
00:31 But there was some interesting things that went on
00:34 as the day progressed.
00:35 Patrick Cantlay came up big for the US,
00:38 birdying the last three holes in the last match
00:41 with his partner Wyndham Clark
00:44 to defeat Roy McIlroy and Mats Fitzpatrick.
00:46 They didn't lead all day until that last hole.
00:50 That one point gave the US three instead of 2 1/2,
00:54 and it got 'em within five points.
00:56 Again, nobody's ever come from more than four points down
01:00 in the final day of the Ryder Cup.
01:02 The US is five back,
01:04 but at least it gave 'em some momentum and some hope,
01:06 and there were some fireworks afterward.
01:09 Patrick Cantlay was catching it from the crowd all day
01:11 because he's not been wearing a hat at the Ryder Cup.
01:15 European fans were giving it to him
01:16 by waving their caps at him all day long,
01:18 yelling at him, screaming.
01:20 And so when the US finally started to make a move,
01:23 their players and caddies did the same thing right back.
01:26 Well, it got a little personal there on the 18th green
01:28 as Joe Lacava, Tiger Woods' former caddy,
01:32 now Cantlay's caddy, was waving his hat,
01:35 but standing a little too close to where Roy McIlroy
01:38 had a birdie putt to tie.
01:40 In fact, McIlroy asked him to move out of his line of sight.
01:43 Lacava apparently didn't do so quickly enough,
01:46 and that spilled over and into an argument
01:48 afterward on the green and even in the parking lot
01:51 before everybody left.
01:53 Nothing like a little spice and drama at the Ryder Cup.
01:56 Is that enough to spur the US on on Sunday?
01:58 It's probably going to be too tough of a task,
02:01 but at least they've given us something
02:02 to look forward to with 12 singles
02:05 matches to go on the final day at Marco Simone.