Boston Glee Party

By THOMAS BONK

Sept. 27, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

BROOKLINE, Mass. —

An uphill putt ended a downhill slide for the United States in the 33rd Ryder Cup, when the team that couldn’t win beat the team that couldn’t lose and scored an improbable comeback against impossible odds.

Actually, let’s not get carried away . . . better make that next-to-impossible odds.

It’s not something that can be easily explained. How do you figure the U.S. trailing by four points, then winning the first seven matches Sunday? Or Justin Leonard coming back from four holes down in a critical match against Jose Maria Olazabal and rolling in a 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that all but clinched the Ryder Cup?

In the end, just before the celebration when the champagne flowed evenly with the tears, the U.S. finished off a 14 1/2-13 1/2 victory over Europe at the Country Club and scored the biggest comeback in the 62 years of Ryder Cup history.

“Darned if we didn’t pull it off,” said Ben Crenshaw, the U.S. captain. “Unbelievable.

“I never, ever, not one time, doubted these guys.” That’s all right because there were a lot of people who did it for him. It was the third consecutive Ryder Cup decided by the same score, but the first one in that streak won by the U.S., which came in heavily favored and then was nearly written off by Saturday night.

Europe led, 10-6, and needed only four points out of the 12 singles matches to win again. It got 3 1/2.

Crenshaw front-loaded his lineup with his heavy hitters and it paid off, but there was no margin for error. The U.S. took control of the matches from the beginning at about the same time the players began making putts on a consistent basis.

It may have been a balmy day, but the way the matches were going, the whole thing began to have a snowball effect.

Tom Lehman routed Lee Westwood, 3 and 2. Hal Sutton routed Darren Clarke, 4 and 2. Phil Mickelson routed Jarmo Sandelin, 4 and 3. Davis Love III routed Jean Van de Velde, 6 and 5. Tiger Woods routed Andrew Coltart, 3 and 2. David Duval routed Jesper Parnevik, 5 and 4.

Parnevik knew a problem when he saw it.

“They pretty much ran us over,” he said.

Ryder Cup rookie Padraig Harrington stopped the momentum briefly with a 1-up victory over Mark O’Meara, but Steve Pate got it back with a 2-and-1 victory over Miguel Angel Jimenez.

When Jim Furyk completed his 4-and-3 victory over Sergio Garcia, the U.S. led, 14-11, and needed only half a point from either Leonard against Olazabal, or Payne Stewart against Colin Montgomerie (because Paul Lawrie was on the verge of making it, 14-12, with a 4-and-3 victory over Jeff Maggert).

Moments later, Leonard was standing over his golf ball on the 17th green. In front of him was 45 feet of putting surface, uphill over a ridge and then onto a shelf on the way to the hole. Leonard swung, the ball rolled up, over, broke slightly to the right and then disappeared in the hole for birdie.

Leonard raised both arms to celebrate and was mobbed on the green by several teammates. It was an understandable reaction, but it was also premature because Olazabal could have halved the hole by making his own 30-foot putt.

Afterward, Olazabal was not happy about the celebration. “I think that kind of behavior is just not the one anybody expects,” he said. “It was very sad to see. It was an ugly picture to see.”

European captain Mark James, who said he did not expect an apology from Crenshaw, explained that he did not appreciate the outburst, but he said it was understandable.

Montgomerie, playing behind Olazabal, was not as pleased.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Montgomerie, who had his own issues on the course, namely heckling from fans. James called it a give-and-take.

“Mostly take,” Montgomerie said.

Crenshaw said the celebration was out of order and offered an apology.

When order was restored, Olazabal missed his putt, the ball rolling past the hole on the left by inches.

It might have been a mile, because that putt meant everything. Leonard’s 1-up lead meant the U.S. would do no worse than earn a half-point and that’s all it needed to wrap up victory--its first since 1993--and improve its Ryder Cup record to 24-7-2.

As usual, there was a very thin margin between the prospects for victory or failure. The biggest instance involved O’Meara’s loss to Harrington. It could have been costly, even ironic because of O’Meara’s stance on the player-compensation issue, but instead became nothing more than a footnote after Leonard’s putt.

“We came up short because the Americans rode a great streak on the last day, simple as that,” James said.

The U.S. players said their streak actually began Saturday night during an emotional team meeting, during which Texas Gov. George W. Bush read a passage written by William B. Travis, one of the defenders of the Alamo.

“We all got together as a team,” Furyk said. “When I heard the guys in our talk last night, I knew we could win.”

Love said the U.S. team had help being brought together by a common opponent.

“All the distractions before that were a lot media-based,” Love said. “This team is really together.”

But when the singles matches began, the U.S. team was also really behind. It was not an unusual position for the U.S. however. At Valderrama in 1997, the U.S. was behind 10 1/2-5 1/2, won eight of the 12 points and lost by a point. At Oak Hill in 1995, the U.S. trailed, 9-7, after two days, won 7 1/2 of the 12 points and lost by a point.

Add the Country Club to that list, but change the outcome.

“They beat us up the first two days,” Stewart said. “It would be kind of nice not to have to win every single match on Sunday.”

Maybe, but at least this time, it was kind of nice for the U.S. team that it happened just that way.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

UNITED STATES TURNS A 10-6 DEFICIT INTO A 14 1/2 - 13 1/2 RYDER CUP VICTORY

United States: Lehman defeats Westwood, 3 and 2

United States: Love defeats Van de Velde, 6 and 5

United States: Mickelson defeats Sandelin, 5 and 3

United States: Sutton defeats Clarke, 4 and 2

United States: Duval defeats Parnevik, 5 and 4 (U.S. takes lead)

United States: Woods defeats Coltart, 3 and 2

Europe: Harrington defeats O’Meara, 1 up