Advertisement

Europe’s big names bring big games at Ryder Cup

Europe's Ryder Cup team celebrates its win over the U.S. in Gleneagles, Scotland, on Sunday.
(Andrew Redington / Getty Images)
Share

In the weeks before the 2014 Ryder Cup, much was made of the fact that four of the top six ranked players in the world were Europeans.

As it turned out, all that star power made a difference.

Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose ranked among the leading point-getters over the course of three days at Gleneagles.

Rose and Stenson formed a dominant pair in fourballs and foursomes. McIlroy accounted for three points, adeptly shouldering the pressure of being the world’s No. 1-ranked player.

“He led from the front,” Ian Poulter said, “and kept pressing it home.”

On the other side, the top-ranked Americans — Jim Furyk, Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar — went a combined 2-9.

Crowd patrol

Advertisement

No one could accuse Patrick Reed of acting bashful in his Ryder Cup debut. In addition to leading the U.S. team with 31/2 points, Reed took on the European crowd during Sunday’s singles matches.

The give-and-take began on the first tee when fans chided him about blowing a short putt the day before.

“I missed a putt I probably could make on one foot left-handed,” he said. “So they gave me a hard time about it.”

Reed fired back after recording a birdie to halve the seventh hole, turning toward the gallery and holding a finger to his lips, telling them to hush.

For the rest of the day, fans who saw the gesture on video screens around the course greeted Reed with a loud, hissing “Shhh” as he walked down fairways and arrived at each green.

“Yeah, I got the crowd fired up on both sides and it was a lot of fun, the crowd loved it,” he said. “They were heckling me all day, yet we were being respectful.”

Advertisement

Captain crunch time

After openly disagreeing with Tom Watson’s philosophy on running the team, Phil Mickelson was asked about captaining the U.S. in the future and instituting his own strategy for winning.

“Oh no no,” he said. “I’ve been on eight losing teams.”

Mickelson suggested that any thoughts of becoming a captain would have to wait, saying: “Look, I intend to keep making this team as a player.”

A similar question was posed to Furyk.

“When the time is right, I would love to do that someday,” Furyk said. “It would be an honor.”

Advertisement