U.S. ends Ryder Cup drought with Patrick Reed setting the pace

Ryan Moore used an eagle-birdie-par finish to defeat Europe’s Lee Westwood by 1-up in their singles match Sunday to clinch the victory for the United States in the 41st Ryder Cup.

It did not matter that Moore was making his debut in the biennial event while Westwood was making his 10th appearance. It didn’t matter that Moore was the last player from either team to gain a spot in the event.

“I didn’t want to let my team down,” Moore said.

Playing for one another, the Americans turned a 3-point final-day lead into a 17-11 victory, their first over Europe since 2008 and only their third in the past 11 years.

Patrick Reed, who earned the nickname Captain America for his fiery demeanor and first-rate play, earned the first point for the United States in the singles with a 1-up victory against Rory McIlroy in a showdown of showmen that featured exquisite shot-making, fist bump exchanges and a warm embrace when it was over. Later, Moore delivered the clincher.

The biennial event got underway Friday at Hazeltine National Golf Club, five days after the death of Arnold Palmer, a Ryder Cup legend who transformed and transcended the sport with his swashbuckling play and chivalry. It ended in a way that would have made Palmer smile, with the U.S. players, most of them in or near tears, talking about their regard for teammates who somewhere along the way became more like a family.

“I think this week the underlying theme was everybody had your back,” said Brandt Snedeker, who was a member of the U.S. team that squandered a 10-6 lead on the final day in 2012, the last time the event was held on American soil.

After his 3-and-1 victory against Andy Sullivan, Snedeker gave an assist to Bubba Watson, the seventh-ranked player in the world, who dearly wanted to be on the team but was overlooked in favor of Moore. Watson volunteered to be a cheerleader and errand runner for the U.S. captain, Davis Love III, which is how Watson came to walk with Snedeker during his match and keep him loose when he fell behind by two after three holes to the hot-starting Sullivan.

“I don’t know if I could have done it without him out there,” Snedeker said of Watson, one of the U.S. team’s five vice captains.

In truth, Snedeker said Love had six assistants if one counts Phil Mickelson, 46, whose contribution to the drought-ending victory was a 2-1-1 record but who had laid the groundwork for it in 2014, when he used a loss in Scotland to start a one-man insurrection that led to an overhaul of the U.S. Ryder Cup system. With the input of Mickelson and others, the new strategy stressed team-building and gave the players more input in the process.

Mickelson’s 11th Ryder Cup appearance ended with him settling for a halve against Sergio García after making 10 birdies and one bogey for an 18-hole score of 63. Garcia was credited with nine birdies and no bogeys. “Probably a fitting end to have it a tie,” Mickelson said.

It was probably also fitting that Mickelson took the first swig of celebratory champagne before passing the bottle to Jordan Spieth, who was 2-1-1 in team play with Reed. One day Mickelson will pass his leadership mantle to Spieth and Reed, but he proved this week that he still has game – and grit.

“When he said after the first day that that’s as much pressure as he’s ever felt in a Ryder Cup, I thought to myself, ‘Well, he’s certainly acknowledging the fact that there’s a lot, maybe more, riding on it for him than some other folks,’” Mickelson’s caddie, Jim Mackay said. Mackay added:, “I’m so happy for him. To go out and make 10 birdies today, that’s as good as golf can be played as far as I’m concerned.”

The margin of victory was deceptive. In desperation after arriving at the final day’s singles matches with a 3-point deficit, Europe’s captain, Darren Clarke, top-loaded his singles lineup. His strategy sent shivers through the partisan crowds when no U.S. player in the first five matches held a lead after the first nine holes. The Europeans pulled to within one point of the United States with victories in three of the first four completed singles matches.

But the Americans had one another’s backs. Even as his stomach churned, Love, the captain who absorbed the 2012 loss and the lion’s share of the criticism, maintained a calm front, the better to settle his players. Led by Moore and Snedeker, the United States won five of the last six matches while Mickelson sat with his wife, Amy, behind the 18th green soaking up the scene.

“We can’t thank Phil enough,” Snedeker said.

He added: “He realized how this week turned out was going to reflect on him 100 percent, and to have shoulders that big and go out there and realize you’re going to have to shoulder it one way or the other. We all felt invested in that. We were not going to let Phil go down as a scapegoat.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2016 at 8:26 PM with the headline "U.S. ends Ryder Cup drought with Patrick Reed setting the pace."