In the first moments after Rory McIlroy finally won the Masters he was already thinking about this Ryder Cup. The man whoâ€d won everything wanted to win this more than anything. It had been on his mind ever since the last one at Marco Simone, when he startled the media, his captain, and his teammates by launching into a speech about how he was targeting victory here at Bethpage.
“Iâ€ve said this for the last six years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup,†McIlroy said back then, “and thatâ€s what weâ€re going to doâ€.
And in the end McIlroy was just about as good as his word. And if anyone was starting to doubt the truth of exactly how hard it all was after the beating the USA took during the first two days†play here, Sundayâ€s singles were all the evidence they needed to see just how right McIlroy was.
The weathermen said it was the hottest day yet at Bethpage, but in other ways it felt like the temperature had dropped in the morning. The fever that had gripped the place on Saturday had broken. McIlroy still had to step away from the ball while playing the first hole. Somebody shouted out “Fuck you!†in the silence that fell before his putt. But this time a couple of burly policemen waded into the gallery and the crowd around the heckler started chanting “Get him out! Get him out!â€
For all Keegan Bradleyâ€s talk about how his team could still win even though they were trailing by seven in the morning, no one here seemed to be buying it, and while this European team, and McIlroy in particular, still had to put up with plenty of abuse there wasnâ€t the same vicious edge there had been the day before.
Maybe there was a collective acceptance that the abuse was out of hand on Saturday, maybe it was the extra effort made by the PGA of America to police the bad behaviour, or maybe it was just that itâ€s harder to scream “You suck!†and mean it when youâ€re teamâ€s on the wrong end of a beating.
McIlroy wonâ€t care either way now his team have won. He gave everything he had to give to his team here, and by the end he seemed so drained by everything he has been through that he didnâ€t have anything much left for his singles match against Scottie Scheffler. The emotional, mental, and physical effort of playing four games in two days, and dealing with all the abuse that came his way while he was doing it, had left him running on fumes.
It was a strange game. World No 1 v World No 2, the man who won this yearâ€s Masters against the man who won this yearâ€s Open, the last winner of the career grand slam champion against someone who will, most likely, be the next winner of the career grand slam.
Rory McIlroy has had his heart set on this even in the moments after winning the career grand slam. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty Images
Maybe it was because the match was so heavyweight that it never really got off the ground. It ought to have been a game for the ages, but it ended up more like a game for the aged. The two greatest players of their generation turned in some pretty creaky golf, and played a handful of shots that made everyone watching feel a lot better about the state of their own game.
On the 2nd, Scheffler whiffed a chip a couple of club lengths ahead into the rough when he was 30 feet from the pin. “Itâ€s OK, Scottie!†an American fan cried out, “No itâ€s not Scottie!†his friend added as punctuation. It still wasnâ€t as bad as the one Scheffler served up from the middle of the 10th fairway, when he blew his approach 40 yards left after finishing his swing one-handed. Amazingly, Scheffler still won the hole with a bogey, since McIlroy wasnâ€t doing too much better and ended up duffing his own chip a couple of feet and making a double. It went on like this until Scheffler eventually won 1 up on 18.
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One down on the day, but three and a half up on the week, McIlroy will be able to look back and know he showed the best of himself, and that he got what he wanted out of playing here. Scheffler, though, will remember it as one of the most disappointing weeks of his career. He became the first player in history to play all four pairs matches for his side and yet lose every one. Heâ€s putted this week like a sea-legged sailor squeezing a round in during shore-leave.
Scottie Scheffler will remember this Ryder Cup as one of the most disappointing weeks of his career. Photograph: Corey Sipkin/UPI/Shutterstock
Scheffler is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a Texas golfer. He is by all accounts, a grand team man, who even helped organise the USAâ€s practice camp at Napa last week because he was so determined to win here. “Scottie has been the best teammate in our team room this week, without question, period,†insisted Bradley.
You guess heâ€s not going to be the last US captain to tie himself in knots trying to figure out how to get the best out of Scheffler in this competition. If anyone ever figures it out, the near impossible job McIlroy took on this time around will be that much harder again.
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