Scottie Scheffler went to the 1st tee on Saturday afternoon backed by the theatrics of a prize-fighter making his ringwalk. He crossed the bridge from the practice green to the grandstand alongside Bryson DeChambeau, the thumping bassline and clavinet riff of Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project rattling the aluminum beneath their feet: the same track that once summoned Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls thundered from the speakers, the closest US analogue to the All Blacks†haka for spine-tingling pregame stagecraft. The scene was set for the worldâ€s best golfer to spark a comeback, to pull the United States back from the edge of humiliation at Bethpage Black.
Instead, it became the overture to a historic dud.
Europe had surged to an 8½–3½ lead after the morning foursomes, becoming the first side in the 98-year history of the competition to sweep the opening three sessions on foreign soil. The mathematics offered a sliver of hope. The psychology offered none. And at the heart of it was Scheffler, presumptive spearhead of an American fightback, becoming an emblem of its futility.
Scottie Scheffler tried to get things going but failed. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty Images
No world No 1 had ever started a Ryder Cup by losing three straight matches. No player in the modern era had begun 0–3 and been sent back out for a fourth try. Scheffler managed both. On Friday, he and Russell Henley had been flattened by Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Åberg, before falling 3&2 with JJ Spaun to Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka. On Saturday morning, paired with Russell Henley, he lost the anchor match to Hovland and Robert MacIntyre after he was left standing on the 18th tee with a chance to salvage a half, only to shove a wedge from 104 yards into ignominy. It was a shot that told the story of his week: the swing unbroken, the outcome betraying him.
It wasnâ€t that Scheffler completely unravelled. Europe simply played sublime golf, all but devoid of mistakes. But by nightfall Scheffler had become the first American ever to lose in each of the first four sessions of a Ryder Cup, joining only two Europeans – Peter Alliss in 1967 and Peter Townsend in 1971 – in that unwanted company.
There was no respite for Scheffler on Saturday afternoon as the agony piled on. Rising tensions and temperatures on either side of the ropes prompted spectator etiquette warnings that flashed across the grounds, drawing lusty boos from eight-deep galleries packed with mostly American fans. When Justin Rose holed from seven feet to close out a 3&2 win on 16, the broader US defeat was in effect sealed and thousands in red, white and blue made a mass exodus to the gates with two matches still on the course. Europe had not reached the 14-point threshold to retain the trophy formally, but the 11½-4½ scoreline when the dust settled made it clear we wouldnâ€t need Sunday to determine the winner.
It was a bleak punctuation to what had been two years of near-unbroken supremacy for Scheffler. For much of that span it seemed only the Louisville police could slow his roll. The 29-year-old has won six times this year, with two majors, on top of seven titles and a second Masters crown in 2024. Itâ€s the kind of all-time heater that has drawn straight-faced comparisons to Tiger Woods. But those comparisons cut both ways. Woods never imposed himself on the Ryder Cup, never looked quite the same in the fourball and foursomes crucible. Scheffler is tracing the same line, his authority dissolving the moment he is asked to blend his game with anotherâ€s.
And itâ€s here where the flaws in his own game, papered over by the relentless volume of birdies in stroke-play golf, have been ruthlessly exposed. His ball-striking remains magnificent, the thing that separates him from everyone else. But the putting can be uneven, sometimes merely streaky, sometimes worse. At Bethpage it has looked fragile, a weakness that seeps into the rest of his rhythm, tightening the shoulders, clouding the judgment.
He has tried to present an even keel. “We battled hard out there,†he said after Saturday morningâ€s loss. But his face told a different story: the blank stare later that afternoon following his approach on the 9th, which struck the flagstick and bounded into the rough; the sag of his shoulders as another par putt slid past the edge. For a player who has made a career of managing his emotions, of walking slowly, speaking softly, never flinching, the Ryder Cup has laid bare a rare unraveling.
That detachment was something he spoke about openly three months ago, on the eve of the Open at Troon (which he went on to win). He expounded thoughtfully for five minutes on how he does not invest his ego in his golf. But after watching the camaraderie, respect and passion of the Europeans†display this week, it gives rise to questions over whether his mindset is an asset or a liability in a team event.
‘Keegan Bradley [left] had little choice but to keep calling Scottie Schefflerâ€s number.†Photograph: David Davies/PA
Nothing in his scintillating form augured the results of the past 48 hours. He has been the best golfer in the world by a distance, at times so far clear in the rankings it invited statistical comparisons with peak Woods. Yet golf is cruelly specific about where it chooses to test you. A Ryder Cup is not a 72-hole marathon, it is five violent sprints. It does not reward the steady accumulation of small advantages and dumbfounding consistency that has become his signature, but demands the nerve to hole a five-footer at the exact moment everything depends on it. That is where Scheffler has been found wanting.
The USA captain, Keegan Bradley, had little choice but to keep calling his number. On paper he was always Americaâ€s best chance, the player most likely to conjure something from nothing in a competition where it got late early. And so Scheffler kept marching back to the tee, head down, music blaring, sent out to turn back a tide that had already swept the United States away. In Sundayâ€s singles, he will go out with Rory McIlroy in a showdown of the worldâ€s top two, even if only one has looked the part this week.
Quick GuideRyder Cup singles pairings and timingsShow
12.02 EDT/17.02 BST Cameron Young v Justin Rose
12.13 EDT/17.13 BST Justin Thomas v Tommy Fleetwood
12.24 EDT/17.24 BST Bryson DeChambeau v Matt Fitzpatrick
12.35 EDT/17.35 BST Scottie Scheffler v Rory McIlroy
12.46 EDT/17.46 BST Patrick Cantlay v Ludvig Ã…berg
12.57 EDT/17.57 BST Xander Schauffele v Jon Rahm
13.08 EDT/18.08 BST JJ Spaun v Sepp Straka
13.19 EDT/18.19 BST Russell Henley v Shane Lowry
13.30 EDT/18.30 BST Ben Griffin v Rasmus Højgaard
13.41 EDT/18.41 BST Collin Morikawa v Tyrrell Hatton
13.52 EDT/18.52 BST Sam Burns v Robert MacIntyre
14.03 EDT/19.03 BST Harris English v Viktor Hovland
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There will be time to pick apart what this defeat means for the United States as a whole. The inquest will not be quick. For now it is Scheffler who embodies the horror of it, the champion who came in gilded and will leave diminished, the world No 1 who discovered that in the Ryder Cup, numbers donâ€t count, rankings donâ€t matter, reputation is immaterial. Only the shots you hit in the moment. And for Scheffler, too many of them have missed the mark.
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