The luck of the draw brought us a jackpot pairing, a heavyweight duel. For the first time in the Ryder Cup, in this 45th edition, the world’s number one player faced off against the world’s number two. Scottie Scheffler v Rory McIlroy. A golfing Ali v Frazier, if you would.
And as Scheffler made his way to the first tee – head slunk downwards, not bothering to look at the inspirational words and numbers of past US deeds in the Ryder Cup which lined the red walls of the tunnel through the grandstand, it was with the look of someone down on his luck.
With due cause, perhaps. Scheffler lost all four of his matches through the foursomes and four-balls where he lacked chemistry with any of his three partners – Russell Henley (twice), JJ Spaun and Bryson DeChambeau – and, finally, alone, was left to his own devices in his bid to avoid a complete whitewash.
McIlroy took the same route from the practice putting green and into the tunnel and onto the Bethpage Black course. A different voice introduced him. A day earlier actress and comedian Heather McMahan had performed the role of announcer, but not this time. McMahan had stood down from her role after a video clip in which she could be urging the crowds the previous day to chant “F**k you, Rory” went viral.
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This time, the new female MC announced him with no addendums, other than some tired booing on his introduction. And off the they went, the world’s two best players off the official world rankings, two men with three of golf’s four Majors from this year in their back pockets.
But it was nothing like blow-for-blow combat. Scheffler missed a short putt on the first. The duffed a pitch in greenside rough on the second. McIlroy went one up.
“Make Scottie Great Again,” read a placard held by one European supporter, his friend holding up another. “50% tariffs on Europeans,” it read.
Scheffler’s birdie on the Par 5 fourth brought them level again. The shadowboxing between Scheffler and McIlroy finally landed some punches around the turn.
Not in a nice way, though. McIlroy had suffered the worse of the verbal abuse and slurs from the New York crowd on Saturday afternoon and there was more to absorb on the 10th tee where he back off his drive, pointed to someone in the crowd, and then after addressing his ball again hooked it badly left into a fairway bunker. He had a talk with match referee David Podas as he left the tee ground and the New York state troopers with the group broadened their chests.
The hole proved to be a litany of errors from McIlroy who used a fairway wood for his shot from the bunker which flew way left of the green into the territory occupied by the gallery. He ran up a double-bogey six and Scheffler won the hole with bogey.
McIlroy hit back immediately, landing a 35-footer for birdie on the 11th to draw all-square again. Onwards. And the Northern Irishman showed his fortitude when flying the green on the 13th but successfully getting up and down for birdie to halve the hole Scheffler. Ever onwards.
On the 14th, McIlroy came up short of the green on the Par 3 and failed to get up and down. Scheffler’s par moved him one up. And faced with a two-hole deficit, McIlroy bravely sank a 35-footer for birdie on the 15th to share that hole and remain within touching distance.
But Scheffler kept his nose in front, as he grinded – par-par-par-par – to finish with McIlroy unable to get that birdie to pull him in.
A tired McIlroy shook hands with his conqueror Scheffler, the fate of the result to be determined elsewhere. He had given it his all, had undeservedly taken dogs abuse from the fans throughout the match and kept going until the end. Just outdone by the world’s number one.
“It’s tough, playing all five matches is a grind,” Scheffler said after his match win. “Rory and I even chatted about that a little bit today. It was a grind, and I’m pretty tired, but I’m proud of the fight that our team showed.”
