FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Shane Lowry showed remarkable poise on the 18th green late Sunday afternoon, when he drained the putt that finally secured the Ryder Cup for Europe.
Lowry’s birdie putt ended his match with USA’s Russell Henley in a tie, and ended the United States’ remarkable Sunday charge, by getting Europe to the 14 points it needed to retain the Cup.
But it only got Europe to that number because of a little-used, arcane agreement in the rule book of this nearly 100-year old event that gifted the Europeans a half-point before anyone teed off on Sunday afternoon.
Many will argue that this is much ado about nothing, because Europe still got got the 14 points it needed to win the Ryder Cup even without the half-point it got from Hovland’s withdraw. But on a day when Europe very nearly surrendered the biggest Sunday lead in Ryder Cup history, it’s not nearly that simple.
And that’s why U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley was adamant Sunday night that this can’t go forward as the protocol.
“Yeah, it has to change,” Bradley said. “I have a few ideas, but I’m not going to tell you right now. But the rule has to change. I think it’s obvious to everybodyy in the sports world, in this room, but that rule needs to change by the next Ryder Cup.”
OK, so what’s the rule, and why did it matter? It’s a little complicated, so let us explain:
Since the final day of match play at the Ryder Cup involves single matches with all 12 players from both teams, there’s no replacement if a player gets injured and can’t play. And so the long-standing Ryder Cup protocol for such situations is that each team is awarded a half point, and the team without an injured player sits a player of their choosing (a choice that is put into an envelope the night before when the captains choose which order they’ll send out their players for the 12 Sunday singles matches).
In this case, the USA choose to sit Harris English. So Hovland and English, who were scheduled to play the final match, never played. And instead of the U.S. starting the day down 5 1/2 to 11 1/2, Europe started the day leading 12-6.
Yes, the deficit stayed at six points. But what’s more important is that Europe, which was already well ahead, got an even bigger advantage because suddenly they were a half point closer to clinching before a single shot was played. All they needed was two points instead of 2 1/2.
It didn’t seem important at the time, because it seemed highly unlikely it would matter. The greatest deficit ever overcome on the final day was four points (by Europe in 2012 and the U.S in 1999).
But it became very important as the U.S. continued to put pressure on the Europeans as the day went on. Lowry made the clutch putt he needed to secure the Ryder Cup. But what if the U.S. had been awarded the full point for the European player not being able to compete?
Would Lowry have made a putt that was not so decisive? Would the players behind him have reacted the same way to the pressure?
Europe would have needed at least another half point in the final few matches to secure the putt, and they were leading in none of those matches. Would they have caved to the pressure, or would the Americans have pulled off the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history.
We’ll never know. And that’s an absolute travesty, and it should never be allowed to happen again.
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