Europe retain Ryder Cup as Shane Lowry heroics stem USA fightback on final day at Bethpage Black
Briefly

Europe retain Ryder Cup as Shane Lowry heroics stem USA fightback on final day at Bethpage Black
"As captain Luke Donald took his men into the final day Singles match-ups with a commanding 11.5 to 4.5 lead, a neck injury to Viktor Hovland pushed the scores up to 12-5 in Europe's favour before a ball was struck today. That meant Europe needed just two points from the remaining 11 matches to retain the title. Europe's win is all the sweeter for the Irish pairing of Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy, who had to endure a torrent of verbal abuse from USA fans during their fourball victory yesterday."
"Firstly, Cameron Young defeated Justin Rose 1up to reduce the score to 12-6. A brilliant performance from Xander Schauffele saw him dispatch a very in-form Jon Rahm 3&2 to close the gap to five points. Next up, Bethpage Black erupted as Justin Thomas holed a 10-footer to vanquish Tommy Fleetwood and make it 12-8 in Europe's favour. There was finally some good news for Europe as Ludvig Aberg stretched the gap once again to five points, defeating Patrick Cantlay 2&1."
"Matt Fitzpatrick was next up in his battle with Bryson DeChambeau. They were tied going into the final hole after a rally from DeChambeau, and so it finished that way as they shared a point to make it 13.5 to 8.5. It left Europe tantalisingly close to the magic total of 14. Scottie Scheffler again brought the difference back to four points with a 1up win over McIlroy. The pressure on Europe was ramped even further as USA closed the gap to three points as JJ Spaun beat Sepp Straka 2&1."
Europe entered the final day singles with an 11.5 to 4.5 lead and gained a 12-5 advantage after Viktor Hovland suffered a neck injury. Europe required just two points from the remaining eleven matches to retain the title. Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy endured verbal abuse from US fans during their fourball victory. Europe built its lead through an efficient opening day and strong foursomes and fourballs, stretching clear by Saturday. Singles produced some US fightbacks through Young, Schauffele and Thomas, but European wins and halved matches kept Europe on course for victory.
Read at Irish Independent
Unable to calculate read time
[
|
]