2014 Ryder Cup: Rory-Sergio Comeback Strengthens Europe's Grip Entering Saturday

GLENEAGLES, Scotland—The Ryder Cup has never been anything other than brilliantly unpredictable—Medinah reminded us all of that—but, even with that being established fact, on Friday it seemed to be going out of its way just to be contrary.

For a while the world seemed to be upside-down. In the opening fourballs session the two twenty-something American rookies, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, went about demolishing Ryder Cup tyro Ian Poulter and home hero Stephen Gallacher 5&4. Additionally, two of the top three players in the world were mysteriously conspicuous by their relative absence.

But as things typically do in the Ryder Cup, dramatic things happened. 

In this case, Rory McIlroy happened. 

Late in the afternoon, the world No. 1 and his playing partner Sergio Garcia (No. 3) looked to be on the verge of losing both their matches for the day, the first time the best player in the world has suffered that fate since Tiger Woods back in 2004.

But on No. 17, two holes down to Americans Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker, McIlroy drained a 40-foot birdie putt, winning the hole outright and sending shockwaves through Gleneagles. It was the spark needed to help them salvage an unlikely half point, from what was almost assuredly a loss. 

Just a few minutes prior, it seemed that unpredictability would indeed rule the day. 

Poulter, Garcia and McIlroy were supposed to be the three talismen for the home side, the stars to deliver an expected victory this week at Gleneagles. Instead they looked set to contribute exactly zero points, as instead Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson (still a pretty good duo, mind) started laying some early foundations for Paul McGinley’s team with two impressive victories. Then, as the A-listers struggled the B-listers stood up; afternoon debutants Jamie Donaldson and Victor Dubuisson, ably guided by veterans Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell, building upon Rose and Stenson’s stand by delivering important points of their own.

The form of the big guns, however, seemed to speak to a weakness at the heart of the European side. After walking off the 16th hole two-up with two to play, if  Fowler and  Walker could hold on for the win the visitors would probably still finish the day 4½-3½ behind, but that one win would give the team room an immense amount of confidence and momentum heading into Saturday.

Of course, the thing with the best golfers in the world is that they invariably got to that stage by being able to produce when it matters most. It may have taken them 35 holes to do it, but that’s what the European stars did in the end.

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THAT McIlroy putt on 17! Wow. @bythemingolf #RyderCup2014 https://t.co/v59A0TV65k

— BenchWarmers (@BenchWarmersCOM) September 26, 2014"

It was McIlroy, whose driving all day had been a horrible advert for the new Nike driver he has put in his bag, who started the comeback with the shocking birdie at the 17th to send the match up the final hole.

Then, after his partner had sprayed yet another tee-shot into the trees, Garcia returned the favour—hitting perhaps the best shot of the day, a fairway wood from the deep rough that flew high and true, catching the back-edge of the green at the par-five to give McIlroy a 20-footer for an eagle that would halve the match.

That putt was one that would not drop for the Northern Irishman, but the kick-in birdie was still enough for the share of the spoils after Walker and Fowler failed to get up-and-down from a bunker, seeing a win that had looked in the bag for large parts of the afternoon dribble away with Fowler's weak putt.

“That was probably as good as a win, to come back from where they were,” McGinley said of his two stalwarts afterwards.

Of his putt that swung one way and turned the match the other, McIlroy added: “It was one of those you knew what you need to do. It was going at quite a speed, and I was lucky to hit the hole.”

“After Rory’s putt I felt like I need to do something,” Garcia followed, when asked about his shot at 18. “I was trying to give my partner a chance … so I was very pleased to [do] that.

“We knew we weren’t playing good. We fought as hard as we could. Half a point is just huge.”

Harry How/Getty Images

It was a brilliant passage of golf, the first time the competition had really found a higher gear. After a typically energising first-tee in the early hours of the morning, most of the day's play was actually rather sloppy—characterised by wayward chipping and misjudged putts as the growing wind seemed to confuse almost all the players.

With the quality questionable it was the home players who made the early running, before the US side—Walker and Bradley in particular—found a late groove to edge the session.

Rose and Stenson were the stars for McGinley, the two taking advantage of a horror round from Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson (who whiffed the opening shot of the event barely 200 yards, and did not get much better from there) to put the first point on the board. But the Poulter-Gallacher collapse restored parity on many counts, as the US closed the session ahead.

“They ham-and-egged very well,” Poulter acknowledged of Spieth and Reed, who had been written off ahead of the match by some. “I think we were looking to get off to a fast start … and then we couldn’t seem to get anything going."

Both captains opted to use all 12 of their players on the opening days, but it was both fresh European pairings who delivered points. Donaldson and Westwood strung together a solid foursomes display to edge out Matt Kuchar and Jim Furyk, while in the day’s anchor game Dubuisson and McDowell did not need to find their A-game as they dispatched a clearly jaded Mickelson-Bradley partnership.

Then Rose and Stenson, picking up where they left off, put Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson to the sword in the highest quality of the foursomes games. Rose’s overall record now is nearly as good as Poulter’s, his long-time partner, although the 2013 US Open champion demurred at suggestions the day signified a changing of the guard.

“My record is strong, but I think Poults’ passion for it and his flair … he revels in that,” Rose noted. “I just like to play as good as I can and deliver for my team.”

The European team proved steady all day, with Westwood noting that Donaldson took to the event "like a duck to water." McDowell had more effusive play for Dubuisson.

“He is Europe’s next superstar,” McDowell said. “I really believe that. He was awesome today.”

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

That left all eyes on McIlroy and Garcia, the two best players on show this week in Scotland scratching around for anything to show from the day. At the 11th hour they found a half—but it was a switch that felt so much more important than that.

Instead of a point separating the two teams it was two, with the Americans perhaps now wondering if Europe’s top stars can possibly be so poor again.

With the strength in depth of McGinley’s side on show on Friday, Watson knows he has job to do to rally his side for Saturday’s redux. It seems a fair guess that Spieth and Reed are done resting for the week.

And if those final two holes have sparked Garcia and McIlroy into life, however, then the United States might need to look further than their two youngest talents to come up with a viable response.

“It was a long day for both of us, and [we’re] just glad we were able to contribute something to the cause,” McIlroy said. “For the team it was huge. Europe are in a nice position going into Saturday.”

All quotes obtained firsthand.