MEDINAH, Illinois: Inspired by the spirit of Seve Ballesteros, Europe pulled off one of the greatest comebacks on a golf course to beat the United States and win the Ryder Cup by 14-1/2 points to 13-1/2 yesterday.
Needing to claim eight points in the concluding singles to retain the trophy, Europe won six of the first eight encounters before Germany’s Martin Kaymer secured the vital point to retain the Cup by beating Steve Stricker one up.
After Stricker had coolly holed his par putt from eight feet at the last, Kaymer buried his five-footer for a matching par before thrusting his arms skywards in delight as European fans erupted with deafening cheers at Medinah Country Club.
“It’s undescribable,” the German said as chants of “Ole, Ole, Ole” echoed across the course. “I was so nervous the last two, three holes. I loved it. It’s amazing.”
With the chance of a tie resting on the final match, Tiger Woods astonishingly missed a three-foot par putt at the 18th, then conceded a putt from similar length to halve his contest with Italy’s Francesco Molinari to hand Europe outright victory.
“It was already over,” Woods said.
“This is a team event and the Cup was already been retained by Europe.”
Europe, who sent out their best players early, emulated the miracle comeback achieved by the US at Brookline in 1999 when they also overhauled a deficit of 10-6 on the final day, in front of vocal home crowds, to triumph by the same margin.
However Europe’s astonishing turnaround, which stunned the flag-waving American fans into periods of silence in the late afternoon, will be viewed as more impressive having been delivered on foreign soil. “We believed in our hearts we could win this,” said Englishman Luke Donald, who earned Europe’s first point of the day in the opening match with a 2&1 win over Masters champion Bubba Watson.
The Europeans drew inspiration yesterday from their beloved Ballesteros, who died last year aged 54 after a battle with cancer, with every player wearing the navy blue colours favoured by the Spaniard in the final rounds of tournaments.
“Seve will always be present with this team,” said a teary-eyed Olazabal, for whom his compatriot Ballesteros was both a friend and mentor.
“He was a big factor for this event, for the European side.”
Reuters
