The scoreboard tells the tale of woe for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Europe 10, USA 6.
Europe needs just 4 1/2 points in the Sunday singles to take the cup away from the U.S. On the other hand, the underachieving U.S. team needs to find eight points on Sunday — something that may require a miracle of sorts.
Europe administered a total beat-down late Friday in the foursomes (alternate shot) format, getting a 4-0 sweep then kept the momentum Saturday morning, winning three of the four four-ball (best ball) matches.
The United States needed a great, not good showing in the afternoon foursomes and all it got was a 2-2 stalemate.
Europe’s most lethal combination thus far has been the team of Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari. They’re undefeated at 4-0 and have inspired huge galleries and have energized the entire European team.
On the other side, the U.S. has been searching for some winning combinations but Captain Jim Furyk has found few of those. The only U.S. victory in the morning session came when Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas beat Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm, 2-and-1.
The U.S. team can look back over the first two days and blame its lack of accuracy off the tee. It’s a weakness that European Captain Thomas Bjorn recognized and had the primary rough at Le Golf National grown to penal heights. Get in the rough, lose the hole — that’s how it’s gone for the most part the first two days.
Europe’s afternoon losses game when Bjorn paired two of his strongest players with weak putters in the foursomes matches. Rory McIlroy’s wild tee shots and poor putting dragged him and Poulter down (4-and-3) against the effective Spieth and Thomas team. Same deal with Sergio Garcia. Alex Noren’s short game set them up for a 3-and-2 thrashing by Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson.
After his miserable showing in the Friday foursomes, Phil Mickelson was relegated to the bench all day Saturday. In a puzzling move, Furyk sat Tony Finau, one of the USA’s better players, on Satuday afternoon.
Barring a huge comeback on Sunday, Furyk will have a lot of explaining to do for his choices come Monday.
