By Frank Pingue FARMINGDALE, New York (Reuters) -England’s Tyrrell Hatton won the Ryder Cup for Europe with a half-point from his match against American Collin Morikawa on Sunday at Bethpage Black where the hosts’ remarkable final-day charge fell agonisingly short. Not long after Shane Lowry ensured Europe would retain the trophy by halving his match […]
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Golf-Europe hold off furious US charge to win Ryder Cup
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By Frank Pingue
FARMINGDALE, New York (Reuters) -England’s Tyrrell Hatton won the Ryder Cup for Europe with a half-point from his match against American Collin Morikawa on Sunday at Bethpage Black where the hosts’ remarkable final-day charge fell agonisingly short.
Not long after Shane Lowry ensured Europe would retain the trophy by halving his match with American Russell Henley, it was Hatton, in the penultimate match on the course, who got Europe to the 14-1/2 point target they needed for the outright win.
Europe needed just 2-1/2 points from the 11 singles matches that were played to secure a victory that many felt would have been made official hours before Hatton sealed the deal in the penultimate match of the day.
“It’s been one of the hardest days I’ve ever experienced on a golf course,” said Hatton after Europe’s 15-13 triumph. “It was to be expected, they’re amazing players – selfishly I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come down to me.
“I’m just so happy we’ve managed to win.”
Europe have now won 11 of the last 15 Ryder Cups dating back to 1995 and Englishman Luke Donald is the first captain to win back-to-back editions of the biennial event since Tony Jacklin in the 1980s.
“It’s got to be the most stressful 12 hours of my life,” said Donald. “We knew they’d be tough, we didn’t think they’d be this tough.”
HOVLAND WITHDRAWAL
The U.S. sent Cameron Young and Justin Thomas out in the first two matches and both birdied the final hole to secure 1UP victories over Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, respectively, to breathe some life into the Americans’ chances.
“That’s the momentum we’ve been looking for the whole week. We just made it a day too late,” said Thomas.
Xander Schauffele added another U.S. point with a 4&3 win over Spaniard Jon Rahm (12-8) before Swede Ludvig Aberg finally put some blue on the board with a 2&1 win over Patrick Cantlay.
Moments later Matt Fitzpatrick, who was 5UP after seven holes, settled for a half-point when he halved his match with Bryson DeChambeau, putting Europe half a point from retaining the cup with six matches still on the course.
But Europe were made to wait as Scottie Scheffler took the next point with a 1UP win over Rory McIlroy in the first-ever Ryder Cup singles match between the top two players in the Official World Golf Rankings.
J.J. Spaun then closed out a 2&1 win over Austrian Sepp Straka to set the stage for Lowry, who birdied from six feet at the last to earn the half-point against Russell Henley.
Shortly after it was Hatton who settled for a par on the closing hole to halve the match and kick off the celebrations.
The final match on the schedule was ruled a tie before the day’s matches began, which resulted in a half-point for each team, as Europe’s Viktor Hovland withdrew ahead of the clash with Harris English due to injury.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Additional reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Toby Davis)