For it was 20 years ago when American hopes of claiming the Ryder Cup came down to Jay Haas on the final three holes at Oak Hill. With packed home galleries cheering his every move at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, Bae Sang-Moon couldn’t quite deliver at that crucial, pressure-filled moment.
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An emotional US captain Jay Haas struggled to get through a televised interview next to the 18th green but said he had given his son a pep talk through the closing stages.
The 15½-14½ margin was the slimmest since the famous tie in South Africa in 2003.
NAPA, Calif. (AP) – Those traveling, song-loving “Fanatics” at the Presidents Cup had no trouble finding the right tune for Branden Grace, with a slight change of lyrics.
Even better, that fierceness from a team using five rookies seemed to bring out a few of the same in the Americans, who even if they wouldn’t ever admit to it must have thought this would be an easier weekend to play.
Sobel: I know the format change will be credited for having a profound impact on keeping the final result closer, but it wasn’t as if the worldwide side was being weighed down by its bottom-of-the-roster players. Kirk’s chip ran 15 feet by.
The tense final session was just what this competition needed, though it didn’t feel that way to the global team.
He popped up his 3-wood, punched back into the fairway, hit a wedge shot that spun off to the collar of the green and missed his par putt. “It wasn’t pretty down the stretch there [at Oak Hill] … if I could have parred the last hole, beaten Phil Walton, ‘” he said.
“Never give up. I guess, expect the unexpected”, Leishman said. The South Korean will now spend the next two years serving compulsory military service. Haas and Kuchar ended that match halved with their opponents as they experienced trouble on the last hole to let the Internationals back into the match. He crouched over that covered his face as his caddie, Matt Minister, placed a hand on Bae’s shoulder to console him. Watson had a short birdie putt on the 18th hole to pull it out, but was unable to convert, and Jaidee was able to walk out with an unlikely halve.
“I wanted to make the winning point for the team, but at the end of the day, our team lost”, Bae said. I am disappointed in the golf gods for not allowing him to finish the way he should.
In a few ways it was also a victory for Nick Price, captain of the team of non-European global players. Hideki Matsuyama won the 18th hole with a birdie to beat J.B. Holmes.
American Phil Mickelson had an unbeaten record (3-0-1) for the third time in the Presidents Cup.
British Open champ Zach Johnson then birdies 16 to defeat PGA Championship victor Jason Day 3-and-2, putting the Americans ahead by a deuce in the team tally. Australia’s former world number one Adam Scott had levelled the match at 9.5-9.5 when he bagged the first point of the day with a 6 and 5 hammering of Rickie Fowler, ranked five.
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World No. 1 Spieth, who finished the week 3-2, was beaten by inspired Australian Mark Leishman 1-up as the Internationals scented only their second win in the 21-year history of the Ryder Cup style competition. Grace becomes the first worldwide player since Shigeki Maruyama to go 5-0 at the Presidents Cup.
