WAKE ON THE LAKE

Spanish duo dig deepest to keep Europe in the fight but the carnage elsewhere promises to make this contest the...

THE mismatch beside Lake Michigan continued at the Ryder Cup yesterday despite the glorious efforts of Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia to make it a meaningful contest.

It would not be quite right to say the Europeans looked a two-man team over the first three sessions at this 43rd edition but it was way too uncomfortably close.

For the second day running the dazzling Spaniards won the top match and looked in vain for help from the three foursomes matches coming up behind.

The one difference this time was the Americans did not play anywhere near as well as they had on the opening day and the trio of European pairings had chances, only to fritter them away.

They could quite easily have won two of the games to set up the last two sessions nicely. To lose all three for a third successive 3-1 session loss and fall 9-3 behind was grievously wasteful.

Asked on American television how important it was to put the first point on the board after trailing by four overnight, you felt for Europe’s all-time record scorer as he looked towards the leaderboard and saw it covered in red. ‘I’m very proud of what Jon and I just achieved but it’s not enough,’ said Garcia. ‘We need the troops to rally.’

He could say that again. You have to go all the way back to 1975 and long before the Europeans joined the party to find the last time the margin was so great in America’s favour at this stage.

Let’s start with the good news and the two men from the Iberian peninsula who added another wonderful chapter to the rich legend of Spaniards at the Ryder Cup.

Not since 1987 has a European pairing lost the first three holes of a match and come back to win. The recovery began at the seventh and continued over 12 thrilling, spicy holes as they reeled in the four-time major champion Brooks Koepka and the feisty Daniel Berger.

The highlight undoubtedly came at the par-five 16th, following on from the disgraceful hounding of the referee by the US pair on the previous hole. Garcia had been an interested spectator as Koepka and Berger became increasingly irate at not getting a contentious free drop. When it didn’t come, the home pair were clearly intent on using that snub as fuel on the next hole.

Enter Garcia, from the middle of the fairway, with a three wood to eight feet from the hole to set up an eagle three that brooked no argument. They were two up and one hole more, it was game over.

Garcia broke the all-time Ryder Cup points record in the last match in Paris and here there was another landmark. In his 10th appearance, this was his 24th outright win, breaking the mark for either side set by Sir Nick Faldo.

The two Spaniards embraced, Garcia even showing his considerable strength by lifting the man mountain Rahm off the ground. The greatest Ryder Cup player and the best golfer in the world by a distance were happy in their little zone. What a pity there was carnage coming up behind.

Next up was Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton, who appeared to be going quietly against Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa.

Four down after nine holes, Casey inspired an unexpected revival with a couple of marvellous shots, including a holed approach from a fairway bunker to reduce the deficit to one.

At the 15th, alas, Hatton’s putt from eight feet to ratchet up the pressure still further spun out and Johnson quietly ended the revival. That made it three points out of three for Johnson, at 37 the oldest player in the USA team. He also became the only American to play all five sessions, joining Morikawa in the fourballs.

In the anchor match, Lee Westwood and Matt Fitzpatrick were up against Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, who were out of sorts early on. Never mind. They were soon to get some help.

From 60 yards short of the 10th green, Westwood somehow put the ball in a greenside bunker. Two down with two to play, the 48-yearold’s last act in Ryder Cup team play proved a sad one, as he put Fitzpatrick in a horrendous spot down the left of the 17th green.

So to the last match to finish. The most galling loss of all for Europe. Rookies Viktor Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger were clearly thrown together in panic and for six holes it appeared to work as they went three up against the celebrated duo, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, who were almost comically bad.

At the eighth, the naive Euros decided not to give Thomas a 15- inch putt. Big mistake. You could tell the Yanks were not happy. That gave them some badly needed focus and so they rallied.

Spieth rolled in a couple of putts. So did Thomas. They still couldn’t keep the mistakes away, mind. They didn’t even reach the green on two holes to gift them to their opponents. At the par-four 18th, with the Americans one up but short in two. Wiesberger’s response was that of a man totally unprepared for such pressure, an awful mishit into the penalty hazard. The jubilant pals from the US did not even need to putt to win.

At that moment, a penny for Tommy Fleetwood’s thoughts. He played two foursomes matches in Paris and won two points. Hovland’s partner on Friday when they registered a half-point in the fourballs, he did not even get to play a foursomes match.

Before the afternoon matches, the exuberant Thomas and Berger came out on to the first tee and started throwing beers into the audience, as if the crowd needed any more amping up. Europe were looking for a Lake Michigan miracle while the Americans were hell-bent on a massacre.