Ryder Cup: Under-pressure Europe need heroes to emerge

Shane Lowry of Team Europe chips from a bunker during his Friday afternoon fourballs match with Rory McIlroy against Tony Finau and Harris English. Picutre: Tom Russo/Sportsfile

Sitting in stand-still bumper-to-bumper traffic in the middle of cornfields at 6.30am, the Google map estimated it would take 25 minutes to cover the last two miles to the car park pasture across from Whistling Straits.

If lucky, we might get to the first tee in time for Sergio Garcia’s opening drive of the 43rd Ryder Cup.

Red lights appeared in the rear-view mirror, racing up the vacant lane that was clear of any on-coming traffic. Behind a police escort was a courtesy BMW. Looking out the side window was US Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele, en route to the golf course just more than an hour before his tee time in the final morning foursomes match.

Other player cars (every player had to ride to the course separately because of Covid protocols) came along behind Schauffele’s, but Xander’s was the only face we caught a glimpse of as he sped past.

It seemed the perfect late-arriving metaphor for matches that are a year tardy in starting. Because it already says so on the merchandise, this is the 2020 Ryder Cup in 2021. We waited a long time for a brilliant crisp September morning abreast Lake Michigan to finally get golf’s greatest biennial spectacle started.

“This has been a couple of years in the making and we’re all so excited to be here,” said homegrown, Wisconsin-bred American captain Steve Stricker.

Despite all that pent-up energy, the atmosphere among the thousands of fans packed around the first tee box was relatively subdued. There were few songs and sporadic chants of U-S-A that all seemed to peter out quickly in the 16 minutes between tee times. Without a prominent European contingent of fans due to pandemic travel restrictions, there wasn’t the raucous banter we’ve come to expect at Ryder Cup matches.

It was certainly nothing like the electric atmosphere of the massive stage presented in Paris three years ago and only a semblance of the cauldron that’s been typical of these cross-Atlantic matches.

Players seemed loose and even playful with the crowd, with Paul Casey toying with the fans as they hollered in sync with the European practice swings. Perhaps when the beer concessions opened later in the morning, the famously polite Wisconsonites would loosen up and increase the intensity.

The young Americans outplayed the veterans in the morning, taking full advantage of the perfect Friday weather and the favourable course conditions that suit their brawny games. The US teams won eight of the 11 par-5s played in the morning foursomes, with the Europeans doing no batter than a halve on the other three. The US won two more par-5s in the afternoon before Rory McIlroy finally won the par-5 fifth with a 31-foot eagle putt.

It was certainly no dream start for Europe as the morning vibe carried over early in the slow-developing afternoon fourballs as the US team kept the Europeans from painting the scoreboards blue. In Paris three years ago, a bad morning was erased by an afternoon sweep in the foursomes that irrevocably turned the momentum toward Europe.

It will take more than Rahm to turn this around and forge a path to 14 points needed to retain the Ryder Cup. The world No. 1’s shoulders were feeling heavy Friday as he carried the team away from early annihilation — first with Sergio Garcia and later with Tyrrell Hatton against the American bash brothers, Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler.

Former captain Paul McGinley believes Ireland’s Shane Lowry might be the guy who can rescue Europe’s hopes — especially if the weather turns a little grimmer on the weekend. This provided Lowry can survive intact, after taking a hard tumble down a sharp slope near the sixth hole when his feet slipped out from under him and he reached out to break his fall. In the first PGA Championship played here in 2004, the medical tent issued daily injury reports that numbered in the hundreds of twisted or broken ankles, legs, and wrists by fans trying to navigate the treacherous terrain.

“Of the 24 golfers here, the one guy who’s probably best at playing in these kind of conditions is Shane,” McGinley said. “He was an Open champion in tough weather and won an Irish Open in bad weather.”

The Ryder Cup stage didn’t seem too big for Lowry to step in as a “rookie”.

Partnering with McIlroy in the afternoon fourballs, Lowry promptly stepped up and delivered a birdie to halve the first hole. When Lowry buried a 27-footer for a scrambling par to keep the match square on the fourth hole, he shimmied and roared “Come on!” to light a fire the Europeans desperately needed. A hole later McIlroy made his eagle to grab his first lead of the day.

“This is not a big step up for Shane. He’s won a World Golf Championship, he’s won a major championship, he’s been competing at the top of the world and he’s comfortable in this environment with all the players,” said McGinley. “He’s not really a rookie. A rookie is someone who’s come up to a level he hasn’t played at before or played very rarely at.”

While he isn’t privy to Harrington’s plans, McGinley believes Lowry could play a bigger role the rest of the way on a course that looks like Ireland.

“If this was being played in Hazeltine or if it’s being played at Congressional, I don’t think Shane would have as big a role and he potentially could have this week because of the golf course and the weather,” McGinley said.

“That kind of works toward Pádraig perhaps using him more because of horses for courses.”

With the heavy traffic Europe needs to navigate the next two days, Harrington needs more heroes to take the wheel.