FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Harris English was getting ready to start his warmup for singles play at the Ryder Cup on Sunday when the message came that he was not participating, after all.
Europe's Viktor Hovland withdrew because of a neck injury, and, by
rule, the U.S. had to designate a player to also sit out, with the match being ruled a tie and each team getting a half-point. Inside an envelope, captain Keegan Bradley had written English's name, so the 36-year-old was relegated to the role of spectator.
“It sucked not going out there and playing,” English said after the U.S. lost 15-13. “But it is what it is, and I was part of the crowd today and contributed as much as I could.”
English told Bradley and the vice captains earlier in the week that he'd be happy to play as much or as little as they saw fit. That amounted to a couple of foursomes losses with Collin Morikawa.
Trying to will his teammates along without any golf clubs in his hands turned out to be a more difficult task than he envisioned.
“It’s way more stressful watching golf than actually playing golf — I could feel every shot with the guys," English said. “But I’m happy for their fight. ... Just so happy for the guys, what they did. The way they fought out there was incredible, and I’m happy to be on this team.”
English empathized with Hovland, who was scratched from afternoon fourballs Saturday because his neck stiffened up. He said Hovland texted him and approached him on the course, and English understood his Swedish counterpart was hurt.
As for the rule that a withdrawal counts as a draw, Bradley made his feelings clear.
“It has to change,” Bradley said in the postmatch news conference with his team surrounding him. “The rule has to change. I think it’s obvious to everybody in the sports world, in this room. Nothing against Viktor. But that rule needs to change by the next Ryder Cup.”
Should it be a forfeit? Alternates standing by to fill in just in case?
“I have a few ideas,” Bradley said, “but I’m not going to tell you right now.”
Shane Lowry's putt to split with Russell Henley got the Europeans to 14 points and meant as defending champions they were going to retain the cup. Tyrrell Hatton then put his team over the top.
Hatton rallied to tie his match against Morikawa, capping his unbeaten week and giving Europe the half-point it needed to win the Ryder Cup outright. He finished 3-0-1 for the week, joining Shane Lowry (1-0-2) as the only players to finish without a loss.
“Obviously we’ve retained the Cup, but we want to win, as well,” Lowry said after his victory celebration.
That’s all Hatton had done on the first two days — even when he wasn’t supposed to play. He teamed with Jon Rahm for two foursomes victories, then went back Saturday afternoon on short notice in place of Hovland, joining Matt Fitzpatrick for a 1-up victory over Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay.
Hatton, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood all went into Sunday with a chance to go without a loss or tie in all their matches, but Rose and Fleetwood were defeated in the first two matches of the afternoon. That left Ian Poulter as the only European to play at least three matches and win them all during a Ryder Cup in the U.S. He was 4-0-0 at Medinah in 2012.
Europe took home the Ryder Cup despite a historically bad day of singles.
The Europeans won only once on the final day, the lowest total ever in the current format of 12 singles matches.
“Shoutout to the Americans,” captain Luke Donald said. “We knew they’d be tough. I didn’t think they would be this tough on Sunday. They fought so hard, and all the respect to them.”
Ludvig Åberg's 2-and-1 victory over Patrick Cantlay was Europe’s only full point Sunday. That is the lowest total since 1957, when Great Britain had one win in singles, losing six matches and tying one.
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