After the Europeans won the Saturday morning foursomes session 3-1 in the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone, the chances of a US victory in 2023 seemed all but over, with Zach Johnson’s team trailing by 9.5 points to 2.5 points heading into the afternoon fourball session.
However, this year’s match has been nothing if not surprising and, out of nowhere, the Americans finally found some momentum in the penultimate session of this year’s contest, narrowing the gap to a more manageable five points with 12 still to play for when all 24 players compete in the decisive Sunday singles.
To win from this stage would still take a gargantuan turnaround for the US, and that’s backed up by history. In the 43 previous editions of the Ryder Cup, the team heading into the final day behind has only won nine times.
Among those, there have been two comeback from deficits of four points on the Saturday evening. In 1999, a famously fractious match, later dubbed the Battle of Brookline, found the Americans facing a daunting 10-6 deficit heading into the Sunday singles.
Team USA came back from a four-point deficit to win the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline
(Image credit: Getty Images)
However, a run of six singles wins in a row to begin its challenge handed Team USA the lead on the way to closing out an eventual 14.5 points to 13.5 points victory amid criticisms of the behaviour of the US team and spectators.
Not to be outdone, Team Europe launched an identical comeback 13 years later. Once again, the score was 10-6 heading into the Sunday singles, and it would have been worse where it not for heroics from Ian Poulter in his Saturday afternoon fourball session with Rory McIlroy, when the duo beat Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson to alter the mood – and momentum – decisively.
The next day, Europe rallied and eventually won eight and halved one of the 12 singles matches to win by 14.5 points to 13.5 points and complete the Miracle at Medinah.
Of course, despite clawing back some points – and pride – in the Saturday afternoon fourball session this year, for Johnson’s men to win the Ryder Cup from here would require an effort that eclipses even those two unforgettable occasions.
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