With
a wink of the eye and a wag of the finger, Ben Crenshaw insisted against all odds
that his beleaguered Americans were destined to win the Ryder Cup.
Today, he made a believer out of everyone.
His players took to heart his tearful talk about destiny, playing like they had
nothing to lose and finally living up to their potential. The gallery caught on,
too, stomping and cheering as the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history unfolded
before their eyes in an electric atmosphere that riled the Europeans.
At end of a wild and delirious day at The Country Club, Justin Leonard, Hal Sutton
and the rest of the Ryder Cup stars sprayed champagne over a balcony and sang
the national anthem with thousands of fans still trying to grasp the magnitude
of the victory.
Then, Crenshaw stepped onto a stone wall and held up a prize far more valuable
than the $63 million in revenue that threatened to divide his team.
The Ryder Cup is staying in America.
"What
transpired is a moving experience," Crenshaw said. "I do believe in fate."
The Americans won 8 1/2
points from the 12 singles matches Sunday, giving them a 14 1/2-13 1/2 victory
and their first Ryder Cup victory since 1993.
"We
came up short," European captain Mark James said. "We gave it our best shot."
As much as Crenshaw believes
in fate, he played a part, too.
He sent out his six best players to create a chain-reaction of momentum, and it
paid off with six decisive victories that swiftly turned the tide. He cried with
joy when Justin Leonard delivered the decisive blow, a birdie putt on the 17th
hole that was as long as the Americans' odds of winning the Ryder Cup.
"I never stopped believing,"
a choked-up Crenshaw said. "I'm stunned. This is so indescribable."
That victory came on the 17th green was only fitting. Across the street is the
house where Francis Ouimet lived when he won the 1913 U.S. Open on this course
and made golf popular in the United States.
Leonard's 45-foot birdie putt unleashed a torrent of emotion that had been building
throughout an electric day at The Country Club, where fans cheered every American
victory and every missed putt by the Europeans.
Although one match was still on the course, the putt -- followed by Jose Maria
Olazabal's miss -- guaranteed the Americans 14 1/2 points, the amount they needed
to win, but an amount few believed they would get.
"This
was history being made today, and we all wanted to be a part of that," said Hal
Sutton, the rock-solid star of the U.S. team who contributed 3 1/2 points. "This
is the greatest moment in golf right now."
The Europeans didn't think so. They took exception to the player celebration after
Leonard's putt because Olazabal still had a 25-foot birdie putt to tie the match
and keep alive Europe's fading hopes.
"It
was very sad to see. It was an ugly picture," Olazabal said.
"It's
about the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," said assistant captain Sam Torrance.
"This is not sour grapes. The whole American team, and spectators ran right across
the green over Olly's line. He still has a putt to tie the hole. We could still
take the Ryder Cup home. It was disgusting."
Crenshaw later apologized and said: "The celebration started spilling over, and
it really was not something that we need to be proud of."
The Americans overwhelmed Europe in the first six matches, closing all of them
out before the 17th hole.
"When
you get the first matches that easily, the crowd is going to get more involved,
and that's all it takes," Jesper Parnevik said. "They just got huge momentum going."
Even David Duval, who referred
to the Ryder Cup as an exhibition, showed how much it meant by repeatedly shaking
his fists and cupping his hand to his ear, asking the gallery for even more noise
-- maybe too much noise.
Despite a 10-6 deficit going into the final round, despite the fact no team has
ever come back from more than two points on the last day, Crenshaw refused to
give in.
"I've felt
it all week," Crenshaw said. "I know how these guys can play. I know how determined
they are. Darned if we didn't pull it off."
Crenshaw had that feeling once before. He won the 1995 Masters after the death
of his longtime teacher Harvey Penick. The victory came out of nowhere, and Crenshaw
said at the time he felt it was Penick's spirit guiding him along.
Leonard had never won a Ryder Cup match, and looked as if he had no chance against
Olazabal when he trailed by four holes with seven to play.
Leonard won the next four holes to square the match, the last one a 35-footer
on the 15th that gave the Americans another chance when Mark O'Meara faltered.
The cup was clinched on
No. 17 when Leonard's 45-foot birdie putt banged into the back of the cup and
dropped.
Olazabal
birdied the 18th to halve the match, but by then the American celebration was
well under way. Leonard led the U.S. team in spraying champagne around the 18th
green where the Stars and Stripes was waving.
The Americans wound up winning 8 1/2 points out of 12 singles matches, its biggest
margin since 1979. The Americans won by a rout that year, but this was different.
They needed every point, every putt.
Europe, which looked so dominant in building what appeared to be an insurmountable
lead, ran out of gas. Parnevik and Sergio Garcia, 3-0-1 while paired the first
two days, were beaten back by David Duval and Jim Furyk.
It was the first time all week the 19-year-old Spaniard, the youngest player in
Ryder Cup history, couldn't muster a smile.
Crenshaw hammered home his belief in fate during an emotional team meeting Saturday
night in which every player spoke passionately -- even Duval.
"I
told them to go out and kill 'em," Duval said. He did his part, winning six of
the first eight holes against Parnevik in a 5 and 4 victory.
Sutton, rock-solid all week, was holding back tears after he crushed Darren Clarke.
"My only comments last
night were if we do down, let's go down with all our oars in the water," Sutton
said.
They pulled
with all their might, tugging against history in waters thickened by pressure
unlike any other in golf, perhaps in all of sport.
It was the seventh consecutive Ryder Cup that was decided by no more than two
points, dating to the 1985 matches that signaled the switch over to European dominance.
So close was this Ryder
Cup that no team match ended before the 17th hole, the first time that has happened
since 1969. Singles, as usual, was another matter.
The Americans have won the singles matches all but five times in Ryder Cup history,
and all but twice since 1957.
The roars that rocked The Country Club, from Sutton's first birdie on the second
hole of the second match to Leonard's clinching birdie putt in the afternoon,
carried the Americans to their stunning charge.
"I
never knew how good it feels to win the Ryder Cup," Tiger Woods said.
The 30,000 fans could see it up. The gallery was a dozen deep around tees and
green, not an inch of space along any fairway under brilliant blue conditions.
All of a sudden, the Americans
had the look of a winner, not a team afraid to fail once again. Instead, muscles
tightened on every European face, the players celebrating with charged-up emotion
instead of the childlike joy they exuded the first two days.
"An
amazing experience," Tom Lehman said.
Duval, Sutton, Lehman, Love, Woods and Phil Mickelson led a ferocious charge that
made Crenshaw's lineup look like a brilliant move.
Lehman, who has never lost a singles match in the Ryder Cup, never missed a green
in his 3 and 2 victory over Lee Westwood.
Sutton never blinked when Darren Clarke chipped in for birdie on the first hole.
He looked over at his wife and winked, hit to 20 feet on No. 2 and sank the birdie
putt, the first of three straight holes he won in a 4 and 2 victory.
Jarmo Sandelin, Jean Van de Velde and Andrew Coltart made their Ryder Cup debut
under the most intense pressure. European captain Mark James did a nice job hiding
Europe's weakness for two days, but they failed to survive their baptism by fire.
"I think we were outplayed,
I don't think we were outmanuevered," James said. "I don't think tactics would
have made much difference."
Mickelson, Love and Woods set them down in order without so much as working up
a sweat. Only Woods had something that resembled a struggle. He didn't take a
lead until the seventh hole, but buried Coltart with a 40-foot chip-in on the
next hole.
Still,
the improbable comeback was still very much in question. Montgomerie, Olazabal
and British Open champion Paul Lawrie had control of their matches, and O'Meara
was struggling against Padraig Harrington.
Needing only to halve his match, O'Meara made a crucial par putt on the 17th,
then chopped the 18th hole to lose his match -- the first win for Europe all day.
But Leonard, who never
led in his match, showed the kind of clutch putting that carried him to the British
Open at Royal Troon in 1997, and The Players Championship a year later.
The 17th hole was the final
blow of the greatest comeback. Ever the historian, Crenshaw took Leonard into
the clubhouse and showed him a photo of the 17th green, where Ouimet all but clinched
his U.S. Open victory over British stalwarts Ted Ray and Harry Vardon.
Now, there's another piece
of history to add to The Country Club. The United State is a Ryder Cup winner
once again.
