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But there was Scottie Scheffler, golf’s most dominant champion and the man who was supposed to have been America’s most-unstoppable force here on home soil. Bobby MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland held a one-shot lead but had opened the door with a poor tee shot. Scheffler barged through it with a sparkling short iron into the 179-yard par-3 and the place went bananas. The lightning crack coursed all the way up the hill to the green and the energy may well have put off MacIntyre who, filled with adrenaline, sent his lag putt hurtling 12-feet past. Russell Henley, one of the best putters in the sport, would have the chance to reward Scheffler’s approach and send the final match of the session up the 18th all square. With the Americans having taken one and Europe two of the earlier matches, a session split, which at this point would feel as good as a win to Keegan Bradley’s beleaguered men, would be very much on. But then Ryder Cup things happened. And they were in keeping with the recent history of this tournament where blue has been the semi-permanent colour. Henley missed. And from a near identical distance, Hovland caressed the head of his putter against the little round white sphere that all these thousands were now focusing on. It went on its rolling way and when it looked like slipping by, instead tucked in the left sidedoor. Hovland bellowed, veins bursting out of his neck. MacIntyre turned to the masses and, in the parlance of his homeland, gave it laldy, pumping fists and roaring at no one but everyone too. Viktor Hovland. #TeamEurope | #OurTimeOurPlace pic.twitter.com/gkCp9XVAW2— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 27, 2025 The half on 17 guaranteed Europe a third-straight session victory. On the 18th, Scheffler sprayed an iron into cabbage on the right of the green, a fitting finale as his record at this 45th Ryder Cup dropped to a pitiful 0-3. At least Bryson DeChambeau had managed to get on the board. It would be the only red up there, he and Cam Young seeing off Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg for the sole American point, another foursomes dominated by Luke Donald’s men, 3-1, to leave us all looking up at a scoreboard that said 8.5 to 3.5 with the 3.5 feeling generous to a home team which has barely turned up. As Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were called on to get the afternoon fourballs underway, the Americans needed a red rout to stand a chance of wrestling back the cup. Even a 4-0 clean sweep in the afternoon heat would leave them chasing things on singles Sunday. Hovland’s putt may end up being remembered as the one that put out the American fire of 2025 before it ever really sparked. On Saturday morning much like on Friday, any kindling that Bradley thought he had was dampened or drowned by Europe’s leading men. McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood were again totemic, mostly untouchable, as they outclassed hapless Harris English and Collin Morikawa. It ran the Englishman’s record here on Long Island to 3-0 which would have him as the leading candidate for the Cup’s most impressive performer were Jon Rahm not also on the premises. UNBELIEVABLE 🤯#TeamEurope | #OurTimeOurPlace pic.twitter.com/QvAcINeoJV— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 27, 2025 The Spaniard was again a stone-cold killer, producing the shot of the day, just as he had done Friday. This one though was a contender for shot of a lifetime. His scything hip-high chop and chip-in birdie on the eight had helped douse another half-flicker of an American flame. It was Jedi-level magic. After that he and Tyrrell Hatton did their thing all over again, seeing off Bradley’s best pairing of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. In his fourball combinations, the home captain looked for answers but appears to not have read a single question first. He was staring down not just a defeat but a debacle now. Yes, irresistible European excellence should be the story so far of this wild show but what an American embarrassment the past day and a half has been. To those viewing from home, morning two probably looked a whole lot like morning one. A rich and ripe morning sun creeping up from behind the pines and cedars to bathe the first tee and the thousands gathered behind it in gold. But here on the ground things felt different. The militarized lockdown zone around the clubhouse area had been lifted, the body scanners shipped back from wherever they came and the hundreds of secret service staff satisfying Donald Trump’s whims somewhere else. Friday’s bizarro world mini-MAGA rally hadn’t helped the hosts rally at all. In Trump’s America there’s nothing worse than being a loser but Bradley became the first US captain in 21 years to watch his side lose both of the opening day sessions. Their insipid play hadn’t helped raise anything that looked or sounded like a Ryder Cup. Atmosphere? Nope. Abuse? That they could do. In an effort to get things going early doors, organisers sent out an MC with some hype men in George Washington fancy dress. They attempted to get this vaunted New York crowd to do a clap-stomp chant to the tune of Queen’s We Will Rock You: “Scott-eee, Scott-eee, Schefflerrrrr”. If you’re confident you can handle a potentially fatal dose of mortification, it has to be seen to be believed. The chant attempts look a lot like the US captaincy strategy pic.twitter.com/A2NtEIRH2n— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) September 27, 2025 Soon after, vice captain Jim Furyk came out and tried to get three different segments of the grand stand to do a U-then-S-then-A chant. It was genuinely startling how these grown humans who earn enough in the real world to afford $750 tickets were incapable of finding the rhythm or tempo, the S guys going early before the U crew had finished. It was like watching a bunch of oul fellas try to board a moving boat. If Friday was a day to leave you questioning why Bradley’s US team had performed so badly, the preamble to Saturday had you wondering what it is Americans are actually good at when it comes to Ryder Cups? Well, the abuse, we’ll give them that. After DeChambeau had done his DeChambeau thing and got the second day going, he and partner Young heading off down the first, it was time for the second match. English and Morikawa stood to one side of the tee, Fleetwood flanking McIlroy on the other. Before the starter could even introduce the Irishman, the grandstand started its most coherent chant of the morning: “F*** you Rory!” McIlroy took a half-step forward, kissed the fingertips of both hands and stretched out his arms. The internationally recognised gesture for bring it on. With utter inevitability, English and Morikawa brought almost nothing on. Wretched on opening morning when getting beaten out the gate by Fleetwood and McIlroy, they were four down after eight as Europe’s dreamiest team went out in five-under again. McIlroy would give the masses a mouthful back on the 16th, turning to tell them “guys, shut the f*** up” as they chirped and barked when he was addressing his approach. Having put the boorish brigade in their place, he slung a delicious wedge out of the rough and stitched it in to whispering distance. Put in their place alright. When he and Fleetwood wrapped up another victory, McIlroy caressed his teammate’s locks and they exchanged a genuinely tender moment. Chemistry is but one area where Europe have been untouchable. There’s an argument that while no one could have stopped this pitch-perfect Fleetwood Mac, all of the pre-tournament data had shown that English-Morikawa was statistically the weakest possible combination of 132 possible this week. Friday’s 5&4 shellacking confirmed the hypothesis. Yet after his day of buffoonish dancing and bowing to the president, Bradley brushed off criticism Friday night as he pushed the pair back out to be slaughtered. “We have a plan,” he’d said. “We're going to stick to it.” For a third-straight session the real sticking had been done by Europe. The US needs to find 6.5 points in the final two sessions to avoid the biggest blowout in home soil in modern history. McIlroy again blew the grandstand a kiss as he marched out alongside Lowry for the afternoon. He was loving every minute of this and looked very much ready for more.
