Martin Kaymer celebrates after making the winning putt to win The 39th Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill., Sept. 30, 2012.
At this year’s Ryder Cup in Medinah, Illinois, the U.S. entered the final day up 10-6, needing to win just four of the 12 singles matches, and to halve (tie) another, to reclaim the Cup. The last time a Ryder Cup squad came back from such a deficit: 1999, when the U.S. famously ticked off all of Europe by celebrating its dramatic win in Brookline, Mass. before it was official. But the U.S. had led this Cup wire-to-wire, and Europe was a mess. The world’s best player, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, even misread his tee-time on this final day, and needed a police escort to get to the course before his match started.
With little warm-up, however, McIlroy won his match. His mates took care of business too: Europe put the first four points on the board, to tie things up at 10. Americans Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, and Steve Stricker faltered down the stretch: after Martin Kaymer of Germany sunk a six-foot par putt on the final hole to give Europe the title, his teammates mobbed him, and celebrated an emotional comeback win dedicated to a Ryder Cup great, Spain’s Seve Ballesteros, who died of brain cancer in 2011.
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