Rahm, Garcia having success, but other Europeans struggling at the Ryder Cup
HAVEN, WIS. – Europe's best and world No. 1 ranked Jon Rahm has won 3 ½ of a possible four points through the first two days of the 43rd Ryder Cup and partner Sergio Garcia has won three for a team that trails the United States 11-5 entering Sunday's singles matches.
Then there's Europe emotional leader Rory McIlroy, the 32-year-old star who didn't win a point and didn't play a Ryder Cup session Saturday morning for the first time since he first played in a Ryder Cup in 2010.
Ranked 15th in the world, McIlroy played three matches these first two Ryder Cup days and never reached the 15th hole.
He lost those three matches 5 and 3, and 4 and 3 twice for a European team for which only Rahm, Garcia and 2019 British Open champion Shane Lowry has won a match.
"Obviously disappointing," McIlroy said after he and Ian Poulter lost 4 and 3 to Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa on Saturday afternoon. "Disappointing not to contribute a point for the team yet. So hopefully just go out tomorrow and try my best to get a point. Hopefully, we can rally and at last give them something to maybe sweat about tomorrow."
Garcia's fellow 40-something European teammates Poulter and Lee Westwood also haven't brought back their previous Ryder Cup successes for the past 25 years. Like McIlroy, neither has won a point so far.
Poulter is 0-2 after Saturday's afternoon's foursomes loss with McIlroy to Johnson and Morikama and Westwood is 0-2 after losses Friday morning and Saturday afternoon with partner Matt Fitzpatrick.
The great debate
American Brooks Koepka persistently debated two rules officials at length Saturday morning, seeking relief after partner Daniel Berger drove well off target and into a wispy bush. He argued a bunker drain would affect his swing.
Asked afterward to comment about the ruling, he said, "Yeah, we didn't get it."
They still halved the hole first out against Rahm and Garcia anyway, but lost the next two holes and lost the match 3 and 1. They won the first three holes and still were 3-up after five holes. Berger's missed putt at No. 7 and Garcia's chip-in on No. 9 helped swing the momentum.
"We didn't have our best swings on those first five holes," Rahm said. "From six on, we played wonderful golf and it showed."
To concede or …
In golf, the closest they come to unhappy gestures is what American Justin Thomas did in Saturday's morning matches and Europe's Shane Lowry and teammate Bryson DeChambeau followed in the afternoon.
Thomas and Lowry each held out their putter toward the hole to measure a club's length after their opponents didn't concede a short putt.
DeChambeau did them one better when he laid his putter down against cup's edge after he putted a short one that wasn't conceded.
Another tough spot
Down three after six holes, the American tag-team of Justin Thomas and Spieth rallied to win their morning alternate-shot match with a 2-up decision over European Ryder Cup rookies Viktor Hovland and Bernd Wiesberger.
The momentum turned when Thomas put Spieth in a tough spot as he did Friday morning, when Spieth faced a wall of rough 4 feet over his head down by Lake Michigan.
This time, Spieth chipped out of the junk left of the seventh green, setting up Thomas to win the hole with a par.
"That flipped the match," said Thomas, whose pairing tied the match by the 10th hole. "I put Jordan in a terrible spot and he did Jordan Spieth stuff. I think that just flipped the whole match."
Blowing in the wind
A change of wind in both direction and strength left DeChambeau 228 yards Saturday afternoon from where Friday's 417-yard drive landed on the par-5 sixth hole. He took his drive right over thousands of fans and the hole's double-dogleg and eagled it with a 3-foot putt on Friday.
He still made a birdie Saturday after he hit his third shot out of a juniper bush and made a clutch putt.
Chip shots
•On Friday, Spieth nearly ran himself into Lake Michigan after he played an extraordinary shot from a drop-off left of the 17th green. On Saturday, Europe's Tyrrell Hatton fell trying to reach his ball after he hit it left of the fourth green and slid on his behind until he could stand and regain his balance down near the lake.
