Every great comeback story has a hinge point, and by the time Shane Lowry descended into the 18th and final fairway at Bethpage Black in the eighth match of Ryder Cup Sunday, his dalliance with fate seemed clear.
The Euro Sunday snooze at the Ryder Cup had carried on for too long to be a joke. Either Lowry was going to secure the half-point needed to retain the Ryder Cup right here and now, or the Euros were in serious danger of collapsing in historic fashion.
As he arrived in the 18th, Lowry was clinging to life against Russell Henley, whose week from hell had suddenly morphed into a moment of opportunity. Henley, 1-up on the last, could close out Lowry with a birdie to secure another a shock in a growing red tidal wive — giving the Americans full points in six of their first eight matches of the day. The problem was that Henley’s nerves were getting the best of him, and both golfers knew it. Henley, a prolific putter, had faced an eight-foot birdie putt to close out the match on the previous hole and left it well short. It was the kind of mistake that opened a window, and Lowry was suddenly feeling quite stressed about walking through it.
In the thirty minutes preceding Henley and Lowry’s stroll up 18, everything had broken the Americans’ way: First Justin Thomas and Cameron Young had made birdies on the last to grab unexpected victories and electrify the crowd, then Bryson DeChambeau clawed back from 5-down for a halve with Matt Fitzpatrick, and then Xander Schauffele and J.J. Spaun delivered convincing American wins. Now, suddenly, the attention had turned to the last few groups on the course, who suddenly seemed to be playing their singles matches with the Ryder Cup hanging in the balance.
As the golfers strolled down the fairway before a tense crowd, the beauty of Ryder Cup Sunday was suddenly in full view. The stakes were clear as daylight: Both needed a birdie. So clear, in fact, that Lowry had the good sense to deliver himself a pep talk before he reached his ball in the fairway. As he walked through the green carpet, he turned to caddie, Darren Reynolds, for a moment of levity.
“I said to him, ‘I’ve got an opportunity to do the greatest thing I’ve ever done today,’” Lowry recalled later with a twinkle in his eye.
“And I did it.”
Lowry’s moment of brilliance arrived in three parts. The first: His approach from the fairway, about 120 yards out from the flagstick. As he’d done all week, Lowry seized the opportunity to pressure his opponent, hitting a brilliant pitch shot low through the air and right on the flagstick. His ball landed right next to the flag and spun back neatly to 10 feet. The crowd erupted. Henley responded with a dart of his own, and another eruption.
The second part arrived a few minutes later, when Lowry watched Henley leave his second straight birdie putt short. Suddenly the window of opportunity had grown into a door. Lowry’s eyes grew wide.
The third part arrived just a few seconds after Henley’s miss, when Lowry steadied himself, lowered his focus and struck a calm, comfortable putt straight into the center of the cup. He does not remember a lot of the emotion that came after that ball fell into the whole — a release that topped any the Irishman gave in a long, emotionally charged week of golf. He’d halved the match, and he did not need to explain himself for his emotion: He’d retained the Ryder Cup for Europe.
“To finish the Ryder Cup with a putt from ten feet — to be honest, no [I didn’t expect to be in that position],” Lowry admitted later. “Obviously I have faith in my team to go out, and I thought we were going to win the Ryder Cup early today. But it’s not that — we were going out to win our own match. That was the main goal.”
The experience coming down the stretch had been “the worst two hours of my life.” But now, on the 18th green, Lowry was overcome. His celebration carried on for several minutes, including a sweet serenade from the European faithful in the grandstand. Lowry had fought off the great American Sunday charge. He’d done the greatest thing he’d ever done.
“And I’m very proud of myself,” Lowry said.
And with that, his teammates at the Ryder Cup quieted him in thunderous applause.
This comeback story ended at the hinge point — and Shane Lowry was damn proud of it.
