After dominating the first two days of play at Whistling Straits en route to an 11-5 lead entering Sunday singles, the United States needed just 3½ points out of 12 to win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2016.
The Europeans, on the other hand, are tasked with completing the biggest comeback in the history of the biennial event. Advantage Americans.
Veteran Rory McIlroy had yet to earn a point for Padraig Harrington and Team Europe before he took down Xander Schauffele, 3 and 2, to put the first point on the board for the Europeans on Sunday. Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler immediately added points for the U.S. with wins over Shane Lowry and world No. 1 Jon Rahm, respectively.
DeChambeau added the third point, 3and 2, against Sergio Garcia but the glory was reserved for the rookie and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, who staked his claim for the clinching half point for Team USA with a clutch birdie on the 17th green against fellow rookie Viktor Hovland.
Below you’ll find recaps of each match as they end.
Ryder Cup: Scores | How to watch | Format, scoring explained
Sunday singles results
Rory McIlroy def. Xander Schauffele, 3 and 2
HAVEN, Wis. – Having been blanked the first two days, Rory McIlroy took on the responsibility of providing a boost for Europe in the leadoff match in Sunday singles action.
Having looked dull, off form and uninterested the first two days – he made one eagle and zero birdies in his last 30 holes of Four-Ball play – the heart and soul of Europe began his round against Xander Schauffele with two birdies and never trailed en route to a victory.
McIlroy, who was 0-3-0 the first two days, kept the pressure on Schauffele, who was 3-0-0 the first two days but never looked to be playing his best on Sunday. McIlroy upped his advantage to 2 up with a par on the fourth and 3 up with a par on the 11th. After dropping a hole, a birdie on the 14th gave him a 3-up lead again.
He closed out the 3-and-2 victory with a par on the 16th.
McIlroy is now 12-12-4 in his career.
Unfortunately, McIlroy’s blue flag was the only one on the scoreboard in the first seven matches.
“I love being a part of this. I love this team and I love my teammates so much,” McIlroy said as he fought back tears after he won the opening match. “I should have done more for the team. I’m glad I put a point on the board, but I wish I could have done more. I can’t wait to get another crack at this.”
The next Ryder Cup is in 2023 near Rome.
USA LEADS 11-6.
– Steve DiMeglio
Scottie Scheffler def. Jon Rahm, 4 and 3.
Through the first four sessions of the Ryder Cup, Jon Rahm played like the No. 1 player in the world (which he is). On the other hand, Scottie Scheffler came to this event ranked 20 spots lower than Rahm as a Ryder Cup rookie, having been given a captain’s pick by Steve Stricker. And don’t forget Scheffler defeated Rahm, 3 and 1, in the quarterfinals of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship in May.
Playing against Europe’s top man, the Texan could play loose and confidently, and he did, winning the first four holes of the match to seize control and eventually win, 4 and 3.
Rahm won the fifth hole after Scheffler’s approach from the fairway on the par 5 found the water short of the hole, but Scheffler rolled in a five-footer for a hole-winning par on the 11th hole that gave the match an air of inevitability.
Rahm won the 12th hole after Scheffler hit a 9-iron into a bush left of the green, then was forced to hit an upside down wedge shot from under the bush. The ball raced across the green to the collar of the putting surface, but when Scheffler missed his chip, he conceded Rahm’s 15-foot birdie putt.
The players exchanged winning holes on 13 and 14, then Rahm’s drive on the 15th went into a fairway bunker. He only advanced the ball 80 feet, then missed a putt for par. When Scheffler made his 6-footer for par, he won the hole and the match, giving the United States crucial first point.
USA LEADS 12-6.
– David Dusek
Patrick Cantlay def. Shane Lowry, 4 and 2.
The 2021 FedEx Cup champion, Patrick Cantlay, often wears black shirts, black pants and a black hat when he plays on the PGA Tour. It’s not an homage to Johnny Cash, but Cantlay is a soft-spoken guy who rarely draws attention to himself with fist pumps or histrionics. His clubs to the talking.
Sunday in his Singles match against Shane Lowry, one of the most boisterous and passionate European Ryder Cup players this week, Cantlay was decked out in red, white and blue (no hat). On several occasions, he not only pumped himself up after rolling in birdie putts, but he waved encouragement to the crowd to make noise and get behind the American team. After grabbing a 3-up lead through six holes, he pulled away from Lowry and eventually won, 4 and 2.
After Lowry made birdies to win the 10th and 12th holes to reduce Cantlay’s lead to just one, the Irishman hit a good approach shot to 15 feet on the par-4 14th hole. Cantlay stuffed his shot to within two feet for a conceded birdie on the hole before Lowry missed his hole-tying birdie putt. Moments later, Cantlay draining a 12-footer for birdie on 15 to increase his lead to 3 up.
On the par-5 16th hole, Cantlay’s drive went well right of the fairway. It went so far right that it came to rest in an area where fans had trampled down the grass, giving him a great lie and good angle to the green. His fairway wood shot went into the right rough short of the green, but Lowry, who also missed right off the tee, wasn’t so lucky. His second shot only advanced 95 feet, leaving him 177 yards from the cup for his third shot. When Lowry missed his pitch shot from the front of the green, he took off his hat, extended his hand and conceded the match to Cantlay for the Americans’ second point of the day.
USA LEADS 13-6.
– David Dusek
Bryson DeChambeau def. Sergio Garcia, 3 and 2
Bryson DeChambeau flew his opening tee shot on to the first green, a 354-yard wallop, that landed like a wedge and settled 41 feet short of the cup. DeChambeau immediately exchanged his driver for his putter and lifted it triumphantly to the sky as he walked off the green. Then he knocked in the putt for eagle to take a lead he never relinquished over Europe’s Sergio Garcia.
“He started amazing,” Garcia said of DeChambeau. “I should’ve started a tiny bit better on those first four or five holes. But he didn’t make it easy at all.”
It was very on brand for DeChambeau, who flexed his muscle and overpowered Garcia, winning 3 and 2 in the fourth Sunday singles match. At the sixth tee, DeChambeau switched from driver to a fairway wood at the drivable par 4, turned to the crowd and said, “Don’t worry, guys. I’m still going for the green, calm down!”
Don’t worry, Bryson has it covered. @b_dechambeau | #GoUSA pic.twitter.com/iEgsequ4EA
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 26, 2021
DeChambeau made three birdies in a four-hole stretch beginning at the seventh and punctuated each with fist pumps as the partisan crowd showered him with applause. DeChambeau built a 3-up lead at the turn with a 10-foot birdie putt at the ninth and never let Garcia, who was 3-0 for the week heading into the match, claw back into the match. With the victory, DeChambeau, who went 0-3 in 2018 in Paris, earned redemption with a 2-0-1 record for the week.
“I fed off every single shot. They were electric,” said DeChambeau of the fan support at Whistling Straits. “It’s an atmosphere you don’t get very often but one that you can feed off when you do.”
USA LEADS 14-6.
Collin Morikawa tied Viktor Hovland
No one expected Collin Morikawa, the 24-year-old two-time major winner, to play like a Ryder Cup rookie and he didn’t disappoint. Morikawa finished 3-0-1 as a debutante in international competition as a pro, clinching the half point that secured the Cup for the Americans in a hard-fought tie with Europe’s Viktor Hovland in the fifth singles match.
These two studs from the famed “Class of 2019” put on quite a show. It was Hovland, of Oklahoma State, who drew first blood with birdies at the first three holes to grab a 2-up lead. But Morikawa, the Cal grad, won the fourth hole with a par and poured in three birdies in a row starting at the fifth to pull in front, 2 up. The American took three putts from 31 feet to lose the ninth and cut his lead in half.
Every time Morikawa tried to pull away from Hovland, the Norwegian star said, “Not so fast, my friend.” Morikawa extended the lead to 2 up with birdies at 10 and 13, his sixth of the day, but Hovland won 14 with a par and 15 with a birdie to tie the match again. Both players matched birdies at 16. To break the deadlock, Morikawa, arguably the best iron player in the game, hit a dandy, sticking his tee shot at the 221-yard par-3 17th to 3 feet. The birdie putt gave him the lead and guaranteed the 14-½ points that Team USA needed to win the Cup. But Hovland wasn’t done yet. He still had a chance to tie the match at 18. He missed an 8-foot birdie putt, but still claimed the hole and the tie when Morikawa burned the right edge from 6 feet.
USA LEADS 14½-6½
– Adam Schupak
Brooks Koepka def. Bernd Wiesberger, 2 and 1.
Koepka and Wiesberger played one of the closest matches of the day, with the American holding a 1-up lead at the turn despite losing two of the first four holes.
Wiesberger got the match back to even twice on the back, first on the 11th and again on the 14th after Koepka claimed the 13th with a birdie. The four-time major champion put the match to bed late with two clutch shots. First he walked in a birdie putt to take a 1-up lead with two to play and swaggered his way to the 17th tee where he almost aced the tee shot and won the match with birdie.
Koepka improves to 6-5-1 overall and 2-0-1 in Ryder Cup singles.
USA LEADS 15½-6½
-Adam Woodard
Dustin Johnson def. Paul Casey, 1 up
The oldest player on Team USA proved the most valuable. Dustin Johnson, 37, recorded eight birdies in singles play against Paul Casey to win, 1 up.
Johnson came into Whistling Straits with a 7-9 Ryder Cup record but turned it around in memorable fashion by becoming the first American since Larry Nelson in 1979 to go 5-0-0.
Johnson struck first on Sunday, taking a 1-up lead on the sixth hole with birdie and built the largest lead of the day, 2-up, with a birdie on the 10th. The match seesawed throughout the back nine. An eagle on the par-5 16th hole from Casey brought him to 1 down, and the Englishman faced a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that could’ve tied the match. Casey’s birdie effort slid by, however, keeping Johnson’s perfect week intact.
“I did not expect to go 5-0-0, that’s for sure,” said Johnson, “but I didn’t really expect to play five matches. But obviously got off to a good start, had some good partnerships there with Collin and Xander, so captain just kept us rolling.”
USA LEADS 16½-6½
-Beth Ann Nichols
Justin Thomas def. Tyrrell Hatton, 4 and 3
Justin Thomas and Tyrrell Hatton squared off in Match 9 in Sunday singles. Thomas jumped out to a quick 2-up lead with birdies on the first two holes. Hatton got one back on No. 5 but Thomas came back with birdies on Nos. 6, 8 and 9 to take a 4-up lead. The two halved Nos. 10 through 13 before Hatton birdied the 14th. Still, Thomas was 3 up with three to go and when he parred the 15th, it was over.
Another point on the board! JT chips it close for the win. pic.twitter.com/Sh7zubBrz3
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 26, 2021
USA LEADS 17½-6½
-Todd Kelly
Ian Poulter def. Tony Finau, 3 and 2
Match 8 featured Tony Finau against Euro Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter. The Englishman is 14-6-2 all-time but he came into Sunday singles with an 0-2-0 mark this week. On the first hole, Poulter took a quick lead after burying a 15 footer for birdie. The two then halved holes 2 through 7 but on 8, Finau tied things up after making a short par, one that Poulter didn’t concede to him. Poulter then birdied back-to-back holes on Nos. 10, 11 and 12 to take a 3-up lead. Finau birdied the 13th to cut into the lead. Poulter then won the 501-yard par-4 15th hole with a par and two holes later, it was over, as Poulter earned a 3-and-2 win.
Ian Poulter remains undefeated in singles matches.#TeamEurope #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/p5Yhbvb9bL
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 26, 2021
USA LEADS 17½-7½
-Todd Kelly
Lee Westwood def. Harris English, 1 up
English and Westwood sounds like a bad buddy cop movie or show but in reality it was a real cracker of a match.
Five of the first six holes were won, with Westwood claiming the 1st and 3rd and English the 2nd, 5th and 6th. The 1-up American lead held until the European veteran made birdie on the par-4 11th to square the match.
English flipped the match again with wins on Nos. 12 and 14, then much like Poulter, Westwood found the fountain of youth with wins on 15, 16 and 18 to claim a point in what may be his final appearance as a player.
USA LEADS 17½-8½
-Adam Woodard
Jordan Spieth tied Tommy Fleetwood
After a slow start on the opening holes, the penultimate match had a flurry of activity to close out the front nine. Spieth earned wins on Nos. 3, 5 and 6 with Fleetwood answering with wins on Nos. 4, 7 and 8. The match made the turn tied before Spieth reclaimed a 1-up lead with a par on No. 10. Fleetwood responded two holes later with a birdie on the par-3 12th.
The pair traded wins on Nos. 15 and 16 and halved the final two before finishing as the second tie of the day.
USA LEADS 18-9
-Adam Woodard
Daniel Berger def. Matthew Fitzpatrick, 1 up
Fitzpatrick also had six birdies but Berger matched that total, including birdies on Nos. 16 and 18, the final one clinching the win in the final match of the day. He was the third American Ryder Cup rookie to win his Sunday match and the fourth rookie to help the team as Collin Morikawa earned a half-point in his match. Berger went 2-1-0 this week.
USA WINS 19-9
-Todd Kelly
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