What is Ryder Cup’s Biggest Comeback Story?

The biggest question for the golf world this weekend is if the US team will resurrect itself on Sunday after Friday’s crucifixion on the Ryder Cup. After a full sweep of the first session and no wins in the second, the Americans really set themselves for a trial by fire.

While Europe kept up their five-point lead going into the final round, they couldn’t pile on the agony on Saturday. The second round brought good tidings for the visitors but a 5-point lead is still a monstrous beast to tame on the third day. Are there records of a redemption of this scale in the Ryder Cup history?

Do we have a such precedent in Ryder Cup?

Well, to answer that question, yes and no! While sometimes this kind of domination has been followed by a comeback from the opponents, statistically, this would be the first time if it happened. Never before has a five-point lead been overturned on the last day.  

Both the US and the Europe teams have achieved a comeback of this magnitude — almost — once each. The US in 1999, and the Europe in 2012. In both cases, the trailing team converted a 6-10 score into a win. Counting out these two Ryder Cup editions, most other comebacks only reversed a lead of 2 points or fewer. 

Looking at America’s great comeback in 1999, it also has a nickname, of course. It is called the Battle of Brookline, and it was the first of its kind where a team came back from a disastrous run at the paired-up rounds. The legendary single-match wins by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson surely contributed a lot to the US team’s victory that year.

In the 2012 Ryder Cup, the European side performed a miracle at the Medinah Golf Club, with their mammoth win. This win brought about the nickname ‘Miracle at Medinah‘ for Ryder Cup 2012. Notably, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, who are also part of the current Ryder Cup, both won their singles matches for Europe that year. 

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Let’s study the two Ryder Cup editions a bit more to understand if the current edition stands a chance of meriting a record-breaking victory.

The Battle of Brookline and the Miracle of Medinah

The two instances are similar in many aspects. In both cases, before the Sunday matches began, the winning team was four points behind the opponent. They had scored 6 points against the 10 points scored by the other team.

On Sunday, in both events, the winning team won 8 matches, lost 3 matches, and halved 1 match. The final score was 14.5 against the 13.5 of the losing team. 

Comparing the situation with the current scene, team US is in a very similar position. One can say that. Americans have 5.5 points against Europe’s 10.5. Unless they improve on the magic that the US team performed in 1999 or the Europe team pulled off in 2012, a victory is off the list as of now. 

However, if the US team wins this, it would be a historical win, especially after a 30-year no-win record in Europe in the Ryder Cup. 

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