Rose & Stenson wizardry at Ryder Cup

Justin Rose & Henrik Stenson played incredibly well at the Ryder Cup to win their third point on the run.

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Rose/Stenson

 

Report by Anand Datla

 

September 27, 2014: On a morning that clearly belonged to the Americans, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson stood up like mythical warriors protecting the European fort with pride and gusto. In a performance that is sure to find its way into Ryder Cup lore, Rose and Stenson shot incredibly well from one hole to another as they went about saving their team from conceding the advantage to the rampant visitors. In a match that featured a record 21 birdies, the European duo made 12 by themselves to pull out a 3&2 victory over Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar to give Europe its only win of the morning. Halfway on Saturday, Europe was leading America 6.5 to 5.5 with the foursomes already out on the course.

 

The numbers of birdies made broke the record for the most in a match as well as the most by a team. The crack team of Rose and Stenson have been responsible for three of Europe’s points so far, winning each of their matches thus far. Their effort emulated the feat of Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, the last pair to win three out of three for Europe, when they did so in 2002. It is only the fifth time in Europe’s chequered Ryder cup history that this has been achieved.

 

The effort today was also remarkable, considering that Rose and Stenson were down by two in the early part of that match. Rose knocked the ball down from 25 feet on the 8th hole to rally his team back to even terms with Kuchar and Watson. Incedibly, the teams put on a display worth remembering, either halving or winning each hole from the 5th through 15th with a birdie. Rose settled the match at the 16th when he pushed the ball to within tapping range from 50 yards out for another birdie.

“Yeah, I was it was one-half Stenson, one-and-a-half part Rose. Justin played phenomenally all week, and luckily I was there to back him up on a couple of occasions,” said Stenson. “And I guess I played the best shot of the day on 15 there, could have been a good position going into 16, but Justin took care of it anyway.”

 

“Yeah, it is amazing, ” concurred Rose. “I think obviously I really got into reading the greens well today and I just had the feeling of the anticipation of what it’s going to feel like to make putts today. When you get into that mind-set, and you just see the ball going in the hole and you sort of get those positive vibes, today was a day it all happened for me.”

 

“That was wild. We would like to go to a few more holes, just so we could watch some great golf again,” averred an impressed Watson. “They played great, they made all the putts, they made key putts. Then to watch ten in a row, I think they said that that is just amazing. We were right there, it wasn’t like we got killed. We pushed them as far as we could.”

 

“It was good fun out there. We got off to a good start, got a two-up lead. When we got that two-up lead, all of sudden they started making a run. They were unstoppable,” conceded Kuchar. “We played some awfully good golf. Right now they are the best team. I mean, they’re pretty much unstoppable,” he added again for effect.

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