Hi all, just back in at 630 this morning from 3 wonderful days on Lake Coochiching where the fishing was chronic, (where have all the perch gone?) but all the rest was great. Beautiful scenery especially at the top of the lake into the Trent river...fall colours in full swing already.
I got back off the lake on Sunday in time to see the wrap up of the Ryder Cup matches and of course the Jays edging Boston 2-1 to set up tonight's all or nothing tilt against the Orioles at the Rogers Center.
Ryder Cup final scores http://www.rydercup.com/scoring
Obviously after Darren Clake's men closed the gap in the Saturday morning foursomes, I thought the USA's 3-1 win in the fourballs in the afternoon gave them enough of cushion to play a little more relaxed on Sunday, especially after the Miracle at Medinah when Europe roared back to win all those singles on that Sunday..
When Patrick Reed managed to edge Rory 1up in Sunday's first match, it was a huge "here we go, here we go' moment for Davis Love's men. Furthermore, after Henrik and Thomas Pieters won their matches at 2 and 3 in the batting order, Rickie Fowler managed to stop that momentum, edging Justin Rose 1up over 18 holes.
I thought the par 3 8th hole epitomized what this Ryder Cup has become. Rory holed an improbable putt of some 70 feet for birdie then jumped up full of the moment and incited the crowd by putting his hand to his ear taunting the many who had called him and his mates everything from a turd to much worse.
Then in a moment you couldn't script, nor likely repeat, Reed then holed a birdie putt of his own from nearly 40 feet, turning to wag his finger at McIlroy and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
In true Ryder Cup spirit the two combatants did the equivalent of shaking hands, they bumped fists and patted each other on the back, as they went to the ninth, both incidently -5 through 8 !!
All in all in my opinion, this win at home by the American team, in front of a nasty but boisterous Minnesota crowd was just what the Ryder Cup needed, and of more importance we'll see if they can carry on building on this template when they next meet at the National outside Paris in 2018. The final score was 17-11, the biggest rout for the United States since 1981
It was significant to me that Tiger, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Tom Lehman, and even Bubba were now on the outside as vice captains or coaches, it was a real changing of the guard apart from evergreen Phil Mickelson, who still gets into it and fought Sergio to a draw on Sunday, earning 2 1/2 points in all.
In Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth they finally have a pairing any captain can count every two years, and for years to come. Europe always had that over them. Seve and Olazabal, then Olazabal and Sergio were next to unbeatable.
Lee Westwood may have played his last and will be a future captain. He was 2up standing on the 16th tee and somehow lost the last 3 holes to Ryan Moore for the cup winning point, not a very savory way for Lee to wrap up his stellar Ryder Cup career, although it must be mentioned Moore finished eagle, birdie, par.
I have been broadcasting and writing about sports and this game for over 30 years, and this Ryder Cup, although 17-11 this time, remains the 3 best days in golf, and with this win it will continue to be so for year's to come.
Bryan Angus
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