In jokey golf parlance, it was what they once called a Dennis Wise … a nasty five-footer.
Bob MacIntrye stood over his putt on the green of the par-3 13th hole, knowing a successful stroke would take his partnership with Justin Rose two up with five holes to play. He also knew that, around him, an American resurgence was occurring, a couple of members of Team USA even giving the galleries some lip.
Europe needed a riposte, they needed one of their number to ease the twitchiness of the crowd, they needed someone to try and put some sort of a halt to the momentum built up by Zach Johnson ’s team. Step forward, in the blazing, afternoon Roman sun, the unlikely, pasty figure of MacIntyre.
For most of the previous 12 holes, his senior partner had done the heavy lifting. In fact, in Rose and MacIntyre’s tie with Max Homa and Wyndham Clark on Friday, the golfer ranked 55th in the world did not win a hole.
And that remained the case until he drained the Dennis Wise on 13, giving the European team a cushion - if there can be such a thing in a Ryder Cup - that helped them see out a 3&2 win over the crack American pairing of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. On the 16th green, it was Rose who holed the winning putt and, of course, it was Rose who earned the half the previous day and, of course, it was Rose who was the dominant figure in this duo’s tally of one and a half points out of two.
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And, of course, it has been the marquee names who have led this European charge over two momentous days at the Marco Simone club. The leaders have been the inspirational Jon Rahm, along with Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy, even though the latter pair tasted defeat for the first time in these two days.
Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre celebrate in Rome (Getty Images)What has been your highlight of the Ryder Cup so far? Share your thoughts in the comments below
But a successful team is never just about the big names, the Major champions, the guys who swap places at the top of the world rankings, week in, week out. It is not just about the faces of world golf, the brand superstars, the multi-millionaires.
It is about the odd one or two who have battled their way on to the team and then probably wonder how much action they are going to see. It is about the players who are having a rare moment in the sun.
When Rose and MacIntrye sealed the deal against Spieth and Thomas, the 27-year-old Scot’s family were greenside. Which was appropriate … because MacIntrye is only a household name in his own household.
“It’s what I’ve always dreamt about,” he said after winning his first Ryder Cup match, before paying tribute to his illustrious partner. And Rose deserved the praise. There were some doubts about Rose’s form coming into the event and, at 43, he is the elder statesman of Team Europe.
But in guiding MacIntrye around on Friday and Saturday afternoon, he did a quite magnificent job. His clutch putting has been sensational. Yet when the Europeans were in the odd spot of bother later in their match, MacIntrye stepped up, just as Rose told him he would.
Not only did he win the 13th, he got up and down from a greenside bunker on hole 15 to maintain a three-up lead. And after McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick lost the last two holes - and their match - to Clark and Patrick Cantlay, Rose and MacIntrye’s win turned out to be the only European point of the afternoon fourballs.
Luke Donald ’s team should still collect the four points they need to win the Ryder Cup but, don’t forget, Europe came back from a 10-6 deficit in the Sunday singles at Medinah. So victory is not a given, the task is not easy. But it has been made just that bit easier by Rose and the sort of unlikely but likeable golfer every successful Ryder Cup team needs.
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