Monday, September 27, 1999
Crenshaw's strategy works perfectly
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Ben Crenshaw could barely contain
himself as the good news kept coming in on his radio. He stood
at the ninth fairway rooting on Tiger Woods, and it got even better.
“David Duval is just decimating him. Just decimating him,”
Crenshaw said as he listened to updates on that match. “It's
unbelievable. We're sky high.”
Woods had just chipped in to win the hole before, while Andrew
Coltart was somewhere in the trees searching for a lost ball.
Duval was 6-up through eight holes, and Americans were leading
six of seven matches.
The Sunday rout was officially on.
By the time Justin Leonard made sure it was over, the Ryder
Cup belonged to the United States once again and thousands of
fans were celebrating among the fairways of The Country Club.
“This is the greatest moment in golf right now,”
Hal Sutton said.
Crenshaw's decision to send his best players out first proved
to be his best of the week as the Americans won early and won
big, putting the U.S. team back in a Ryder Cup many had assumed
was long lost.
Leonard's 45-footer on the 17th hole was the shot that would
give the Americans the cup, but it was actually won earlier as
the roars kept building and thundered across the hills of this
Boston suburb.
“Our goal was to win the first four matches and we not
only did that but we won the first six,” Phil Mickelson said.
“Not only that, we dominated them. We had such momentum on
our side.”
The first four Americans out were Tom Lehman, Hal Sutton, Phil
Mickelson and Davis Love III. They were supposed to get hot early
and set the tone for the remaining eight players.
It worked perfectly. All four were leading when the big American
1-2 punch, Duval and Woods, joined the party.
“It was almost mystical,” Crenshaw said. “When
we watched those four groups go out there, that's what we needed.”
European captain Mark James said his team was outplayed, not
outmaneuvered.
“They came out screeching,” he said. “That's
what you've got to do in this game, ride a streak. And they rode
the streak remarkably well today.”
Duval was making the turn in his match with Jesper Parnevik
when he looked at the scoreboard on the ninth hole and realized
what was happening.
“I looked up and every match ahead of me was at least
3-up,” Duval said. “We were just trying to show them
some American firepower.”
Roars seemed to be coming from every corner of The Country
Club as the lead kept building and, suddenly, there appeared to
be some chance of erasing a 4-point deficit and making the biggest
comeback in Ryder Cup history.
Fans listening on portable radios excitedly relayed news of
each American triumph to each other and every shot by a U.S. player
was greeted with cheers.
Woods pumped his fist after chipping in at No. 8. Love celebrated
his 6 and 5 wipeout of France's Jean Van de Velde.
And Duval walked calmly down the 10th fairway as Crenshaw approached
in a cart with his fists up, screaming encouragement at him. When
Duval didn't acknowledge him, Crenshaw turned the cart around
and shouted at Duval again, finally getting a nod in response.
“I've never seen such firepower going out in the first
six groups,” Crenshaw said. “It ignited everybody.”
Even with the first six matches going to Americans, the victory
wasn't theirs yet. The United States had a 10-8 lead, but needed
41/2 more points to win the Cup.
Steve Pate and Jim Furyk provided two of them, with Furyk beating
Spanish sensation Sergio Garcia 4 and 3 and Pate wining a point
from Miguel Angel Jimenez, 2 and 1.
It came down to needing half a point, and the Americans got
it from the most unlikely place.
Leonard was 4-down to Olazabal when he made an 8-foot par putt
on 12 to trim the lead. He had a look of steely determination
on his face as Tom Lehman walked up to him on the 13th fairway
and urged him on.
Leonard promptly won the next three holes, then sank the long
putt on 17 that made the Americans winners.
Crenshaw, who predicted the night before that fate might play
a part in a big American win, kissed the ground in triumph.
“You got to believe in fate sometimes,” Crenshaw
said. “These guys felt too good about their game and they
believed too much to lose.”
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