Hatton delivers key half-point to give Europe the Ryder Cup win

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The blowout at Bethpage Black didn’t happen. Confidence to start the day turned into nervous moments throughout the afternoon. Surprisingly, Europe had to sweat out a furious American rally during Sunday Singles at the Ryder Cup.

But in the end, Shane Lowry delivered the necessary half-point to retain the Cup, followed by Tyrrell Hatton providing the half-point to secure the first European victory on U.S. soil in 13 years, with the final score 15-13.

RELATED: Final scores

“The U.S. Team did nothing short of amazing,” said one of Europe’s leaders, Jon Rahm, the Legion XIII captain who won his third Ryder Cup. “What they almost pulled off was incredible – but luckily we had a big enough lead and the people to get it done.”

Europe had entered the final day with a commanding seven-point lead (11.5 to 4.5), making the Ryder Cup outcome a mere formality. Or so it seemed. No team had ever rallied from more than four points down on the final day to win the Cup in its current format.

Hatton certainly didn’t expect his match against Collin Morikawa – the 10th of 11 scheduled after Viktor Hovland pulled out of his match against Harris English due to injury – to be a difference-maker.

But the Americans won five of the first seven matches, and also received an incredible half-point from Bryson DeChambeau, with the Crushers GC captain rallying from 5 down to tie Matt Fitzpatrick, to make things interesting.

Rahm suffered one of the early losses to Xander Schauffele, a 4 & 3 result that was the only match that didn’t reach at least the 17th hole. Schauffele started the back nine by winning four holes in a five-hole stretch to take control.

At one point, it appeared the entire outcome might rest in Hatton’s hands, as he tied his match with a birdie at the 12th hole. But two groups ahead, Lowry won two of the last four holes to tie Russell Henley, giving Europe its 14th point, enough to retain the Cup as defending champions.

“Obviously we've retained the Cup,” Lowry said immediately after his match ended, “but we want to win.”

That honor went to Hatton a half-hour later. His tie and half-point moved Europe’s total to 14.5 points for the outright win after he and Morikawa matched pars over a nervy final six holes.

“To be honest, it’s one of the hardest days I’ve ever experienced on a golf course,” said Hatton, who like his Legion XIII captain also won his third Ryder Cup. “Going out No. 10, you’re hoping everything’s wrapped up.

“I was really hoping that it wouldn’t have to come down to me. The last five, six, seven holes were just horrible to be honest. But at the end of the day I'm just so happy that we've managed to win.”

For the second consecutive Ryder Cup, Hatton finished with 3.5 points (3-0-1-) from four matches. He and Lowry were the only European players who did not suffer a defeat at Bethpage Black.

Rahm finished with 3 points (3-2-0), losing his final two matches. Both players were among the top four point producers for Europe along with Tommy Fleetwood (4 points) and Rory McIlroy (3.5 points).

More than the individual glory for the two European LIV Golf stars is the achievement of winning a Ryder Cup on foreign soil.

“Very fortunate to be a very small part of it,” Hatton said. “You have the 12 players and caddies and the vice captains and the captains, but there's so many backroom staff that put so much effort into this. We're a small part of a huge team. Yeah, this is my fourth one and they are the greatest golf weeks of my life.”

“Hard to describe what an atmosphere it's been all week, how tough it's been for all of us, and I couldn't be any prouder of everybody on the team,” Rahm added. “We came together as a team, and we did what we thought was impossible. This one feels very special.”