Golf fans will not forget the 39th Ryder Cup?in a
hurry. Staged at the Medinah Country Club just outside
of Chicago, the 2012 event has already gone down as the
most remarkable competition in its 85-year
history.
The American team had home advantage,
and a golf course unapologetically set up to suit its
own players. Supported by tens of thousands of loud and
proud fans, the USA's star-studded line-up dominated the
first two days and ended the Saturday with a seemingly
unassailable 10-6 advantage. No away team had ever won
the Ryder Cup from such an unpromising
position.
Sunday was singles day, traditionally
the forte of?American teams. The situation looked bleak,
especially when European team member and number 1 golfer
in the world, Rory McIlroy, very nearly missed his
tee-off time. Yet slowly but surely, the European team -
who had top-loaded their line-up in one last throw of
the dice?- started?to turn the scoreboard blue. With
inspirational captain Jose Maria Olazabal?stiring
European blood with thoughts of the late?Ryder Cup
magician Seve Ballesteros (whose silhouette was
emblazoned on the players' sweaters and bags), the tide
turned and the previously dominant American players
started to crumble in the face of the onslaught.
Suddenly European players were holing miraculous putts
to win holes out of the blue. Something very special was
happening.
When German Martin Kaymer sank his
putt on the eighteenth green to clinch the point that
retained the Ryder Cup, the most astonishing comeback in
the event's long and? distinuished history was
complete.?Miracle at Medinah is the compelling
narrative of those amazing three days in Illinois, a
fitting chronicle of an unbelievable sporting story.
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