Rose, Stenson continue Ryder Cup steamrolling with win over Watson, Kuchar
Normally when you make nine birdies in a fourball round, you've got to figure you're going to win, or at least be in the mix right up until the 18th hole. The last thing you'd expect is to be slapped down 3&2. And yet, that's exactly what happened to the USA's Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar, who played astonishingly well and yet found themselves walking into the buzzsaw that was the European team of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.
The Europeans carded ten straight birdies to close the match, and won going away despite one of the best performances of the weekend from the Americans. Rose, in particular, was simply astonishing, holing long putts and placing chip shots a finger's length from the hole time and time again.
"That’s the name around here, you’ve got to make putts," Watson said afterward. "I made putts, my partner made putts. They made more putts."
"What a team, it's so impressive what they were doing," Kuchar agreed. "It was birdie after birdie."
Stenson gave all the credit to Rose. "It was definitely him that was the backbone. I was lucky enough to be there to back him up on a couple occasions," he said. "We didn’t give it away, did we?"
Not in the least. Stenson would sit out the Saturday afternoon session, but Rose was scheduled to play the Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed team, the hottest on the American squad.
The point helped Europe reverse what had been a brief moment of panic, when all four matches were either in the Americans' favor or all square. With Rose in the lineup, as he will be for all five sessions, Europe looks to be very tough to beat.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Facebook or on Twitter.
