The Ryder Cup isn't technically over, but the USA will need almost all 12 of their players to be at their best in Sunday singles in order to pull off a miracle comeback.
The USA will need a miracle on Sunday to win the 2014 Ryder Cup and we now know the lineup that will try to pull it off at Gleneagles. Down 10-6, Tom Watson's group must win 8.5 of the available 12 points in Sunday singles in order to take away the Cup from Europe. The Euros only need 4 of the 12 points to retain the Cup.
When you're trailing heading into Sunday singles, the typical strategy is to send your best players out early to try and get some momentum for a comeback going, generating hope for your side and panic and pressure on the frontrunner's players at the end. For Tom Watson, his best players this week have been his rookies, particularly the two-man team of Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed. Those two will get the honor right out of the gate. It should be fairly obvious that their matches are critical to any longshot hopes of the Americans winning. If they lose, or even halve their matches, this will be over in a the first few hours on Sunday.
The one singles clash that will get all the hype is the third match, Rickie Fowler vs. Rory McIlroy at 7 a.m. ET. Fowler was generally regarded as the USA's best overall player coming into the competition. He just had the best summer of his career and was in form. McIlroy, of course, is the No. 1 player in the world thanks mostly to the back-to-back major championships where he beat out Fowler on Sunday. Rickie should be one the contemporaries that challenge McIlroy at the majors for the next two decades, and Sunday's one-on-one will be hyped as such.
Sunday is the only session where a captain doesn't have to worry about who to play or bench -- there's no hiding anyone. Here's the full lineup for both sides:
Match 17 -- 6:36 A.M. ET -- USA Jordan Spieth vs. EUR Graeme McDowell
Match 18 -- 6:48 A.M. ET -- USA Patrick Reed vs. EUR Henrik Stenson
Match 19 -- 7:00 A.M. ET -- USA Rickie Fowler vs. EUR Rory McIlroy
Match 20 -- 7:12 A.M. ET -- USA Hunter Mahan vs. EUR Justin Rose
Match 21 -- 7:24 A.M. ET -- USA Phil Mickelson vs. EUR Stephen Gallacher
Match 22 -- 7:36 A.M. ET -- USA Bubba Watson vs. EUR Martin Kaymer
Match 23 -- 7:48 A.M. ET -- USA Matt Kuchar vs. EUR Thomas Bjorn
Match 24 -- 8:00 A.M. ET -- USA Jim Furyk vs. EUR Sergio Garcia
Match 25 -- 8:12 A.M. ET -- USA Webb Simpson vs. EUR Ian Poulter
Match 26 -- 8:24 A.M. ET -- USA Keegan Bradley vs. EUR Jamie Donaldson
Match 27 -- 8:36 A.M. ET -- USA Jimmy Walker vs. EUR Lee Westwood
Match 28 -- 8:48 A.M. ET -- USA Zach Johnson vs. EUR Victor Dubuisson
from SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1vfZ1eY
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