Ryder Cup 2014: Match results, live updates, and scores from Sunday singles at Gleneagles

Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson’s angry and confrontational tenor in a Saturday night team room meeting was a precipitating reason for Phil Mickelson’s public criticism last week in Scotland, according to a report from ESPN’s Bob Hairg.

It’s likely that bits and pieces of the disastrous Ryder Cup weekend for the USA leak out in slow drips over the next few months, and Harig’s report provides a significant part of the story.

A captain shouldn’t have a significant impact on the Ryder Cup, or its outcome, but Tom Watson enlightened us this past week on how to mess things up.

The formats are unchanged and pretty straightforward, and the preparation should be, too, at this point. You get to know your players, make a few captain’s picks, spout a few motivational things, find some comfortable and natural pairings, set the order, and ride the hot hands. The outcome should be solely dependent on the play of the players, and there are relatively few Ryder Cup captaincies that could be called unmitigated failures that affect the final score.

Fair, fair. Let’s have this be the new “I’m going to Disneyland!”

The shot in question:

We’ve already chronicled how awkward, nasty, and tense the press conference was for the American team. The joint press conference for Europe was a bit more lighthearted and fun.

The tone was set early by Jamie Donaldson, who rode Thomas Bjorn into the media center, slapping him on the ass like a horse.

The USA is going to lose the Ryder Cup, but at least there’s one encouraging piece of news coming out of Sunday’s singles matches. Patrick Reed should to be an awesome fixture for the US side for many years to come. Reed put the first American point on the board in Sunday singles, beating Henrik Stenson 1-up. The match went to the 18th tee all tied up, but Reed drilled his second shot onto the green of the par-5. We’ve seen a lot of emotion from Reed all day, and as soon as he struck it, he started walking after it with the cockiest of club-twirls.

Stenson would blow a short birdie putt and Reed would post the first American point.

As we’ve noted several times this week, the Ryder Cup is unlike any other event in golf and the closest the game comes to the atmosphere at other sports.

Well, Patrick Reed found a new way to deliver a scene we get from so many other sports, when he told the European crowd to shut the hell up after rolling in a birdie putt. It was a reaction that will undoubtedly unsettle the huffy traditionalists of the game and have the Euros sneering at young Reed.

Johnny Miller, with the U.S. Ryder Cup team needing to grab 8.5 of the possible 12 points available in Sunday’s singles matches to stage a glorious comeback at Gleneagles, looked to a costume change as a promising omen.

“It might be a trite comment but it’s nice to see the U.S. wearing red,” NBC Sports’ lead analyst said early into Sunday’s finale about the Americans’ cardinal red trousers.” “In the first four matches both teams wore blue basically ... I like red.”

The Ryder Cup is the most intense, pressurized setting in golf. The captains and players are under the most scrutiny, and feel it more in the team setting than anywhere else. Every player will tell you it’s by far the most pressure they have ever felt on a golf course.

That’s not exactly the case for all the assistant and vice captains. That’s one of the best jobs in golf -- you show up, give some counsel and basically hang out in the team room. You’re certainly a part of the operation but the glory and criticism that’s showered upon the players and captain aren’t coming your way.

The 2014 Ryder Cup will come down to the final day at Gleneagles on Sunday and the European side will begin in prime position to take home the trophy for the third straight time. The Americans started off the morning session on Day 1 well, but it’s been all Europe since and the home team will open the final day with a 10-6 advantage. That is the same advantage the United States held in 2012 when the Europeans rallied for a historic comeback win at Medinah. Whether or not the Americans are able to pull off a historic comeback of their own, viewers in the United States will have multiple options to watch the action live, including online streams.

NBC will handle the Sunday broadcast, with television coverage running from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. That is a late start compared to the previous two days which had viewers on the East coast waking up in the middle of the night. Viewers will be able to watch that same broadcast live online, thanks to a live simulcast stream from NBC Sports LiveExtra. The stream will run concurrent with the broadcast, beginning at 7 a.m. Mobile users and those with Samsung Smart televisions will have additional options to stream online. The Ryder Cup app on Apple and Android devices will include live video on “Ryder Cup Live” beginning at 6:30 a.m. The coverage will also be available with the Ryder Cup app on Smart TVs.

For the second straight day, it got ugly for the Americans in the afternoon during alternate-shot foursomes. Europe took 3.5 of a possible 4 points again and now head to Sunday singles with a huge 10-6 lead. They were the favorites and expected to win at home, but the afternoon session was still extremely frustrating and deflating for the American side. Here some lowlights and reasons why.

After another whitewash foursomes session, there will be questions about Tom Watson’s lineup management. It wasn’t as egregious as sitting Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed on Friday, but the most surprising move was leaving Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley on the bench for the entire day. We knew Phil needed a rest and took himself out of morning four-ball, but this was the first time in his 20-year career in both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup that he sat out back-to-back sessions.