Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre were the lone Europeans to get a point on Saturday afternoon for the second Ryder Cup four-ball session. They took down Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth 3 & 2 to avoid an American sweep.
Justin Rose details ‘stranglehold’ of Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas duo at Ryder Cup
Rose once again played beautifully Saturday, earning another point for his team with only Sunday singles left.
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
This duo scored a half point on Friday in the four-ball session, so this pairing has benefited Team Europe.
“It’s been brilliant. Today is everything I’ve dreamed of,” MacIntyre said. “I worked hard for it. Yesterday felt like I let Justin down a little bit, but he stood up to the challenge, and today, he was brilliant again, and thankfully I helped him out.”
MacIntyre leaned into Rose’s experience. The six-time Ryder Cup veteran knew Saturday was a prime opportunity to contribute.
“I feel like we got our nose just in front there, obviously 9 and 10, we went 1 up,” Rose said. “I felt like when they both missed the fairway at 12, I felt like it was 20 minutes — I said to Bobby, the next 20 minutes, we have to put our foot down and get out and get a stranglehold on this match. That’s exactly what happened.”
“We both let them off the hook there at No. 12, which I kind of — at that point because these two are slippery, do you know what I mean — they are very tough to beat.”
Rose knew when to use his experience to motivate MacIntyre. He knew they could win the match if he kept pushing the younger player.
“Bobby made that great birdie on the par 3, and the up-and-down at 15, I was barking at him all the way the last few holes. We’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that,” Rose said. “We absolutely did exactly what we needed to do and we were the strong pairing.”
MacIntyre is a rookie for Team Europe. He has had to embrace the nerves this week and learn to feed off them.
The up and down from a plugged ball in the bunker on the par-4 15th was such a clutch moment for the rookie. That par kept the Europeans at 3-up with three holes to play. Rose made a birdie on the par-4 16th, and that was all they needed to defeat Spieth and Thomas.
MacIntyre will go off last for the Europeans on Sunday as he is set to take on Wyndham Clark, while Rose gets to square off with Patrick Cantlay.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
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