Justin Rose was one of the front-loaded European team that didn't come away with a point in Sunday's singles matches. Darren Clarke put out his best players early hoping to overcome the deficit - and it almost worked. It looked like Rory McIlroy was going to get the ball rolling, while Henrik Stenson, Thomas Pieters, and Rafa Cabrera Bello all won their matches to give Europe a chance. But the US won five of the last six games on course to claim the victory.
Justin Rose's loss to Rickie Fowler was one of the swing matches, that saw the lead change - and Rose seemed to miss several putts that burned the edge of the hole that let Fowler off the hook on numerous holes. Rose wasn't happy, and blasted the set-up of Hazeltine National saying it was too easy, and didn't punish bad play enough, and it didn't help him trying to chase Fowler's lead:
I think if we were all to be honest about it, I thought the set-up was incredibly weak. I thought it was very much a pro-am feel in terms of the pin placements. They were all middle of the green.
I don't quite understand that to be honest with you - world-class players here and we want to showcase our skills. We want to be tested. For example, the water holes out there, all the pins were as far away from the water as possible.
The pin on 17 is an absolute a joke. It's a nine iron into the middle of the green. With a match on the line, you want a player to step up a little bit more than they have to.
Even 18, if you hit a good drive down there, you've got a wedge into the green, and if you hit a wedge to the middle of the green, you're within 12 feet of the pin. I just felt coming down the stretch it was a little soft.
Perhaps he has a point. There was some remarkable scoring throughout the tournament - especially on Sunday. Both Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed were five under par after eight holes in their match on Sunday - whilst Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia had 19 birdies between them. Phil's ten birdies were the highest of the week, and Garcia had a rare bogey free round.
It was something that Rory McIlroy agreed with, but put down to the benefits of having the tournament at home. He pointed to the lack of fairways that Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson (two of 14), against himself and Andy Sullivan on Thursday morning without punishment that lead to that loss.
However, Rose's singles conqueror Fowler said he didn't have any issues with how the course was set-up:
I don't think it was easy by any means. Him and I didn't play as well as we would have liked to. I felt like it was an even match between the two of us.
Whatever about the validity of Rose's claims, the fact that he lost, and Europe lost - it's perhaps not the right time for him to be making these assertions.
[Irish Examiner]
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Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
