Tiger falls to Rahm, finishes 0-4 at Ryder Cup

Leading 10-6 going into the 12 singles matches, there were some nervous moments on an exciting afternoon as the Americans occasionally threatened a comeback.

Jon Rahm birdied the hard 17th to beat Tiger Woods 2 and 1-Woods finishes this Ryder Cup 0-4 and is now 0-7-1 in his last two Ryder Cup appearances-then Thorbjorn Olesen capped off a surprisingly easy victory over Jordan Spieth with a birdie on 14 to win 5 and 4.

“At least we have an opportunity tomorrow to do something special”, U.S. captain Jim Furyk said.

Europe had seized a 10-6 edge in Saturday’s foursomes and fourballs matches and got the points they needed to swipe the trophy after an early United States surge.

“He wasn’t wired by his dad for partner matches”, said two-time major champion Johnny Miller on the American NBC telecast.

“Momentum certainly is important, because if they (Europe) get a couple points on the board, we have to win something like eight out of the next ten matches”.

“Ian, being a Ryder Cup guru, to have him twice today and win, and he pounded his chest twice on us earlier today”.

On a remarkable afternoon, Molinari becomes the first European player to compile a ideal 5-0 record in the contest, with American Larry Nelson the only other to do so in 1979, while Garcia’s 2 and 1 victory over Rickie Fowler made him Europe’s all-time leading Ryder Cup points scorer.

Phil Mickelson will not play; nor will Fowler, Reed or Finau. “It was great for Rory to make that par putt (on 17) because it gave me the freedom to go for it”.

Looking to get his career back on track after myriad physical problems and personal missteps, the 42-year-old Woods played in 19 events this season – roughly the number he used to take on in his prime.

Woods never led against Rahm after losing the first hole.

“I think early in the week, he looked a little exhausted”, US captain Jim Furyk said of Woods. Johnson went from 1 up to 2 down in a four-hole stretch that ended his chances.

He wondered if his game was going to return in time to get selected for the Ryder Cup.

Woods has failed to win seven consecutive matches, dating to his singles victory against Molinari in Wales in 2010. Tiger’s loss on Sunday tied him with Phil Mickelson for the most losses in Ryder Cup history at 21, but then Phil lost and took that honor back.

He hasn’t had much help, but he also missed key putts around the turn that allowed Europe to build a big lead.

“Everything feels pretty good”, Woods said when asked about how his body is holding up.

‘And I’m one of the contributing factors to why we lost the Cup, and it’s not a lot of fun. That’s the frustrating thing about match play. Molinari didn’t play particularly well on Sunday, sinking just two birdies.