2012 Ryder Cup Matches (Europe wins 14½ - 13½ )

I know this is a mute point, but after Stricker lost,, the cup was lost.. Tiger and Molinari were on 18, with Tiger up 1, 1 hole to play.

They said on TV they had to finish.. I'd always thought that if the cup was won , with even 1, 2 or how ever many pairings left on the course, they all walked , or rode in ,, it was over..

Did Tiger and Molinari actually finish playing 18 ? did Molinari conced to Tiger and they walk in ? what happened to get the total points of the cup.
Does every group finish once 14 or 14 1/2 is reached by the winning team ? That would sorta make some of these all time records of players a little scewed ?

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Originally Posted by Rogue

I know this is a mute point, but after Stricker lost,, the cup was lost.. Tiger and Molinari were on 18, with Tiger up 1, 1 hole to play.

They said on TV they had to finish.. I'd always thought that if the cup was won , with even 1, 2 or how ever many pairings left on the course, they all walked , or rode in ,, it was over..

Did Tiger and Molinari actually finish playing 18 ? did Molinari conced to Tiger and they walk in ? what happened to get the total points of the cup.
Does every group finish once 14 or 14 1/2 is reached by the winning team ? That would sorta make some of these all time records of players a little scewed ?

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They got to the 18th green. Tiger missed a putt that would have won the hole (and made the final score 14-14), but instead of making Molinari putt from about 10 feet, he conceded the putt so that the Europeans could all celebrate. It was a pretty gracious thing to do, which is unlike the norm. Generally, the winning team will concede the final hole (like Payne Stewart did in 1999) as an act of sportsmanship. This time around, it was Tiger who graciously accepted the halve even though he was up.

Eldrick and Molinari did play the entire 18th. Or more specifically, they played until the 18th was resolved. Eldrick had a four-footer for par, and naturally, because it didn't involve breaking some sort of record held by Jack Nicklaus, he missed. Then he conceded Molinari's slightly shorter par putt. This ended the match at a half.

Had Eldrick halved the 18th, and thereby won his match, the competition would have ended in a tie (or "draw" as a European might say). This is technically not the same as Europe winning. Europe would have still retained the cup, but would not have won the competition. Tying versus winning has been a rather big deal in the past; see 1969.

The Sunday matches have usually been played out even after the competition has been decided. Maybe if a side is close to dormie with six or seven holes left there have been concessions.

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Originally Posted by blazindw

They got to the 18th green. Tiger missed a putt that would have won the hole (and made the final score 14-14), but instead of making Molinari putt from about 10 feet, he conceded the putt so that the Europeans could all celebrate. It was a pretty gracious thing to do, which is unlike the norm. Generally, the winning team will concede the final hole (like Payne Stewart did in 1999) as an act of sportsmanship. This time around, it was Tiger who graciously accepted the halve even though he was up.

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Tiger and Molinari each had about 8 feet left, with Tiger being slightly outside. I (and Johnny Miller) thought they would just say good-good (with Tiger winning the match, and final score would have been 14-14). Molinari did not concede the putt (guess he didn't want to lose?), but after Tiger missed he told Molinari to pick up and the match was halved (not that it mattered).

Y'all are giving the Official Golfer Of DBR too much credit/not enough blame. Not that that's a surprise. Anyway, Eldrick's putt was definitely within body length, much less flagstick length. News sources from three different continents say four feet, although maybe it was closer to 4½. It was substantially shorter than Furyk's putt, which was on the same side of the hole and about eight or nine feet.

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Originally Posted by hurleyfor3

Y'all are giving the Official Golfer Of DBR too much credit/not enough blame. Not that that's a surprise. Anyway, Eldrick's putt was definitely within body length, much less flagstick length. News sources from three different continents say four feet, although maybe it was closer to 4½. It was substantially shorter than Furyk's putt, which was on the same side of the hole and about eight or nine feet.

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And people were yelling and cheering and o'laying, olay olay olay. And it didn't matter at all at that point.

Quite frankly, even I would have missed that putt.

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Originally Posted by hurleyfor3

Y'all are giving the Official Golfer Of DBR too much credit/not enough blame. Not that that's a surprise. Anyway, Eldrick's putt was definitely within body length, much less flagstick length. News sources from three different continents say four feet, although maybe it was closer to 4½. It was substantially shorter than Furyk's putt, which was on the same side of the hole and about eight or nine feet.

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Looked like a tough putt to me. Molinari's was right up the fall line.

sage

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Originally Posted by rthomas

And people were yelling and cheering and o'laying, olay olay olay. And it didn't matter at all at that point.

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This misses my point, which was simply correcting a couple people on the length of Eldrick's putt. But I guess it's unreasonable to expect him to go above and beyond the average player nowadays, or to be actually motivated by the opposing fans. Or to appreciate the difference between tying the competition, salvaging some face, and losing it.

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Originally Posted by hurleyfor3

This misses my point, which was simply correcting a couple people on the length of Eldrick's putt. But I guess it's unreasonable to expect him to go above and beyond the average player nowadays, or to be actually motivated by the opposing fans. Or to appreciate the difference between tying the competition, salvaging some face, and losing it.

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That would be Bubba.

Tiger died when he played that US Open at Torrey Pines with two hairline fractures in his Tibia, along with a torn ACL. Whatever his old man did to his son to create that Tiger drove his son to disregard that damaged leg for who knows how long. Seeing him walk that final round, grimacing in pain, dragging that leg, made me sad. People were celebrating Tiger's greatness. I wrote here that that alter ego was dead, gone. My hope then was that Eldrick would emerge, that we would see a real person emerge. I think that we have.

Eldrick knew what the Euros were after by playing out that last hole, dragging a glorious victory in the muck and mire on the chance that the great Tiger would falter and that they could claim a victory on top of the real victory. That move was crass and insulting. Eldrick, talking for himself and the giant that was Tiger, told them so.

To me it was bush league of Molinari not to concede Tiger's putt. They had already retained the cup.