Europe hold firm to regain Ryder Cup

Europe held off a valiant final-day comeback from a rejuvenated Team USA to regain the Ryder Cup after a tense, dramatic and historic afternoon at Le Golf National.

Their overnight four-point lead was whittled down to just one when Jim Furyk’s side won three of the top five matches, but Thomas Bjorn’s united Europe had the upper hand in the middle order of the singles draw and victory was secured in fitting fashion when Francesco Molinari became the first European to win five points out of five.

Sergio Garcia beat Rickie Fowler to surpass Nick Faldo as the leading points scorer in Ryder Cup history, Ian Poulter lived up to his reputation as “The Postman” as he delivered a point with victory over Dustin Johnson, and it then became a race to have the honour of the winning point with three matches dormie.

With Henrik Stenson and Garcia both on the verge of adding further points, Molinari won his record-breaking match when the hapless Phil Mickelson tugged his tee shot to the 16th into water and shook hands with the Open champion on the tee.

Justin Thomas won his fourth point of the week in the opening singles when Rory McIlroy made a mess of the final hole and was forced to concede defeat before the pair had got to the green, while Webb Simpson and Tony Finau put more red on the board with handsome wins over Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood respectively.

But Paul Casey snatched a valuable half against Brooks Koepka in match two and, after rookie Thorbjorn Olesen completed a thumping 5&4 win over Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm broke into frenzied and emotional celebrations on the 17th green after a memorable win over Tiger Woods – leaving him without a point for the contest in four attempts.

More to follow …

(c) Sky News 2018: Europe hold firm to regain Ryder Cup