Reed Vs Rory

AFTER THE HEROICS & HISTRIONICS AT HAZELTINE, THESE TWO (& THE FANS) ARE HOPING IT CAN HAPPEN ONE MORE TIME

- John Feinstein

DAVIS LOVE has all sorts of mementos from the 2016 Ryder Cup scattered around his house. There are two, though, that he probably enjoys looking at more than any of the others. One is the ball that Ryan Moore played on the 18th hole of his singles match with Lee Westwood. When Westwood conceded Moore’s one-foot par putt shortly after 4 o’clock on that bright October Sunday in Minnesota, the Ryder Cup returned to the United States. Moore was instantly surrounded by his teammates and never bothered to pick the ball up. Love picked it up for him. “In 1993, when I made the putt at The Belfry that clinched retaining the cup, I never got the ball from the hole because I was mobbed, and then I went to shake hands with Costantino (Rocca),” Love says. “I always regretted that. I wanted to make sure Ryan got that golf ball.” But when Love tried to hand the ball over to Moore, the new hero shook his head. “You keep it, captain,” he said. “I want you to have it.”

The other cherished memento is even smaller than Moore’s golf ball. It’s the tee that Patrick Reed used to hit his drive at No 18 earlier that Sunday during his epic singles match with Rory McIlroy.

“As soon as he hit it, he started walking down the fairway with this strut in his step like he knew he’d hit it 50 yards past Rory,” Love says, laughing. “I just went over and grabbed it. I wanted something to remember that match by – one way or the other.

“I knew Rory had hit it way past Patrick,” Love says, “but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to let the match get away. He knew it; Rory knew it; I knew it.”

McIlroy had, in fact, hit his tee shot 30 yards past Reed. As Love says, it didn’t matter. Reed hit his second shot to 10 feet and made the birdie putt that clinched the match.