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PARIS – Rory McIlroy's two races on Friday ended on the 16th green, and both times, Captain Thomas Bjorn met him in his arms. The first, after the morning session, was a consolation. A few hours later, it was a hug of affirmation and admiration.
The McIlroys we saw bouncing off the course at the end of the afternoon games, after getting 4 wins and 2 wins against Ian Poulter, contrast sharply with what we had already seen. In the morning, McIlroy was the one who grabbed the back of his neck, played anxiously with his hair and bore the expression of a pained man as things collapsed a little.
The course, aptly named "Albatross", had given McIlroy nothing in the four balls. While he was unconsciously walking on the 16th, after losing 4 and 2 alongside Thorbjorn Olesen, Bjorn consoled him. McIlroy gave the crowd a half-wave, after completing a miserable ride by being the only player not to play with a birdie. But instead of letting it simmer, Bjorn stood next to his man and threw it straight into the cauldron. Bjorn had chosen his pairs before the start of the game and was not going to guess.
"I never have a doubt in Rory McIlroy because if I start to doubt him, then I probably should not do that job," Bjorn said. "I believe in him and it was great to see his answer today, I never doubted that I wanted to have him on the golf course this afternoon."
Sing, dance, cheer. Oh, and mocking – a lot of that. Welcome to Ryder Cup and all his glory.
The US team had control in the morning, but Europe swept the afternoon session to take a 5-3 lead on the second day of the Ryder Cup.
Brooks Koepka was shaken when her tee shot at the sixth par 4 hole at Friday's National Golf hit a spectator in the face and led her to the hospital as a precaution.
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By the time the afternoon foursomes rolled, the temperature had dropped, the wind had risen and Poulter was standing with McIlroy. The sixth, McIlroy finally made a birdie putt to put his Ryder Cup back on track. With that came the rebound in the step, then the magic came back.
On the 13th, McIlroy was clumsily placed in the breach on the bank of the water obstacle, but he escaped a few feet from the pin. As the ball stabilized, Poulter turned to his partner, posed like a snake, giving McIlroy an air of determination and admiration. He nudged McIlroy and McIlroy punched Poulter's chest. Then Poulter opened the door.
The return to McIlroy's form testifies to Bjorn's faith because you could have forgiven the captain when he had decided to sit at McIlroy for the afternoon. But playing alongside Poulter gave McIlroy the chance to press the reset button as he was able to share the pressure with the man known as Mr. Ryder Cup.
"I did not have to say anything to Rory McIlroy," Poulter said. "Rory is Rory, he would have been pretty frustrated this morning with this defeat, I did not need to miss him at all, he needed to slow down, if anything, I could barely follow his little legs."
In the morning, McIlroy played alongside Olesen. He was a rookie seeking advice for McIlroy; Meanwhile, the crowd chanted "Rory, Rory". There was nowhere where McIlroy was breathing, going from rough to rough, becoming more and more frustrated with his own game and probably tiring his right arm while he was kicking capricious. He ended up knotting and seemed troubled. On the 16th, he had to shoot his putt to keep his duel in the match. He left short, when he needed aggression.
But with Poulter, the darling of European fans, McIlroy seemed comfortable. The adulation and attention of the crowd was shared and the burden of waiting was shared, both using the muscle memory of the previous Ryder Cup to help settle the nerves and afford to take advantage of the moment.
Their pleasure was to Bjorn's credit. Of the four groups sent by Bjorn in the afternoon, only one seemed a little unknown: Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren. Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson played together in the last two Ryder Cups and recorded a 4-2 record. McIlroy told Rose to "give me something to hunt" and start the afternoon with a win.
McIlroy and Poulter followed the assaulting start of Rose and Stenson, while Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood have already won in the morning and passed last. Garcia and Noren took third place. They seemed a little risky, but they won a 5 and 4 win over Phil Mickelson-Bryson DeChambeau.
In the afternoon, Jim Furyk's calls seemed – with the benefit of hindsight – of the knee reflex, while those of Bjorn were frozen. Dane's calm confidence won in the afternoon as Europe finished its first whitewash session in 29 years.
Before the morning session and the first tee shot, Poulter led two thunderclaps and the crowd responded in perfect time. McIlroy followed suit, just before leaving with Olesen. While standing in the same place as Poulter, McIlroy stood with his arms outstretched and knocked. Those who watch have fallen in love with that. It was a difficult and embarrassing moment in a period of harmony, and the pace would not return until the afternoon. At the end of the game, with the classification covered in blue, Poulter and McIlroy cheered the crowd at their own pace. As the afternoon sun passed through the autumn shivers, Bjorn squeezed McIlroy again on the 16th green. But this time, smiles burst on everyone's faces. "You know, the only thing I say to Rory is that we're going back, and that's what we're doing," Bjorn said. "I immediately understood that I am in no way qualified to tell Rory McIlroy how to play golf, but I am qualified to lead him in a direction with the people he surrounds with this week. good things from him. "Now he comes home with a little smile and then we'll see where he is tomorrow." At the end of Friday, Bjorn was asked if the action he had seen influenced his thoughts for twinnings. "Not really," he replied. It's hard to question the man, with McIlroy playing alongside Garcia, another to enjoy the confidence of Bjorn. Bjorn's instinct worked, because in the space of nine hours, McIlroy experienced the revival of the Ryder Cup.
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