FARMINGDALE, N.Y. —Scottie Scheffler made the wrong history on Saturday at the Ryder Cup.
The World No. 1 could not rip the ship during the morning or afternoon sessions at Bethpage Black. Scheffler and Russell Henley lost 1 Up in foursomes to Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland in Session 3, and a superstar team-up with Bryson DeChambeau failed to register a point in a 3&2 defeat to Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose.
“Bryson and I did some good stuff out there. We were into a tough matchup today,” Scheffler said Saturday evening. “Those guys played great. They made a ton of putts and really tip of a cap to them. They played better than we did. Bryson did a great job battling all day. Did a really good job keeping us in the match, but overall just didn’t do enough, and they played great.”
It’s worth noting Scheffler did not play poorly, ranking second among Americans in strokes gained in the morning and outpacing every European besides Rose and Fleetwood in the afternoon. Alas, the two losses join yesterdays two blows, leading to an odd stat:Scheffler became the first World No. 1 to star 0-4 in event history, as well as the first golfer to go 0-4 in the first four sessions since the Ryder Cup changed format in 1979.
This is the second straight Ryder Cup where Scheffler has struggled to put up points after going 0-2-2 in Rome. He did have an auspicious debut at the 2021 Ryder Cup with a 2-0-1 record at Whistling Straits.
If it’s any consolation, one other person has went o-fer in the first four sessions: Peter Alliss in 1967. And the player Scheffler has often been compared to, Tiger Woods, also failed to duplicate his feats at the Ryder Cup, going 13-21-3 in his career. But if the Americans harbor any hopes of a historic comeback, they will need Scheffler to put something on the board on Sunday.
