Vision debates whether Europe’s Ryder Cup fightback was the greatest sporting comeback of the 21st century…
YES – Alex Finnis
The night before Team Europe stepped out onto the course at Medinah with the task of pulling back a 10-6 defecit to retain the Ryder Cup, Gene Wojciechowski, an American sports journalist working for ESPN, gave them hope.
His smug article said that Europe could still win the Ryder Cup, but only if in form American Keegan Bradley happened to be abducted overnight, if Marty McFly taught European captain Jose Maria Olazabal to go back in time, or if Lee Westwood, who had been struggling with his form throughout the competition, gained US citizenship before the start of play on Sunday.
This is how confident the Americans were going into the final day. They were the pre-tournament favourites, they had dominated the opening first two days – every US putt seemed to drop whilst simply nothing was going for the European team.
That is until Ian Poulter, a man who thrives on the Ryder Cup atmosphere, birdied the last five holes on Saturday evening to give his side a bit of momentum going into Sunday. A glimmer of hope, but nothing more.
What followed was nothing short of magic. Dressed in the colours of the late Seve Ballesteros, the Europeans came out and seemed to channel the great man himself. Rose and Garcia both came back to win their matches after being 1 down through 16, and Martin Kaymer found himself with the unlikeliest of putts to retain the trophy. The rest is brilliant history.
NO – Jack Bradshaw
At the Ryder Cup, Europe’s players were, on average, ranked higher than their American counterparts and had the relative luxury of being able to lose four matches en route to victory.
Now, while that comeback was indeed incredible, greater comebacks have been made where there was no point of return against a far superior opposition.
An example of this is the 2002 Australian Open final between Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati. Capriati was 4-6 0-4 down against the five-time Grand Slam winner, only to clinch the second set 9-7 in a tie break and win the third 6-2. She remains the only player in the Open era to save championship points and still win. And she saved four of them.
The 2005 Champions League Final also fits the bill. Liverpool, who finished fifth in the Premier League, were up against Italian champions AC Milan who possessed a team of superstars. To come back from 3-0 down and then to have the guts to win a penalty shoot-out takes some doing against that opposition. Similar was Tsonga’s Wimbledon semi-final victory over Roger Federer last year, who had never been beaten after going two sets up.
We also have Manchester City’s two late goals in stoppage time against QPR to win the Premier League where there was no point of return. But because I’m a United fan, the less said about that, the better.