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 Closer Look Maggert jumpstarts U.S.
Posted: Saturday September 25, 1999 01:39 PM
By Albert Lin, CNN/SI BROOKLINE, Mass. - Well, whaddya know, it looks like Sunday will matter after all. Mathematically, at least, if not practically. After Europe jumped to a 6-2 lead following the first day's action at the Ryder Cup, the Euros, believe it or not, had a chance to clinch the Cup Saturday. A sweep of all eight matches would've given them 14 points, assuring a tie, in which case the defending champion retains the coveted trophy. A longshot at best, yes, but for a while Friday morning it looked like still a possibility. The U.S. trailed two matches big, while two more were all square but with momentum on the side of the Europeans. Then Jeff Maggert stepped to the fore. First, the 35-year-old Texas resident sank an enormous putt on 17 to give him and teammate Hal Sutton a one-hole lead on Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie. Then he hit a clutch approach on 18 to ice the 1-up victory. "Jeff and I play similar-style games," Sutton said. "I can't emphasize how well we play as a team. Whoever needed to rise to the occasion, rose to the occasion." The win brought a smile to the face of U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw, who seemed on the verge of tears all Friday. The Americans added a second point when the team of Tiger Woods and Steve Pate, after blowing a 3-up lead through three holes, recovered to take a 1-up victory on Miguel Angel Jimenez and Padraig Harrington, leaving the Europeans ahead 7-4 entering the afternoon session. The Maggert-Sutton team had been the Americans' lone bright spot Friday, the only duo to take a full point -- a 3 and 2 foursomes defeat of Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood. But in their afternoon four-ball loss to Jimenez and Jose Maria Olazabal and in Saturday's opening 16 holes, Sutton had been the better half of the team, getting the crowd fired up with his strong iron play and encouraging cheers by raising his arms and playing to the fans. "Hal had been carrying the load most of the day," Maggert said, "and I felt kind of bad for him." With the teams all square in the 17th fairway, Montgomerie -- the veteran who has served as the European team's anchor throughout the competition -- soundly struck his wedge approach just past the hole, the ball spinning back and catching a downslope before settling about 18 feet from the cup. Sutton hit a nearly identical shot that stopped on the same line, but about seven feet further below. The Europeans seemingly in better position, Maggert stepped up and stroked perfectly, the ball winding uphill and breaking right-to-left straight into the hole. Lawrie left his attempt just above the cup, and the Americans suddenly had the lead with one to play. "I had a good read on the putt," Maggert said. "As soon as I hit it I knew it had a chance. It had good speed, and the hole just swallowed it up." On 18, Sutton and Montgomerie again hit nearly identical shots, but this time Monty was 20 yards short. That meant Lawrie had first crack at the pin, and he flubbed his six-iron badly, turning in disgust and not even watching the ball's flight. It landed on the right side of the green -- where the hole was cut Friday, but completely opposite Saturday's placement. Maggert didn't need the wiggle room Lawrie left him. His eight-iron from 153 yards was just about perfect, rolling inches right of the hole and coming to a stop just a foot and half past. The gallery chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A" as the players walked up the fairway, and when the quartet reached the green, the Europeans conceded the birdie putt -- and with it the victory and a second point for the Sutton-Maggert team. "I just wanted to hit a solid shot and give Hal an opportunity for a birdie in case he needed it," Maggert said. "I had a perfect yardage there and just tried to hit a solid shot. It just wound up next to the hole." Asked about teaming up a fourth time in the afternoon, Maggert suggested that it might be good to rest up for Sunday's singles. It sounded like a man who already knew he wouldn't be playing. Indeed, when the pairings came out an hour later, Maggert was on the sidelines and Sutton was paired with Justin Leonard for four-ball play against the Spanish duo of Jimenez and Olazabal. Crenshaw said he was playing a hunch on Leonard, while Maggert admitted he had struggled Friday afternoon, both physically and in the four-ball format.
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