Cabrera Bello a great partner – Garcia
Sergio Garcia hailed the efforts of fellow Spaniard Rafael Cabrera Bello after the duo pulled off a magnificent comeback to rescue a potentially crucial half-point for Europe in the Ryder Cup.
Having been four down with six holes to play against Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, Garcia and Cabrera Bello capitalised on a major wobble from their opponents to pull level by the 17th, before halving the last.
As a result, Europe – 4-0 down after the opening foursomes at Hazeltine – were able to head into Saturday’s fourballs trailing by just a solitary point, the USA’s lead cut to 6.5 – 5.5.
“I had to take a lot of breaths on 17 and 18 because the emotions were so high,” said Ryder Cup veteran Garcia, who had first teamed up with Cabrera Bello to good effect on Friday afternoon.
“To be able to get it back to square and see that we actually had a chance of winning the match – I mean, all credit to my partner.”
In an apparent reference to the late, great Seve Ballesteros, Garcia added of Cabrera Bello: “First Ryder Cup and he reminds me of a little Spanish guy a few years ago. I’m so happy for him.
“We were very consistent, giving ourselves chances, making birdies, but they [Spieth and Reed] had an amazing start [birdieing five of the first seven holes].
“We just kept telling each other: keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, keep putting pressure and hopefully at some point they will slow down a little bit. And we managed to do that, so I’m very happy. I had a [great partner].
“We still believed. You know, we never give up for sure, It didn’t look great. But we kept at it. And we just saw a little window, just a little window they gave us and we grabbed the moment.”
“VAMOS!”#TeamEurope https://t.co/zsDJkFZ3F4
— Ryder Cup Team EUR (@RyderCupEurope) October 1, 2016
Reflecting on a missed opportunity for the USA, Spieth said: “We haven’t had a problem before [closing a match out], we just hit a few sloppy shots. I made a bad decision there on 15 trying to hit the hero shot instead of laying back.
“We played a fantastic round. We were something like six under through 12 holes in alternate shot on this course, which is a ridiculous number.
“And they played great. The way we played wins most matches and they stayed steady with it and hit the shots they needed to coming down the stretch.”
