SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France — The first match of Ryder Cup Sunday Singles was the perfect table setter. Justin Thomas vs Rory McIlroy.
Seventeen holes in, the showdown had fully lived up to the billing. Thomas and McIlroy walked to the 18th tee all square, thanks to an impressive up and down from McIlroy at 17. Thomas crushed his tee shot down the skinniest part of the water-lined fairway. In McIlroy’s chance to answer, he pushed his 3-wood just a touch, sending it soaring toward the fairway bunker. That’s where he got unlucky.
Rory’s ball plugged straight into the lip of the bunker, leaving him no shot at reaching the green. As Thomas waited in the fairway, McIlroy was forced to hack at the ball, unable to advance it in the direction of the hole.
Disaster for Rory on the 18th…
His ball is plugged in the bunker off the tee and he can’t chip out. ?️
Follow live coverage from the Sunday singles at the 42nd #RyderCup and watch on Sky Sports’ Ryder Cup channel: https://t.co/wrurjdHdi5 #BelieveInBlue pic.twitter.com/JwpR3AOuGU
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) September 30, 2018
McIlroy then tried his luck with a long iron, needing to reach the green to apply any kind of pressure on Thomas. It skipped from the bunker, rolled into the water, all but ensuring a point for his opponent. Thomas stuck his approach inside 15 feet, and the match was over.
It was just a really quality second shot from JT.#GoUSA pic.twitter.com/QfU2jeVFbk
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 30, 2018
