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The lead went to 2 up, and Mahan had to win the final two holes to pull out the match -- and the cup. But he got up under his tee shot at the par-3 17th, leaving it short of the green. What followed was the sort of shot one might expect to see at the muni. Trying to hole out, he didn't even reach the green.
When Mahan missed with a putt from off the front of the green, he didn't even bother making McDowell putt. The two men shook hands, and the European celebration was on. Champagne, cigars and plenty of "Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!"
The elation was easy to see. So was the dejection, written all over Mahan's face as he bit his lip, tried futilely to hold back tears and struggled to get words out.
Call it the yin and yang of Ryder Cup.
Two years ago, Mahan was one of the stars of the U.S. victory at Valhalla, where as a rookie he didn't lose a match and knocked in a key 60-foot birdie putt on the decisive final day. Now he knows what it feels like to have it all snatched away.
"That's what the Ryder Cup gives you. It gives you moments like that," Mahan said. "I know it will make me a better player, because there's not a scenario where I'll ever see that again, I don't think."
If nothing else, the Americans showed they do care deeply about Samuel Ryder's gold trophy.
Everyone was hurting, not just Mahan.
"We put a lot of heart and energy into this event," Mickelson said. "We really believed all week we were going to win. We didn't just talk about it, but we really believed that we were going to prevail. Even heading into (Monday), when we were down, we just knew we were going to win."
In retrospect, they had too much ground to make up. The Americans actually lost the cup on Sunday, when Europe nearly pulled off a clean sweep of the team matches, winning five of them and halving the other. Europe took a 9 1/2-6 1/2 lead in the first Monday finish in the event's 83-year-history, a necessity after torrential rains flooded the place and caused two long delays.
The final day in the lush Wales countryside broke sunny and warm, allowing Colin Montgomerie to display that very long shadow he cast over the European team as its captain. He had a hand in everything from motivational speeches to trivia games in the team room to fiddling with the scoreboards.
And when it was done, his team had just enough points.
"This meant an awful lot to me," said Monty, one of Europe's greatest Ryder Cup players. "I have a reasonable playing record in this competition, but I never had a winning record as a captain. You only have one go at it."
Yep, this was the sort of Ryder Cup that can make careers -- even for those who didn't swing a club.
[Associated Press;
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