He was robbed of a Ryder Cup moment he may never have again  

Harris English was 32 when he made his first Ryder Cup team; that was four years ago at Whistling Straits, where English, as the second-oldest player on the team, went 1-2-0 as a captain’s pick, and the Americans steamrolled the Europeans, 19-9. English’s second Ryder Cup appearance came last week at Bethpage Black. He soaked up every minute, because, well…who knows if he’ll be back for a third go? As English said Thursday, “Ultimately, this might be my last Ryder Cup.”

During practice rounds, English reveled in picking the brains of his fellow players, who most weeks on Tour guard their game-improvement wisdom as if it’s a state secret. (“Everybody is very open,” English said.) At the Opening Ceremony, he palled around with Bryson DeChambeau, who explained to English the finer points of social media. (“A different world that I’m not used to seeing,” English said.) English also got to reunite with Russell Henley, with whom English played junior golf and roomed at the University of Georgia — and now here they were playing on a U.S. Ryder Cup team together. (If you would have told us that when we were 14 years old,” English said, “we wouldn’t have believed it.”)

It’s dream-week stuff for these guys: the insights, the bonding and, of course, the promise of putting points on the board for your flag, especially in Sunday singles, when the contest is in the balance and players have nothing to fall back on other than their own skill, nerve and mettle. For the world’s best sticks, Ryder Cup singles matches rank right up there with the sport’s ultimate gut checks; they’re also the only format in which every player is guaranteed a match. When you earn your place on a Ryder Cup team, you’ve earned a Sunday tee time you’ll remember for the rest of your days.

ENGLISH DIDN’T NEED TO WAIT long last week to see how his game would hold up in the supercharged arena that was Bethpage Black. U.S. captain Keegan Bradley tapped English and Collin Morikawa to play in the event’s first session: Friday foursomes. The Americans couldn’t have loved their draw — the juggernaut Euro squad of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood — and the match played out as most predicted, with McIlroy and Fleetwood cruising to a 5-and-4 victory. Still, Bradley (and his quant geeks) had faith in the English-Morikawa duo, so much so that they trotted them back out on Saturday. Same format, same opponents (by chance), same result: this time a 3-and-2 defeat.

At day’s end, the U.S. team was in a historically deep hole, needing to win 10 of the 12 available points in Sunday singles to prevent Europe from becoming the first road team to win a Ryder Cup in 13 years. A herculean task? Most assuredly. But the U.S. did have something going for it: historically it has outplayed the Europeans in this format. If each player dug in and did his job, a comeback was improbable but not impossible.

Among the European point-earners Saturday was Viktor Hovland of Norway, who teamed with Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre, to deliver a 1-up foursomes win over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and English’s old college teammate, Henley. Hovland would have gone out again in the afternoon if not for a nagging neck injury he’d been dealing with since the Travelers Championship in June. On Saturday morning, Hovland had received mid-match treatment from team doctors, and soon after the contest concluded, he withdrew from his afternoon four-ball date with Matt Fitzpatrick (Tyrrell Hatton replaced him).

Hovland’s questionable status immediately led to speculation about whether the Ryder Cup’s fabled “envelope rule” might need to be enacted. Under that agreement, each captain submits, in concealed fashion, the name of one player from his team who, should an injury on the opposing side prevent a player from suiting up, would also be benched. It’s a cruel assignment for the captains. Put bluntly, they’re identifying the players on their teams in whom they have the least confidence in delivering a singles point. Only twice in the rule’s 46-year existence had it come into play and not since 1993.      

On Saturday night, Hovland was transported to a local hospital where he had an MRI scan that later showed he had a bulging disc. On Sunday morning, he woke up unable to turn his neck. Still, he burned to play. He put on his team colors and headed to the range for a practice session that did not go well. His decision was made. Sometime after noon, he informed his captain, Luke Donald, that he would have to withdraw from his bout against English, which was the last of 12 matches on the tee sheet. In Ryder Cup Europe’s 318-word statement explaining the situation, two words, from Hovland, stood out: “Pretty heartbreaking.”   

Hovland was speaking only for himself, but he may as well also have been speaking for his opponent.

***

HARRIS ENGLISH GOT THE NEWS at about 1:15 p.m., or roughly 45 minutes before his scheduled 2:03 starting time. He was in the practice area, on the verge of warming up for what was either the first- or second-biggest match of his life. That, Harris later said, was when “they told me that I’m not playing today.”

He knew this outcome was a possibility, of course. But still, hearing the words — that one of the great privileges and opportunities of his golfing career had been stripped from him by way of another player’s status — had to feel like a Canelo Álvarez-grade blow to the gut. When asked about his poor luck Sunday evening, English oozed class, saying it was more stressful watching the matches than playing in one and how proud he was of his teammates for “gutting it out” and making the Europeans sweat by claiming eight of the 12 points. But English also revealed what else was churning inside.

“It was tough,” he said. “I know Viktor is hurt. He sent me a text. He came up to me, and I know he’s hurt. The rule is what it is; hopefully they’ll look at it at some point. But it sucked not going out there and playing today.”

It did suck.

For English, for Hovland, for the teams, for the captains, for the fans, for the event.

But rules are rules.

“We have contracts for a reason, a captains’ agreement for a reason, for situations that occur,” Donald said at the winnner’s press conference Sunday night. “I want to center it back to Viktor; I would have had absolute faith in him to deliver a point today. He couldn’t play. He was gutted.”

Bradley was less diplomatic.

“The rule has to change,” he said sternly, without saying how he’d like to see it changed. “I think it’s obvious to everybody in the sports world, in this room. Nothing against Viktor. But that rule needs to change by the next Ryder Cup.”

That edition will be decided two years from now at Adare Manor in Ireland. Only time will tell if Harris English will be there.