Collin Morikawa and Team USA Fall Farther Back at the Ryder Cup

For the second day in a row, Cal alum Collin Morikawa and his USA partner Harris English were beaten in foursome play at the 45th Ryder Cup on the Bethpage Black course at Farmingdale, NY.

The outcome contributed to the European squad building its lead to a commanding 11.5 to 4.5 margin entering Sunday's 12 singles matches. It's the largest lead going into Sunday dating back to 1979 when the current format was adopted.

"I didn't imagine this," Europe captain Luke Donald told reporters. "Every time the Americans came at us, we came back. The resiliency and confidence they have is really, truly incredible."

Europe needs to win just three of 12 matches on Sunday to successfully defend its title of two years ago and become the first visiting team to win since 2012.

Morikawa and Harris lost 3 and 2 to the European team of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, which prevailed by a 5 and 4 score in matchup the day before.

The USA pairing won the first hole on Saturday morning before McIlroy and Fleetwood took command by racking up wins on the second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth hole for a four-hole edge.

Collin Morikawa shows his frustration | Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images

Morikawa and Harris made a late dent in the margin by winning the 14th and 15th holes. But when the Europeans took No. 16, they had a three-hole edge with two to go and it was over.

For the second day in a row, Morikawa was not in the lineup for the afternoon four-ball competition, won 3-1 by the Europeans.

The Americans, trailing 5 1/2 to 2 1/2 after Friday’s action. got off to an good start Saturday when Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Young posted a 4 and 2 victory over Matt Fitzpatrick and Ludvig Aberg.

But after the McIlroy-Fleetwood victory and a 3 and 2 triumph by Tyrell Hatton and Jon Rahm over Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schaufele, the visitors had pushed the lead to 7 1/2 to 3 12.

Finally, Europe’s Robert MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland outlasted Russell Henley and Scottie Scheffler 1 up to hike the margin to 8 1/2 to 3 1/2. Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked player, dropped to 0-4 in foursome play at the past two Ryder Cups.

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