ROME The U.S. were dead.
Dead, dead, dead.
Down 6.5-1.5 after play on Friday.
Down 9.5-2.5 after Saturday morning foursomes.
They had zero life.
Going through the motions.
Probably thinking about getting back to Florida for dinner on Sunday.
And then HatGate happened.
Per Weir, Cantlay wasn’t wearing a hat in protest of not being paid for the Ryder Cup.
A helluva story to drop in the middle of play.
From my reporting, almost all of it is not true.
Yes, Cantlay wants to be paid to play in the Ryder Cup.
He fights for the players unapologetically.
Whether he’s right to expect money for representing his country is a separate discussion.
But Weir’s conflating that true thing with a lot of not-true things.
First, the no-hat move is not some sort of protest.
He didn’t wear one at the last Ryder Cup, either.
There is no fracture in the U.S. locker room.
Cantlay and Schauffele are not siphoned off in some other room.
They started heckling Cantlay nonstop.
They started waiving their caps at him before, during and after every shot.
They couldn’t not.
They trail 10.5-5.5, and no team in Ryder Cup history has ever come back from a five-point deficit.
And yet still, the U.S. have something they haven’t all week: momentum.
They have a rallying cry.
They have some juice.
European Luke Donald explained the exchange in his post-round presser.
Rory politely asked Joe to move aside, he was in his line," Donald said.
That’s at least the European perspective.
LaCava told NBC that he wasn’t in McIlroy’s way.
And Joey LaCava, never one to take shit…didn’t take shit.
Lowry’s trying to hold Rory back and get him in the car back to the hotel.
But again, this is the last thing the Europeans wanted.
That report has lit a fire under the Americans' asses.
As for the reason Cantlay didn’t wear a hat?
“The hat doesn’t fit.
It didn’t fit at Whistling Straits, and didn’t fit this week.
Everyone knows that.”
But was it a protest?
“This is the first I heard of it right when I got off the green.
That’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
It’s not just the Americans that’re fired up.
“A few scenes there on 18,” McIlroy said.
“And just fuel for the fire tomorrow.”
Sunday could well be a snooze.
As stated previously, literally no team has ever come back from this deficit.
Or the U.S. could pull off the impossible.
And if they do, they’ll have a certain article of clothing to thank.
Or, more accurately, the lack thereof.
Update:Sunday singles matchups are out.
Unfortunately, no Rory vs. Cantlay.
