Section B · Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, September 27, 1999
Crenshaw leads United States in Ryder Cup win
The Associated Press
BROOKLINE, Mass. — All Ben Crenshaw asked his Ryder Cup team to do was believe, and the Americans responded with a charge that was simply unbelievable.
With a birdie putt that was as long as America's chances, Justin Leonard took dead aim and finished off the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history, assuring the 17-inch gold chalice a home on U.S. soil for the first time since 1993.
Victory came on the 17th green, across the street from where Francis Quimet lived when he won the 1913 U.S. Open and made golf popular in the United States. This triumph made heroes out of a U.S. team that pushed aside the dispute about money and won something that proved to be far more valuable.
"I never stopped believing," said a choked-up Crenshaw after a 14 1/2-13 1/2 victory. "I'm stunned. This is so indescribable."
Leonard's 45-foot birdie putt unleashed a torrent of emotion that had been building throughout an electric day at The Country Club, where fans cheered every United States victory and every missed putt by the Europeans.
The putt guaranteed the Americans 14 1/2 points, the amount they needed to win, but an amount few believed they would get.
"This was history being made today, and we all wanted to be a part of that," said Hal Sutton, the rock-solid star of the U.S. team who contributed 3 1/2 points. "This is the greatest moment in golf right now."
despite a 10-6 deficit going into the final round and despite the fact no
team has ever come back from more than two points on the last day, Crenshaw refused to give in.
Orrishman's a bad believer "I'm a big believer in fate," he said Saturday night, wagging his finger with a wink.
Those were fitting words from Crenshaw, who won the 1995 Masters after the death of his long-time teacher Harvey Penick. At the time, he said he felt it was Penick's spirit guiding him along.
In much the same way, Creshman willed his team to victory on this course, which has a long history of U.S. victories.
"It's all because of Ben Crenshaw," Davis Love III said. "He fired us up, made me believe we could do it."
The United States overwhelmed Europe in the first six matches, closing all of them out before the 17th hole. Even David Duval, who
referred to the Ryder Cup as an exhibition, showed how much it meant by repeatedly shaking his fists and cupping his hand to his ear, asking the gallery for even more noise — maybe too much noise.
The Europeans found it excessive, and took exception to the player celebration after Leonard's putt because Jose Maria Olazabal still had a birdie putt to tie the match and possibly keep alive Europe's fading hopes.
“It's about the most disgusting thing I've ever seen,” assistant captain Sam Torrance said. “This is not sour grapes. The whole American team, and spectators ran right across the green over Olly's line. He still has a putt to the hole. We could still take the Ryder Cup home. It was disgusting.”
No comback, however, was as
symbolic as Leonard's. He had never
won a Ryder Cup match, and looked as if he had no chance against Olazabal when he trailed by four holes with seven to play.
noses with his helm.
Leonard won the next four holes to square the match, the last one a 35-footer on the 15th that gave the Americans another chance when Mark O'Meara faltered.
The cup was clinched on No. 17 when Leonard's 45-foot birdie putt banged into the back of the cup and dropped.
Olazabal birdied the 18th to halve the match, but by then the United States' celebration was well under. Leonard led the U.S. team in spraying champagne around the 18th green where the Stars and Stripes were waving.
The United States wound up winning 8 1/2 points out of 12 singles matches, its biggest margin since
1979. The Americans won by a rout that year, but this was different. They needed every point, every putt.
Europe, which looked so dominant in building what appeared to be an insurmountable lead, ran out of gas. Jesper Parnevic and Sergio Garcia, 3-01 while paired the first two days, were beaten back by Duval and Jim Furyk.
It was the first time all week the 19-year-old Spaniard, the youngest player in Ryder Cup history, couldn't muster a smile.
Creshawk hammered home his belief in fate during an emotional team meeting Saturday night in which every player spoke passionately — even Duval.
"I told them to go out and kill 'em." Duval said. He did his part, winning six of the first eight holes against Parmek in a 5 and 4 victory.
Cornhuskers' victory is 100th this decade
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo— This time, Nebraska needed no last-second heroes against Missouri. Not by a long shot.
The No. 6 Cornhuskers capitalized on two high punt snaps and an interception to take a 16-point first-quar
ter lead en route to a 40-10 victory against Missouri Saturday night, Missouri, which has lost 36 straight games to top-10 opponents since 1981, had two punts blocked for touchdowns in its opener against Alabama-Birmingham Sep
Eric Crouch threw for two touchdowns and ran for one as Nebraska (4-0) won its 100th game of the 1990s — one fewer than the decade's top team, Florida State.
"It's real small." Missouri coach Larry Smith said. "We stunk. That's the worst excuse for a football team I've ever seen in my life."
Nebraska held Missouri (2-1) to a second-quarter field goal, and Julius Jackson had an interception and a fumble recovery, both setting up touchdowns.
Nebraska's offense also came alive when Crouch hit former quarterback Bobby Newcombe for a 5-yard score in the second
half and Correll Buckhalter ran for 132 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. Crouch had 92 yards rushing on 15 carries and was 10-for-17 passing for 143 yards.
The first two snaps from Ben Davidson, both from the Missouri 35, sailed over the head of punter Jared Gilpin. The first was about 10 feet too
high and Gilip bobbed it once in full retreat before slapping it out of the end zone for a safety with 13:13 left in the first quarter. Gilip leaped to get his hands on the second snap but it got away, and he
finally threep a desperate pass that fell incomplete. Five plays later, Crouch hit Davison for a 90 lead.
Jackson intercepted Kirk Farmer's pass to give Nebraska the ball at the Missouri 31 with two seconds left in the quarter. On the next play, Crouch run around right end on the option to make it 16-0.
Jackson recovered a fumble by wide receiver Brandon Ford at the Missouri 30 in the third quarter to set up a 10-yard scoring run by Correll Buckhalter.
Nebraska led 19-3 at the break, the first time in 21 games that Missouri did not lead at halftime. The Cornhuskers had a whopping 196-52 advantage in yardage.
Wildcats dominate after first-half scare
The Associated Press
AMES, Iowa — Iowa State finally played well enough against Kansas State to give the Wildcats a scare.
Down 28-7 at halftime, No. 15 K-State rallied in the second half on David Allen's 94-yard punt return and No. 2 quarterback Adam Helm's steady play beatnet Iowa State 35-28 Saturday.
The Wildcats (3-0) not led in their
B1-18 games until Holm scored the
Big 12 opener until Hein sex winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with just 2:34 left, capping the biggest comeback in Bill Snyder's 11 seasons as coach.
"We were lucky enough to pull it together in the second
man," K-State linebacker Travis Litton said. "We made up our minds that we were not going to give up, and we knew if we limited our mistakes, we could win the ball game."
The Wildcats did, though only after Iowa State (3-1) dominated the first half, outgaining K-State 332-102. They looked nothing like the team that had lost the previous five games in the series by an average of 29 points.
the second series of the third quarter.
But the K-State defense stiffened, and Helm revived a sputtering offense after replacing starter Jonathan Beasley on
A key for the Wildcats was getting Iowa State's Darren Davis, the nation's No. 2 rusher, under control. Davis carried 17 times for 131 yards in the first half, then was limited to 21 yards in nine second-half carries.
Iowa State, which had been leading the nation in rushing, managed only 74 total yards during the final two quarters.
Helm, who scored twice on short runs, led touchdown drives of 80, 75
and 62 yards as the 'wildcats'
went to a short pass game.
The players also opened up the running game.
A 2-yard, touchdown run hit.
A 2-yard touchdown run by Heim drew K-State to 28-14 late in the third quarter, and Allen silenced the Iowa State crowd with his 94-yard punt return 3 1/2 minutes later.
Frank Murphy's 18-yard run and Jamie Rheen's extra point tied it at 28 with 10:11 remaining, and the Wildcats got the ball right back after the defense forced a punt.
bore a pen.
This time, Helm took his team 62 yards in 11 plays, finishing the drive with his keeper. K-State's biggest comeback previously under Snyder had been from a 14-point deficit in a 23-21 victory against Cincinnati in 1995.
East Carolina upsets No.9 Hurricanes 27-23
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — With all that East Carolina has been through in the last six days, a 20-point deficit didn't look all that daunting.
David Garrard's 27-yard touchdown pass to Keith Stokes with 4:51 left capped a fourth rallie and led the hurdle.
cane-battered Pirates to a 27-23 upset of No. 9 Miami Saturday night. It was the highest-ranked team East Carolina had ever beaten.
The Pirates (4-0) remained unbeaten despite having not been home in more than a week because of flooding and associated problems caused by Hurricane Floyd. The game was moved to Raleigh, 85 miles west of the East Carolina campus in Greenville. There were no classes last week, and the school may not reopen until Wednesday.
Garrard helped awaken the Pirates in the second half, completing 20 of 27 passes for 222 yards.
"I really wanted to get a win to go home with because I knew it's going to be a lot of troubles ... when we get back there,"
Garrard said. "This will help build us a little bit and the guys will be a little more happy going back home."
Miami (2.2) led 23-3 following Andy Crostland's 47-yard field goal with 12:13 left in the third quarter. That's when East Carolina took control.
jamie Wilson, whose earlier fumble led to a Miami touch
down, ran 23 yards for a score with 9:43 left in the period. Wilson then capped an 84-yard march with an 18-yard
touchdown run with 11:59 to play, closing the gap to 23-17.
plying on the gap Kevin Miller added a 39-yard field goal with 9:30 left to draw the Pirates closer.
East Carolina capped the comeback with a 79-yard, 10-play drive that ended a tough week. Kenny Kelly had a first-quarter scoring pass to Reggie Wayne for the Hurricanes, who lost for the second straight week by the same score. It also was the second straight loss to East Carolina in the series.
"I can't even describe. I don't even want to describe it. I don't think I can describe it," Kelly said. "If I was to describe how I feel, the NCAA must fire me."
KU Men's Volleyball
IBM.