Tiger Woods' Advice Leads To U.S. Taking Three-Point Lead At Ryder Cup

Apparently, United States captain Davis Love III was considering sitting Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth in Saturday afternoon’s Ryder Cup four-ball session at Hazeltine National Golf Club, but one of his vice captains talked him out of it.

Love told reporters Saturday that he was considering benching the two after Europe closed Team USA’s advantage to one point in the morning’s foursome matches. But Tiger Woods advised him against it.

Davis Love III said Tiger Woods talked him into playing Reed-Spieth this afternoon. He told him, 'Please don't take my guys out.' #RyderCup

— Jeff Babineau (@JeffBabineau62) October 1, 2016

That move turned out to be a crucial one, as Reed and Spieth put on a show in the afternoon to beat Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson and help Team USA build a 9 1/2-to-6 1/2 lead heading into Sunday’s singles matches.

#GoUSA 9.5#TeamEurope 6.5 pic.twitter.com/qEQTt5x5e0

— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) October 1, 2016

The one group that did come through for Europe in the afternoon was the duo of Rory McIlroy and Thomas Pieters. McIlroy has been Europe’s best player all weekend with a 4-1-0 record, despite the U.S. fans’ best efforts.

So the Europeans would have to pull off a pretty sizeable comeback Sunday to keep the Ryder Cup — something they have a history of doing.

And here are the 12 matches that will decide whether Team USA wins the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2008, or if it stays with Europe.