J.J. Jakovac feels ‘lucky’ to be part of clinching match for another Ryder Cup
By Garrett Johnston · September 30, 2021
J.J. Jakovac enjoyed his second Ryder Cup last week and got to be a part of the clinching match for the second time.
An extremely rare position.
In 2016, Jakovac was on the bag at Hazeltine for Ryan Moore when he beat Lee Westwood in singles 1 up that got Team USA to 14.5 points. They would finish 17-11.
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On Sunday at Whistling Straits, Morikawa’s match against Viktor Hovland was tied on the 18th and that half-point got the U.S. to 14.5 and the win en route to a 19-9 final.
Jakovac was well aware of the fortunate spot he was in.
“Yeah I told (friends) that I must be good luck, I’m 2-for-2 in closeout points in the Ryder Cup in the two that I’ve done,” Jakovac joked.
“It comes down to just being in the right place at the right time. Brooks Koepka was behind us and he hit a 5-iron to six inches on 17 and he would have got the clinching point if he was in front of us, so we were just kind of lucky to be where we were put. I’m sure that goes into the captain’s decisions on where to play everyone and who you want out there in that position.”
Jakovac said the team had lofty goals as they entered Sunday singles.
“There was a lot of talk the night before with our huge lead, obviously one of the biggest leads going into singles, but there was no, ‘hey we got this, hey this is over,’ it was more, ‘let’s go put more points on the board than anybody ever has.’ That says a lot that you watch Daniel Berger playing the last five or six holes. He birdied 16 and 18 to get the 19th point to break the all-time record since they went to Europe vs. the U.S.”
