45 days until golf: Leonard sinks Ryder Cup-clinching putt in 1999

The PGA Tour plans to restart its season June 11 after halting due to the coronavirus pandemic. Each day until then, we'll highlight key moments, people, or facts relating to where we are in the countdown.

The 1999 Ryder Cup, dubbed the "Battle of Brookline," was a wild clash between the Americans and Europeans that looked completely lopsided after two days.

The Americans were down four points heading into Sunday singles and needed a historic comeback to win the Ryder Cup. No team had ever erased a two-or-more-point deficit on the final day.

European captain Mark James backloaded his team's talent for the head-to-head matches, while Ben Crenshaw put his top players out early in an attempt to build momentum. The latter's plan worked.

With points from Tom Lehman, Hal Sutton, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, and David Duval, the Americans managed to pull ahead by two.

Attention then turned to the match between Justin Leonard and Jose Maria Olazabal, who was 4-up on the American with seven holes remaining. Leonard needed to just halve the match to complete the U.S. comeback.

After winning three straight holes, Leonard faced an epic 45-foot birdie putt on the 17th with Olazabal lining up his own attempt from much closer. Leonard drilled the putt, causing the American side to storm the green in celebration, forgetting Olazabal still had a chance to win. The Spaniard eventually missed, sealing the USA's historic Sunday.

Side note: the Americans' shirts were so bad, they were good.

Here are the stacked rosters from the 1999 teams: