I watched the JJ Henry ruling on TV, and Ryan essentially has it correct (it was on the par 5 18th, after Henry had made two brilliant plays on the 16th and 17th for eagle/birdie). It appeared to me that Henry first asked if he could get relief on his stance -- the yardage marker/sprinkler head cover would've been between his ball (where it ended up) and his stance, and Henry would've had an awkward stance, with the ball below his feet. The official denied him relief on stance (appropriately, I thought), but it seemed to me the official made some kind of comment to the effect of: you can't get relief on stance IF you play your ball where it lies. It was then that Henry consulted with Lehman, asked about the lift/clean rule, and asked the official if he could place his ball on the edge of the marker (the ball was very close to the marker, within the 6 inches of the lift/clean regulation), and then get relief on his ball. The official said, yes, he could. Henry then moved his ball within a club length of the marker, which -- from where it looked on TV -- gave him a much more level stance.
Not commenting on the spirit of his observance of the rule, but it was pretty clear -- the whole thing took about 5 minutes -- that Henry was looking to gain as much of an advantage with his stance and/or lie as he could. His team was up by one on the 18th (in the last match of the day), Cink was faced with an indifferent approach to the green sitting 3, Casey had hit his drive further, had a good lie, and clearly was going to go for the green in 2; Henry certainly knew he had to go for the green with his 2nd shot.
As it was -- the ruling aside -- it was one of the real pivotal points in the Ryder Cup. Henry hit a very good shot; Casey hit a truly magnificant shot. US might have had some momentum if Henry/Cink had won 1 up; instead, Euro got the halve. Probably didn't matter in the end, as dominant as Euro was, but it was a pretty major turning point.