Ahead of the Ryder Cup, the European captain, Luke Donald, enlisted the help of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to provide motivational videos to be played in the team room. After all, those tennis players have experience of playing against top-level American competitors in a hostile New York environment. At some point, maybe at several points, last Sunday afternoon it may have occurred to Donald that his team might find themselves on the wrong end of the equivalent of losing despite having held seven match points.
Seven points had been the European lead at Bethpage Black on Saturday night. They got home by two on Sunday, Ludvig Aberg being their sole winner in the singles. The half-point that ensured retention of the trophy was secured with a six-foot putt by Shane Lowry. The half-point that clinched victory was provided by Tyrrell Hatton. It was rather fitting: they were the only two players to emerge undefeated from what was too frequently an excessively unseemly encounter. You might call it a good walk soiled.
“I don’t mind them having a go at us,” said Rory McIlroy, who had the F-word directed at him with mind-numbing regularity by spectators who one imagines had over-imbibed on their Michelobs. “That’s what an away Ryder Cup is.” In this case it was also about personal insults aimed at his wife. “Whenever they are still doing it while you are over the ball and over your shot, that’s the tough thing.” It probably didn’t help that the president showed up for a while on Friday; like his social-media posts, this was capital-letter abuse. “Just give us the respect to let us hit shots,” McIlroy concluded.
As for the hitting of shots, the following stat is instructive as to how each team’s ‘big guns’ performed while also showing how tough it is to play every match in a Ryder Cup. Three Europeans did it – McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm. Over the first two days McIlroy had three wins and a half, Fleetwood had four wins, Rahm three wins and a loss. They all lost on Sunday. (The same had happened to Fleetwood in Paris in 2018.) For the USA, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler played four times before the singles. Cantlay had a win, a half and two losses. He was the only American to lose on Sunday. DeChambeau had just one win but managed a half in the singles after being 5 down to Matt Fitzpatrick. Scheffler lost the lot but beat McIlroy on Sunday.
Rahm was among those heaping praise on his leader. “Luke has set the bar for captaincy so extremely high,” he said. “He has been so professional, so dedicated, so incredibly meticulous.” Despite the barnstorming efforts of his players on Sunday, it would be hard to say that about the US skipper, Keegan Bradley. (He is shown on the home page before the match began.) For example, statistics compiled by Data Golf suggested that pairing Harris English with Collin Morikawa in the foursomes was the worst of all available options. Bradley did it twice. They lost twice, heavily, to the same opponents. “We have a plan,” said Bradley on Friday evening. “We’re comfortable with our plan. And we’re really comfortable with those two players.” Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight champion, once famously said: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Keegan was determined to stick with his plan even if the result was to be hit again. In football terms, it seemed like deliberately scoring an own goal and then repeating the trick in the second half.
To be fair, McIlroy and Fleetwood would probably have beaten any combination Bradley came up with. To be realistic, the stats suggest English and Morikawa would have lost to whichever combo Donald offered them. And to be frank, when Viktor Hovland’s injury meant he couldn’t play in the singles, it transpired that English had become Bradley’s weakest link: he was the man in the envelope. The strategy, if there was one, made no sense. This Ryder Cup ended with Donald having a playing/captaincy career record of played six, won six. Bradley’s reads played three, lost three.
The organisers, the PGA of America, had a hand in the shambles as well. They appointed a female comedian as first-tee host. On Friday morning she urged the crowd to “let’s f***ing go!” – not something I can ever recall happening when the players are announced to the crowd at the Open Championship. I also doubt that will be happening at Adare Manor in 2027, where the US will be attempting to win overseas for the first time since 1993. Europe have now managed that four times since then. After he won the Masters in April, McIlroy said: “I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf is winning an away Ryder Cup.” He has now done it twice.
Overall, Europe won this one because they were the better team. They are usually the better team even when the US has the better players. And, given the toxic atmosphere much of the match was played in, they deserved to win. Many of the American fans were a disgrace. And now they’re losers, too.