McCARTHY Team USA dominates wins Ryder Cup whats next for Europe
Author of the article:
Jon McCarthy
Team USA's Dustin Johnson sprays champagne on his teammates as they celebrate after winning the Ryder Cup against Team Europe. Photo by Mike Segar /REUTERS Article content Team USA went to Whistling Straits looking to turn the page on a quarter century of Ryder Cup misery, they left Wisconsin having written the first chapter in a brand new story.
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Article contentIt was 24-year-old Collin Morikawa tapping in a birdie putt on the treacherous par-3 seventh hole that guaranteed the 14.5 points necessary for the win, a fitting end to a changing of the guard on the American team, and possibly in the Ryder Cup for years to come.
“What a glorious day for American golf, down and out in this competition for so long,†NBC Sports analyst and former Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said when the putt dropped.
The win became official one hole later when Morikawa and European Viktor Hovland halved their singles match with pars on the par-4 18th, earning Morikawa â€" who finished the week an undefeated 3-0-1 â€" the half point necessary to clinch the trophy for Team USA.
Heading into the week the question was whether Europe’s familiar roster of Ryder Cup legends would have their Last Dance moment or whether the heavily favoured Americans and their six rookies would start their own legacy. Beginning with the first session on Friday morning, the writing was on the wall as Team USA finally turned its glaring advantage on paper into a glaring advantage on the golf course. Along the way they proved that they â€" like the European teams they so often have faced â€" could be more than the sum of their parts.
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Article content“They played great and they came together,†American captain Steve Stricker said. “I mean, Brooks and Bryson wanted to play together; that’s how much it came together. That shows a lot about this whole team. … This is a new era for USA golf. They are young. They come with a lot of passion, a lot of energy, a lot of game.â€
It was both the youngest and highest-ranked American team on paper, with an average age of 29 and sporting eight of the top ten players in the world, to Europe’s one. Gone from the American team were Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and for the first time since 1993 the face of the team would be somebody other than one of the past generation’s golfing giants. In what is sure to keep European Ryder Cuppers up at night is that there was no singular face to this young American side.
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Article content“It’s a different group of guys, it’s a lot more fun than years past,†Brooks Koepka said after defeating Bernd Wiesberger 2&1. “It’s a very close-knit group of guys. Everybody is a bit younger and everybody has known each other for 15-plus years.â€
In Match 1 on Sunday, Europe’s Rory McIlroy finished a miserable Ryder Cup by salvaging his first point of the week defeating Xander Schauffele 3&2. The rookie gold medalist Schauffele still finished the week with an impressive 3-1 record.
The American avalanche started in Match 2 with another rookie. Patrick Cantlay finished off an undefeated 3-0-1 week defeating Irishman Shane Lowry 4&2. In Match 3, Scottie Scheffler â€" yet another rookie â€" handed world No. 1 Jon Rahm his only defeat of the week, winning 4&3. Then it was Bryson DeChambeau, who, while enjoying the love of the fans this week, took down the winningest player in Ryder Cup history Sergio Garcia 3&2.
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Article contentOn and on it went until the dust settled and Team USA had achieved a record-setting 19-9 victory. It’s the first time a team has reached 19 points since continental Europe was added to the Ryder Cup in 1979.
Team USA’s oldest player by five years Dustin Johnson, 37, had a perfect week, playing all five sessions.
“I did not expect 5-0-0, that’s for sure,†Johnson said. “But I didn’t really expect to play five matches but obviously got off to a good start and had some good partnerships there with Collin and Xander, so Captain just kept us rolling.â€
For the Europeans it was a stinging defeat, not only for the lopsided margin, but for what the future bodes. European captain Padraig Harrington will surely be criticized for his decisions, as all losing captains are, but it was plain to see all week long that his team was simply overmatched.
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Article contentHarrington will be questioned for his decision to reduce the number of captain’s picks for his side from four to three, as 48-year-old Lee Westwood’s automatically qualified despite entering the week without a top-20 finish in six months. It’s foolhardy to second-guess the three picks he did make, as captain’s picks Sergio Garcia and Shane Lowry provided the only spark for his team aside from his lone stud player in Rahm. Ian Poulter was the third captain’s pick and nobody can blame Harrington for seeing if there was any magic left in the 45-year-old Englishman since the next-best options likely were another forty-something in Justin Rose, Danny Willett, or a rookie Victor Perez.
“It’s been a tough week,†McIlroy said through tears after his match. “And the more and more I play in this event, I realize that it’s the best event in golf, bar none. … I don’t think there’s any greater privilege to be a part of one of these teams, European or American. It’s an absolute privilege.â€
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McIlroy and Poulter were both left in tears on Sunday, as both players showed a Ryder Cup passion that has always come so naturally to Team Europe. Where Europe goes from here is going to be the hard question for team leaders because this trip to Whistling Straits surely seemed to inelegantly slam the book shut on one of the great teams in golf history. The team that always has the will, now needs to find a way.
The story remembered from this much-delayed 2020 Ryder Cup is that of America’s team of the future showing they are very much ready now. They said they were a closer-knit group than in past years, that they could put aside any differences, and all week they proved it.
They’ll get a chance to prove it all again two years from now in Rome.
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