Once Again, a Losing U.S. Ryder Cup Team Wonders What Went Wrong on the Road
ROME — The music blared as the bubbly flowed, a delirious crowd of European fans, dignitaries and players reveling in another victory at an event that brings a mix of nationalities, countries and languages together in an amazing display of golf—again.
At the same time, a group of players who live in the same country and speak the same language were left to pick apart another Ryder Cup loss in Europe, a streak that will have stretched to 34 years by the time this event returns to Ireland in four years.
Zach Johnson, the U.S. Ryder Cup team captain, was left to ponder the same fate suffered by Tom Kite, Curtis Strange, Tom Lehman, Corey Pavin, Tom Watson and Jim Furyk in places such as Spain, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France in the years since Americans emerged victorious on this side of the Atlantic.
When you lose, every aspect of the operation will be dissected, sometimes to the extreme. It’s a fickle game, and the Americans were the ones left to explain the nuances of a 16½ to 11½ defeat that seemed inevitable as early as Friday morning.
Collin Morikawa was one of six U.S. Ryder Cup captains picks that went a combined 4-12-4 in Rome.
Alessandra Tarantino/AP
"It was the perfect storm," said Jordan Spieth. “They chipped in a lot. They holed a lot of putts from over 10 feet this week. On the very first hole, Viktor Hovland hit a chip shot that went in. They chipped in numerous times. And they played as good of golf individually as I remember watching all of them this year."
There’s something to be said for just being outplayed. That happens often at the Ryder Cup. It happened two years ago Whistling Straits, where the Americans won in a romp, 19-9.
Seven members of that team were on this one. Like this year, there was a lengthy gap between when most of them played their last event at the Tour Championship in August a month before the Ryder Cup.
Like this year, the host venue, Whistling Straits, was hardly any more familiar than Marco Simone Golf Club, with both teams taking a scouting trip in advance.
And like this year, there was considerable debate about the captain’s picks made by then-captain Steve Stricker two years ago. For example, Scottie Scheffler was the last man in and went 2-0-1 at Whistling Straits. This year, as the No. 1-ranked player in the world, he went 0-2-2. Sam Burns, considered the last pick, went 1-2.
You can dive into the weeds as far as you want. The six U.S. captains picks went 4-12-4. There was considerable consternation about Justin Thomas, who went 1-2-1. But none had a winning record and Brooks Koepka, from LIV Golf, went 1-1-1.
There will undoubtedly be endless chatter about Keegan Bradley or Cam Young or Tony Finau or Lucas Glover or Dustin Johnson or Bryson DeChambeau and how their addition would have changed everything. There’s no way to know. But losing brings on that kind of talk.
"This is a moment where you literally just have to accept that the European team played really, really good golf, and that is really my freshest reflection right now is that Luke (Donald)'s team played great, and my boys rallied and fought today," Johnson said.
"There are so many nuances, characteristics of what this tournament is all about that it would be a shame to change anything. I mean, I would love to start the week over, but that's not possible."
One part the Americans would dearly love to have back is the Friday morning foursomes, where they were wiped out 4-0 and none of the matches were really close. It’s been a trend at Ryder Cups of the past, where foursomes stump the visiting team.
On Friday afternoon in fourball, the U.S. had a chance to take three of the four matches but settled for ties instead of wins. That difference of 1½ points might have meant a good deal come Sunday, when the deficit was 9½ to 4½.
For a time Sunday, things got interesting. There was a point where the U.S. was in every one of the final five matches and could have forged a 14-14 tie—and thus retained the Cup—by winning all five. But they split instead.
Looking back, that first-day score of 6½ to 1½ proved huge. It meant the U.S. played even from Saturday through Sunday.
You can argue that U.S. team didn’t prepare well enough, as the Europeans played tournaments over the last month, generally, while the Americans did not. But it was the same two years ago and the outcome was different.
You can argue that U.S. team should have played the Italian Open this year played at the same Marco Simone course and yet it was the same week as the Wells Fargo Championship, two weeks prior to the PGA. Last year it was played the week prior to the Presidents Cup. Doing so was unrealistic, and the team came over three weeks ago to spend two days getting prepared.
Did they study the greens well enough in the lead-up to the Ryder Cup during the week? Maybe not. It seemed the Americans were off on the greens, often leaving putts short of the hole while watching their European counterparts repeatedly hole putts.
But it would also be fair to point out that there has now not been a Ryder Cup decided by less than five points since the Miracle at Medinah in 2012, when the Europeans rallied to win 14½ to 13½. That’s six straight relatively big margin of victories, all by the home team.
Team unity? Despite a report that there was a fracture within the team, all concerned denied it. And even so, it’s hard to believe it had much impact.
"I said before the event, I thought this was the closest team that I think I’ve been on," Koepka said. "We’ve got a great group of guys. This week, they just holed a lot more putts, a few more chip-ins. This team, we fought hard and wouldn’t want to do it with another group of guys."
The celebration carried on outside, impossible to ignore. For three decades now, the Americans have come to Europe with high hopes, only to leave defeated. Next up: Bethpage Black in New York, where the home crowd promises to be riled up beyond imagination.
"I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup," said Europe’s Rory McIlory. “And that's what we're going to do at Bethpage."
McIlroy was enjoying his sixth Ryder Cup victory out of eight. He’ll undoubtedly be on Long Island in two years’ time, where the Europeans will be seeking to become the first road team to win in 14 years.
In the meantime, the Americans have a road Presidents Cup to play in Montreal next year, trying to pick up the pieces while learning from yet another Ryder Cup defeat in Europe.