The white golf ball soared high and right off the seven iron of Phil Mickelson as a massive crowd stared upwards. Then downwards. Then came a big splash just short of the 16th green, another awful shot by Mickelson in a weekend of awful golf shots.
Mickelson immediately pulled off his red Team USA cap, shook the hand of Francesco Molinari, and it was over. The beatdown was over, and again the best golfers of the United States had journeyed to Europe to try one more time to win the history-drenched Ryder Cup, and again had failed dismally.
In a week, American golf went from the elation and excitement of seeing Tiger Woods win his 80th title before jumping on a plane to cross the Atlantic with the rest of the talented and favoured U.S. team, to utter despair after being absolutely thrashed by Team Europe before a French crowd that roared and roared, cheering every American mistake and pumping up the Europeans.
The final score at Le Golf National in Paris was 17 1/2 points to just 10 1/2 points, but even that wide margin doesn’t really measure the actual difference between the two teams. Remember, the U.S. was up 3-1 after the first morning of better ball. After that, Jim Furyk’s team could barely put one foot in front of the other, losing 16 1/2 of the next 24 points in the 42nd version of an international sporting event that just keeps getting bigger and bigger, it seems.
Almost all of the U.S. stars fell flat on their faces, beaten by Euros with lesser reputations, at least on this side of the Atlantic. On Sunday, Ian Poulter, a massive Ryder Cup force, defeated world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, symbolically hammering his drive on the 18th hole well past the big-hitting American. Thorbjorn Olesen trashed Jordan Spieth, finishing off Spieth on the 14th hole. Woods went down to 23-year-old Spaniard Jon Rahm.
“The incredible pride I feel to play the way I did. To beat Tiger Woods. I mean, I grew up watching that guy,” said Rahm. “The pride and humbleness I feel right now is beyond describable.”
Woods didn’t win a point all weekend in Paris, a terribly disappointing performance after his victory at the Tour Championship a week earlier and his wonderful comeback season. Tiger is now 13-21-3 in Ryder Cup competition, and particularly weak in partner matches where he’s a dismal 9-19-2.
There were just no bright lights for the U.S., other than, perhaps, tall Tony Finau. Patrick Reed, the hero of Hazeltine, was lousy, miserable and foul-mouthed. Johnson missed one short putt after another. Spieth still hasn’t won a Ryder Cup singles match.
For the Euros, meanwhile, Molinari was absolutely brilliant, teaming beautifully with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and then defeating Mickelson in what likely was the American star’s last Ryder Cup appearance.
Molinari became the first European, and fourth player, to go a perfect 5-0 in a Ryder Cup.
It seemed fitting that Molinari delivered the clinching point, and then, in a golf version of a Lambeau Leap, ran into the delirious crowd and came out drenched in champagne.
“This is an amazing group of guys. Anyone of us would have deserved to get the clinching point,” said Molinari, this year’s British Open champion. “I was almost hoping Sergio (Garcia) was going to do it. But it’s not about an individual. It was about the group.
“This team has been incredible from the start. We were determined to do the job. Nothing was going to stop us.”
What the Euros lost two years ago in Minnesota was won back in Paris, and now it almost doesn’t matter what happens in 2020 at Whistling Straits. Until the Americans can win in Europe, which they haven’t done since 1993, European golf will continue to strut. The Americans now won’t get a chance to end their drought until 2022 in Rome.
“This is for all the members of the European tour,” said Europe’s Danish captain, Thomas Bjorn. “We’re all in it together.”
There was certainly a distinctive team flavour to Europe’s triumphant performance, and a big part of that was because of Bjorn’s captain’s picks, the players he got to choose after the first eight members of his 12-man team were selected on performance.
Bjorn picked Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Poulter and Paul Casey, and all played pivotal roles, particularly Poulter. Garcia hasn’t played well since winning The Masters last year, but he was very good in Paris.
“The way the four of them came in, the attitude they had, was unbelievable. It made life very easy for me, to be honest,” said Bjorn.
Furyk’s captain’s picks, by contrast, contributed almost nothing. Finau delivered two points, but Woods, Mickelson and youngster Bryson DeChambeau came up empty.
DeChambeau also suffered the final indignity, watching Alex Noren roll in a spectacular 30-footer on the 18th hole to officially end the competition in style for Europe.
“My team fought hard,” said Furyk. “At the end of the day, you tip your cap. (Bjorn) did a better job than I did. Their team played great. There’s not much more you can say.”
Well, he’ll have to come up with some answers. There’s going to be a lot of introspection by the big thinkers of American golf after this one. Time after time since Tom Watson led them to victory at The Belfry in ‘93, the Americans have gone to Europe and been unable to crack the European code.
The U.S. always shows up with the bigger reputations, but Europe seems to play a better team game, as was the case this past weekend. Furyk kept trying to come up with combinations that might work, but most didn’t, notably the disastrous partnership of Mickelson and DeChambeau on the first day.
By contrast, Molinari and Fleetwood combined for the first time, and were perfect.
“You see it in the emotion when we hole putts, you see it in the emotion of the fans,” said Poulter, whose chest-pounding ways must drive the Americans crazy. “To be able to win this thing back is special.”
The biggest victory, of course, is for golf. Nothing touches soccer’s World Cup as an international sporting event, but this Ryder Cup competition, particularly at a time when there are concerns the popularity of golf may be waning, has become as big as the four majors.
They doubted Paris would embrace the event, but instead the French capital provided a colourful and boisterous background to a competition that is completely different than what we see on a weekly basis on both the PGA and European tours.
The Ryder Cup shows the best in the world in a different light — as teammates, not just individuals. And the rivalry between the U.S. and Europe is heated and real.
The Europeans are celebrating in Paris tonight. But the game on both sides of the ocean is the big winner.
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