The year's most eagerly awaited golf tournament has been concluded. At the Marco Simone golf club in Italy on Sunday, Europe defeated the United States 16.5 to 11.5 to recover the Ryder Cup. No team has ever overcome a disadvantage of 10.5 to 5.5 going into the final session as held by Europe. Nevertheless, the Americans kept going, and the competition was decided by the final three singles matches.

 

 

 

 

European captain Luke Donald recalled, "At one point I was looking at the board trying to figure out how to get to 14.5 points." But ultimately, we arrived without difficulty. 

 

In the penultimate singles match, Tommy Fleetwood defeated Ricky Fowler 3&1, scoring the game-winning point.

 

The outcome meant that the United States would be ineffective in Europe for at least another four years (they haven't won there since 1993).

 

 

Here are the three major takeaways from the event:

The Big Three of Europe delivered

Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, and Rory McIlroy are now ranked second, third, and fourth in the world, respectively. If the Europeans were going to win the Ryder Cup, they had to set the example, and they accomplished exactly that.

 

 

Hovland and McIlroy both participated in all five games. McIlroy only lost one game while winning four. He scored four points, the most of any player on either team. Hovland finished with a record of 3-1-1, collecting 3.5 points out of a possible 5, whereas Rahm, who participated in four games, had an undefeated record of 2-0-2, getting 3 points out of a potential 4.

 

 

The trio collectively lost just two of their 14 games. Rahm won the 18th hole in the opening singles match to tie Scottie Scheffler and prevent the United States from scoring the opening point on Sunday. McIlroy and Hovland also produced significant triumphs in their singles matches.

 

In addition to those accomplishments, Tyrell Hatton (who, like Rahm, went undefeated with a 3-0-1 record) and Tommy Fleetwood both won three of their four games.

 

Scheffler, the top-ranked player in the world, lost all four of his matches. In the Saturday morning foursomes, Viktor Hovland and rookie Ludwig Aberg defeated him and Brooks Koepka 9&7, earning him just one of a possible four points.

 

 

The Ryder Cup has been played for 97 years, and that defeat is the worst. Xander Schauffle, the sixth-ranked American and third-highest overall, also only won one of his matches.

 

Only Max Homa, who went 3-1-1 and scored 3.5 points, had a better win-loss record on the American side.
The cup was lost by the Americans on the first day

 

 

According to a common statistic, the team that leads after the first day of play wins the Ryder Cup 70% of the time. For the first time since 1993, Europe chose to start the tournament with foursomes rather than fourballs. The Europeans often excel in foursomes, but the tactic paid off greatly as they went a perfect 4-0 to humiliate the Americans.

 

 

While Zack Johnson, the American captain, misjudged his pairings poorly, Donald, the European captain, got them exactly right. On the first morning, he omitted Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, and Wyndham Clark, four major champions. 

 

The absence of Thomas, Spieth, and Kopeka, who are all seasoned cup players, was understandable, but it left the American pairings that did take the course on Friday morning lacking in experience.

 

After winning one of the afternoon's fourball matches and tying in the other three, the Europeans increased their lead and won the session 2.5 points to 1.5 points. They won the 18th hole on each occasion, two with birdies and one with an eagle, to tie those three matches.

 

 

 

 

If they had lost those games, Europe would have led by 6.5 to 1.5 instead of 5-3, and the outcome of this Ryder Cup may have been different.

Strangely, the majority of the players from the US hadn't played competitive golf for a month before the Ryder Cup, so rust might have also played a role. Additionally, when the United States is the away side and the Ryder Cup is a chemical competition, they approach it like a math issue when it is actually a chemistry competition.
An one-sided victory for the home team once again

 

 

The five-point margin of victory for Europe is the narrowest in the last four Ryder Cups. The same score determined the outcome in Scotland in 2014. Then, in 2016, at Hazeltine in Minnesota, the U.S. triumphed 17–11. Before the United States scored a thrashing in Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2021 by winning 19-9, Europe won an even larger triumph in France in 2018, winning 17.5 to 10.5.

 

Before 2014, seven of the ten Ryder Cups had winning margins of three points or fewer. Five of them, including in 2010 and 2012, resulted in a one-point difference.

 

 

In reality, since the Ryder Cup's inclusion of Europe in 1979, there hasn't been a stretch like this.

The fanatical spectators that not only loudly shout for the home team but also intimidate players on the opposing team may be the reason why it looks that the home team currently has a major advantage. As a result, they are much, much closer to the players than a typical golf crowd and are more akin to a football crowd.

 

 

Another possibility is that the home team is now extra motivated to win back the cup and reclaim its honor after suffering such a humiliating loss two years ago. It makes sense why McIlroy said, "I think winning an away Ryder Cup is one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now."

 

Then, at Bethpage Black in New York, he promised that Europe would triumph there in two years. "Game on!" We're going to be there!