The 43rd edition of the biennial Ryder Cup Matches are now in the record books. Team USA won the Cup this time around in rousing fashion, Team Europe showed itself to be perhaps too long in the tooth, and Whistling Straits was a top-notch site for what has become golf’s most compelling three days of team golf.
For those golf fans who were looking forward to a tightly contested match, that just wasn’t to be the case. Team USA jumped out to a 3-1 lead in foursomes (alternate shot) Friday morning, did the same in the fourball (better ball) matches Friday afternoon, and held a 6-2 lead after day one. That lead became close to insurmountable Saturday as the American squad picked up another three points Saturday morning to increase its lead to 9-3. Team USA held serve Saturday evening to conclude the two-day sessions of match play golf with an 11-5 margin. Team Europe needed to win nine out of the 12 individual matches Sunday to retain the Ryder Cup, and it was too steep a mountain to climb.
When the dust finally settled on Sunday evening after Team USA had won by a dynamic 19-9 margin of victory, it was the most dominating performance by a team since the American victory in Houston in 1967.
Jon Rahm of Spain showed why he is the No. 1 player in the world. Viktor Hovland showed why he will be a part of European Ryder Cup teams for the next decade or so. Sergio Garcia had a winning record but much of that can be attributed to his partnership with Rahm. After that it was all negatives for the European side.
Rory McIlroy won his singles match on Sunday morning and did little else. For the 32-year-old Irishman who is the owner of four major championships, it was an uninspired performance during what has been a mostly subpar season. To his credit, Rory was greatly disappointed in his play. Europe’s other factor in defeat is the obvious aging of Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter. They have been the heart and soul of Team Europe during the past decade of Ryder Cup dominance, but a changing of the guard was a definite theme this time around. The four 40-somethings were a combined 5-9, and three of those points were due to Sergio’s partnership with Rahm. These results are largely reminiscent of the 2018 Ryder Cup Matches in Paris when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were a combined 0-6. When all is said and done, time moves on, and thus far Father Time has remained undefeated. Expect a lot of new faces playing for Team Europe in 2023 in Rome.
On the flip side of the coin, the six rookies on the American team were exactly half of their 12 man squad. Just two golfers, Harris English and Dustin Johnson, were in their 30s. It showed the dynamic strengths of Team USA’s youth movement. The rookie 20-somethings performed as if they had nerves of steel. Fed Ex Cup champ Patrick Cantlay and British Open titlist Collin Morakawa were both 3-0-1 in their four matches. Olympic golf gold medalist Xander Schauffele was 3-1, and 2020 U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau was 2-1 as was Daniel Berger and veteran Cupper Justin Thomas. Scottie Scheffler was 2-0-1. The old-timer on the team, 37-year-old Dustin Johnson, won all five of his matches to finish at 5-0. All 12 members of Team USA came up with points and eight of the aforementioned had winning records. The American rookies had a combined 14-4-3 record. That kind of math is what it takes to win the Ryder Cup.
On paper, Team USA seemed like it would be the favorite, but paper seldom wins when it comes to golf. The difference between the best golfer in the world and the 50th best is usually about one-half shot per round. Add the dynamics of match play to the mix and you have situations such as Team USA losing seven of the last nine Ryder Cups since the turn of the century. The fact that the American team averaged a World Ranking of 8.9 didn’t seem to much matter in losing efforts of the past. Team USA played well, Team Europe struggled, and the venue was set up perfectly for the American team’s strengths.
I was a little surprised to watch the Matches on television as Whistling Straits played a lot tougher when I was last there in June of 2018. The foot-high fescue rough was cut back to mere inches and the fairways were much wider. While the four par-3 holes are the strength of the course, the two drivable par-4s coupled with the eagles and birdies made on the par-5s played to the American strength in power off the tee. Whistling Straits was a great site for the Ryder Cup, not only visually, but also because it played into the American ability to pound the ball off the tee. Except for Rahm, most of Team Europe was a good 30-40 yards shorter off the tee than the Americans. Team USA hit a lot of wedges into the par-4s all week long.
So what does this all mean? Well, for one weekend a team of 12 American professional golfers defeated their European counterparts. Since the 2014 Matches, Team USA has won twice at home while Team Europe has won twice at home. The Ryder Cup site in 2023 is a European Tour stop for the Italian Open, so one has to figure that Team Europe will have a bit of a home course advantage. You can also be sure that the next European captain will set up the course to the benefit of the Europeans.
On the flip side of the coin, there is a prevailing belief that the American core of Morikawa, Thomas, Spieth, Berger, Schauffele, Cantlay, Finau, Kopeka, Scheffler and DeChambeau are just now entering their golfing primes and will continue to remain some of the best golfers in the world. Rahm and Hovland are their equals, but as of this moment there aren’t a whole lot of Europeans ready to join them. Perhaps Robert MacIntyre, Victor Perez, Guido Migliozzi and the Hojgaard twins are ready to enter the Ryder Cup fray, yet MacIntyre has the lowest World Ranking of the group, currently in 55th place. The American junior golf system of AJGA, USGA and NCAA tournament experience is something that isn’t part of European junior golf. In fact, look at the two top 20-something Euros, namely Rahm and Hovland, who played collegiately at Arizona State and Oklahoma State. Are there enough European kids in the hopper to make it competitive for the next couple of Cups? How many are dominant in college golf?
The latest Ryder Cup Matches are now in the record books. Team USA was the winner, Steve Stricker was the winning captain, and Whistling Straits enhanced its image as one of America’s great courses. As for Team Europe, it has been a great run. The Euros’ future holds many questions.
