FARMINGDALE, NY (AP) — Rory McIlroy still remembers the tears he shed after a tough Ryder Cup loss. What hurt him most were the words spoken that Sunday four years ago at Whistling Straits, where the U.S. won 19-9, the biggest Ryder Cup rout of Europe in history. The crowd was overwhelmingly American because of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. team was playing exceptionally well. But that doesn't always happen.
That team promised to change Ryder Cup history. Patrick Cantlay commented at the time: “I was trying to tell the guys, ‘We’re going to get to 20 points,’ because this is going to be the next era of Ryder Cup teams on the American side.” Jordan Spieth added: “If we play like we did this week, the scoreboard will be the same there.”
McIlroy couldn't help but recall those predictions as Europe celebrated its second consecutive victory since that defeat, winning by a narrow 15-13. He looked at the flags of his teammates' nine countries, all proud of the Team Europe emblem on their jerseys. Inside each jersey, a picture of Seve Ballesteros was stitched, touching their hearts.
The impact of the previous defeat
“The comments and what people were saying after Whistling Straits about decades of American dominance, we took that to heart,” McIlroy said. “That motivated us.” “American dominance” stopped six years after continental Europe was invited to participate, and there’s no sign of that changing anytime soon. Playing on the road in front of a hostile New York crowd only further fueled Europe, which set a Ryder Cup record—under the current format dating back to 1979—by losing only four of 16 team matches through Sunday.
Never before had a team managed to overcome a deficit of more than four points.
Europe had a seven-point lead. Although the finish was very close, too close for Europe, Shane Lowry made the decisive putt that secured the golden trophy. McIlroy has said over the past two years that winning a Ryder Cup on the road is one of the greatest achievements in golf, referring to the Americans, who haven't done so since 1993. Europe has won five times on the road in the last ten Ryder Cups and triumphed in 11 of the last 15 tournaments, clearly defining its dominance.
The future of the Ryder Cup
“When you think about the last Ryder Cup away from home and what people were saying about decades of American dominance, whether at home or away, and being able to do what we’ve done in Rome and here, it’s left a lot of people speechless,” McIlroy said. Whistling Straits, and the American victory at Hazeltine in 2016, are starting to look like a blip rather than a solid foundation to build on.
Captain Luke Donald was informed that Europe had dominated the previous decade and was in a position to do so for the next. At that point, Lowry chimed in: “You told us we wouldn’t win one for 20 years.” The Americans really gave Europe a scare, but that took all their magic. Cameron Young and Justin Thomas had to sink 12-foot birdie putts on the 18th hole to win their matches. Eight of the individual matches went to the 18th hole, the most in the Ryder Cup since 1993.
Perhaps what the Americans didn't see coming after their breakthrough win at Whistling Straits was a generational shift. Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, and Viktor Hovland were Ryder Cup rookies. Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Tommy Fleetwood were in their second tournament. Together, they compiled a 13-5-5 record at Bethpage Black. Then there's the Donald factor: the European captain, who wasn't the Ryder Cup guest on Friday when Air Force One hovered over the 15th hole. He was sidelined when Europe chose Henrik Stenson for the 2023 matches in Rome, and then Stenson joined LIV Golf and was stripped of his captaincy.
Donald had only 13 months to prepare and has made the right decisions ever since.
U.S. captain Keegan Bradley called Donald the “greatest European captain of all time.” “He won home and away, and he won a Ryder Cup in New York at Bethpage,” Bradley said. “He turned this European team into an unstoppable force, especially in the first two days. … He put his team in the best position to win.”
How close was the competition? Despite a strong American comeback, Europe only needed a draw in the six matches remaining to capture the Cup. There were no European scores on the board, but all the matches were very close. Lowry did his job, with help from Russell Henley, who missed two 10-foot birdie putts on the 17th and 18th holes that would have given him the victory. Hatton let Collin Morikawa slip away by missing three consecutive birdie opportunities from 8, 5, and 12 feet.
But they were never in trouble and ended up getting another draw that secured the European victory.
Thus, the next Ryder Cup will be held in Ireland in 2027, giving the Americans the opportunity to break 34 years without an away win and end their six-year Ryder Cup drought. The 17-inch trophy is returning to the UK, an accolade the Americans seem to borrow only occasionally.
