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Team USA provides Sunday thrills, but ultimately loses the 2018 Ryder Cup

Published

8 years ago

on

Team USA was trailing 10-6 going into Sunday’s 12 singles matches against Team Europe at the 2018 Ryder Cup. It was a highly unlikely comeback — about a 9 percent chance according to multiple data sources — but there were moments on Sunday it looked possible.

Justin Thomas, in a back-and-forth match against Rory McIlroy, pulled off a crucial win after Rory drove the ball into the lip of a fairway bunker on 18 and hit his approach shot into the hazard.

Other things were happening, too.

Finau was finessing Fleetwood. Webb was waxing World No. 2 Justin Rose. Koepka was keeping up with Casey. Woods was withstanding Rahm’s will. Reed was rolling.

But ultimately, alliteration aside, the Europeans were simply winning too many holes, and racking up points. The United States needed to win 8 matches. It had to be an utterly one-sided Sunday in the USA’s favor, and it simply was not.

Tiger vs. Rahm in the fourth slot proved to be a huge swing match after USA recorded 2.5 points in the first three matches. Rahm missed a four-footer on 16, giving Tiger a chance at 1 down with 2 to play, but Rahm closed the deal on 17 with a short birdie putt (leading to an expectedly huge celebration) after Tiger missed the fairway off the tee and failed to chip in. Tiger finished 0-4 in the 2018 Ryder Cup.

About the time Rahm closed the door on Tiger was when Ian Poulter took hold of the match against Dustin Johnson (despite DJ holing a few long putts to give hope), and he closed the door with fantastic approach shots on the final three holes. Thorbjorn Olesen closed out Spieth 5&4. Bubba Watson went down 5 to Henrik Stenson, Molinari went up 3 on Phil Mickelson, and Sergio Garcia was up 2 holes on Rickie Fowler. With too much blue on the scoreboard and just not enough red, it was just a matter of time. Europe was a lock to take back the Ryder Cup. And they did.

The Ryder Cup officially ended when Francesco Molinari hit the green on 16 and Phil flared one into the water. Fittingly, due to Molinari’s 5-0 performance, his 4&2 victory on Sunday gave Europe its winning point.

The overlying factor in the entire Ryder Cup was the United States’ inability to hit fairways on a Le Golf National course that penalizes missed fairways. This could have something to do with it…

Here’s how the relevant matches finished as Europe clinched the Cup:

  • JT def. Rory 1up
  • Brooks and Casey: halved
  • Webb def. Rose 3&2
  • Rahm def. Woods 2&1
  • Finau def. Fleetwood 6&4
  • Poulter def. DJ 2up
  • Olesen def. Spieth 5&4
  • Molinari def. Mickelson 4&2
  • Stenson def. Bubba 5&4
  • Garcia def. Rickie 2&1

So what’s the takeaway? Did the task force make bad choices with the captains picks? Did Furyk’s pairings cost the U.S. in the first two days? Was it simply a great performance by the Europeans?

See what GolfWRX Members are saying about the Ryder Cup here. 

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Lovejoy

    Sep 30, 2018 at 4:30 pm

    Funny how you Americans lose interest when you’re not winning

    Reply Report comment

  2. Robert Darling

    Sep 30, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    Anyone actually watch this?

    Reply Report comment

  3. Don Greco

    Sep 30, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    The USA’s record in the Ryder Cup is not so hot since the PGA and USGA “Tigerproofed” a lot of courses, forcing the emphasis on length versus the player’s versatility and shot making skills. Reap what you sow.

    Reply Report comment

    • CaoNiMa

      Sep 30, 2018 at 6:27 pm

      That’s the other way around from Europe and the world’s perspective.
      That the courses in the US are “Tiger-rigged” and so are his course choices so that he can play courses he likes and avoid the rest without penance. He chooses courses that are open or more friendly to his favoured left-right cut shot, and not tight, narrow and right-left biased.
      This is why the PGA tour stats are skewed. To see the driving stats of these players in the USA spray it so much and yet still be on this team winning time and again and making money and points, goes to prove that the regular PGA tour courses need to be revamped, made narrower, tighter, and tougher, like Le Golf National was, so that the US team and players are better prepared.
      It will also mean that the world rankings will change, and we will see different names than these up on the leaderboards. So whether the PGA tour will have enough balls to take away the success from these stars is a whole other matter, however.

      Reply Report comment

  4. Ian

    Sep 30, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    Actually Europe won when Phil missed his putt on the 15th green. That meant Molinari couldn’t lose his match and neither could Stenson. Those two guaranteed half points were all that were needed to get to 14.5 points and win. I will add that Norens putt on the last was almost like the Europeans won the Ryder Cup twice on the same day.

    Reply Report comment

    • Radim Pavlicek

      Sep 30, 2018 at 5:10 pm

      ya, that putt was simply brutal. I wonder how much boost a player can get from such an experience in the next season.

      Reply Report comment

  5. Jerry G

    Sep 30, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    USA Team looked tired all weekend.

    Maybe you need to match equipment to the course – crooked was not good on this course.

    Reply Report comment

  6. Ardbeggar

    Sep 30, 2018 at 11:51 am

    Another Ryder Cup Committee to sort things out ?

    Reply Report comment

    • Brian McGranahan

      Sep 30, 2018 at 2:00 pm

      Yes. We need a Ryder Cup task force task force. Or how bout we just f it and go have some fun.

      Reply Report comment

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