The week Rory McIlroy came of age

If you were only interested in the final outcome of the Ryder Cup, then this one was pretty much decided as early as last Friday morning once Europe lost the opening series of foursomes to the USA 4-0.

In truth, with six rookies on their team and playing away from home, Europe were always going to be up against it, in a tournament where experience counts for so much, but the manner in which new heroes like Tomas Pieters and to a lesser extent Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Andy Sullivan and Chris Wood have now emerged, it suggests that Europe has much to look forward to in future Ryder Cups as it transitions out some of its more established players.

Over the week, I have been struck by a number of interesting decisions made by the European captain Darren Clarke, the first being his call to pair his most dynamic and on-form player Rory McIlroy with a rookie on Friday morning.