US stings Europe for Ryder victory

THE Ryder Cup returned to American hands in Muhammad Ali’s home town as Nick Faldo’s plan to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” went up in smoke.

Trailing by two points entering the 12 closing singles at Valhalla, Faldo went with sting in his tail, putting Pádraig Harrington out last despite the danger of the Open and PGA champion’s clash with Chad Campbell becoming irrelevant.

So it proved and the final scoreline was a resounding 16½-11½ to the United States.