Ryder Cup post-mortem: reflections in the US media
job done: Europe's Rory McIlroy with captain Luke Donald following his Sunday singles win.
For triumphant European golf fans, the galling thing about America’s relationship with the Ryder Cup is that much of the US simply does not care about the tournament. On Sunday most sport fans in the States were discussing Taylor Swift’s appearance at an NFL game, the final day of the MLB regular season or Jrue Holiday’s trade to the Boston Celtics.
But that’s not to say that no one cares. And, for the most part, the US press gave Europe credit for a comprehensive victory. “Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph was down to meticulous planning, clever leadership and a strategy of drawing on the competition’s history,” wrote Tom Hamilton and Mark Schlabach of ESPN. They also complimented Europe captain Luke Donald and his vice-captain, Edoardo Molinari.
“Molinari’s grasp of stats contributed the data behind picking the pairings, while Donald also looked to arbitrary aspects like compatibility. It wasn’t a case of putting best mates alongside one another but instead a deep dive into how ability and strengths married, and it paid off brilliantly,” they added.
In the Washington Post, Rick Maese highlighted Europe’s use of home advantage. “For three days, the Europeans treated the road-weary Americans like unwanted house guests, eager to be done with them as soon as possible. They had no problem reinforcing the biggest Ryder Cup truth of them all: There is simply no place like home.”
As for the American team, “very little went right.” Hamilton and Schlabach say that “[Zach] Johnson’s captaincy won’t be remembered fondly, but he can’t take all the blame for another American failure across the pond. Spieth couldn’t hit a ball straight. World No 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele couldn’t make a putt. Scheffler, Spieth and Collin Morikawa have combined to win six major championships. They combined to win one match at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club”.
Maese believed the US’s campaign was doomed almost as soon as it started.
“Europe won the Ryder Cup … thanks in large part to a blazing fast start that plunged the United States into a deep hole before the Americans had barely stuck a tee in the ground,” he wrote.
But for all the debate over whether Patrick Cantlay’s lack of headwear was a symbol of internal dissent in the US team, Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch believed the real problems lie elsewhere.
“In Rome, the US team … traded acrimony for apathy, delivering a performance more befitting the last morning of a buddies’ trip to Myrtle Beach, without the redeeming excuse of thundering hangovers that would at least suggest fun was had along the way,” he wrote.
Brendan Quinn in The Athletic pondered the significance of the McIlroy-Le Cava bust-up and concluded "for all the faux controversy and theatrics in the long history of Ryder Cup histrionics, this event is what it is because in the annals of great players to represent their countries, the ones who left their marks were the ones who felt it in their marrow."
He added: "The Ryder Cup means what each individual player makes it mean to them. Not every member of the U.S. team looked crestfallen or wounded on Saturday. Some looked fairly indifferent. And that’s fine. This is not an event requiring a mandatory mortgage on one’s persona. But the image of Scheffler brushing tears from his eyes after a Saturday morning foursome loss shows exactly what it means to a guy who won the Masters. And the strained emotion on (Zach) Johnson’s face Sunday shows what a loss means to a captain with two major championships.
"McIlroy, meanwhile, looked like a man in full. Truth is, with more and more waves of young talent coming into professional golf, and McIlroy so often feeling incredibly close, but incredibly far away from winning that long-sought fifth major, a performance like his at Marco Simone might carry more weight now.
And that likely means more than anyone can know."
Reported the Associated Press' Andrew Dampf: “Everything went according to plan,” Italian Golf Federation president Franco Chimenti said. “This course is going to have cult-like status now.” While only about 10% of the nearly 300,00 tickets sold for the week went to Italians, the Ryder Cup should still leave a legacy in a country where golf has been a niche sport for the elite.
“I closed myself off inside our team bubble over the last three days but I hope the event resonated with a lot of people who perhaps had a certain idea about golf. Maybe they changed their minds after this week,” said Francesco Molinari, a Europe vice captain and Italy’s most successful golfer.
While the next Ryder Cup that Europe hosts will be at Adare Manor, Ryder Cup Europe seems intent on returning to the continent for 2031 or 2035, with interest from Austria and Spain.
The 2031 host could be announced in the next few months.
Europe is 12-9-1 against the Americans.
The United States still has a 27-15-2 record in the Ryder Cup, which featured only Britain & Ireland players from 1927 until 1979.
Rory McIlroy went 4-1 and was Europe’s top scorer for the first time.
: Max Homa led the United States at 3-1-1 in his Ryder Cup debut.
Tommy Fleetwood drove the par-4 16th green to 25 feet that led to a concession and gave Europe the half-point it needed to reach 14 1/2 points and win the cup.
The six automatic qualifiers for the American team combined to go 9-11-4. The six captain’s picks combined to go 4-12-4.
: Jordan Spieth has not won a singles match in his five Ryder Cup appearances.
: Bethpage Black in New York in 2025.
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