Ryder Cup in European hands no matter where they play

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Rory McIlroy still remembers his tears from losing so badly in the Ryder Cup. What stung even more were the words from that Sunday four years ago at Whistling Straits. The Americans won 19-9, the biggest Ryder Cup blowout ever over Europe. Yes, the gallery was one-sided because of travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic. And yes, that was a powerful U.S. team with all 12 playing at a high level. That never seems to happen. This was a team that was going to change the course of the Ryder Cup. "I was trying to tell the guys, 'Let's get to 20 points,' because this is going to be the next era of Ryder Cup teams for the U.S. side," Patrick Cantlay said that day. "If we play like we did this week, the score will be the same over there," Jordan Spieth added. McIlroy couldn't help but think of those predictions as Europe celebrated its second straight win since that beating, hanging on for a 15-13 victory. He looked around at flags draped around each teammate from their nine countries, all of them mostly proud of the Team Europe emblem on the crest of their shirts. Unseen was the image of Seve Ballesteros stitched in the inside of the shirt so that it touched their hearts. "The comments and what people were saying after Whistling Straits about the decades of American dominance, we took a lot from that," McIlroy said. "We let that fuel us." The "American dominance" ended six years after continental Europe was invited to the party, and there is little to suggest that's about to change. Playing on the road against an angry New York crowd that was nasty and disruptive only fueled Europe even more. It set a Ryder Cup record — under the current format that dates to 1979 — by losing only four of the 16 team matches going into Sunday. No team had ever come back from more than a four-point deficit. Europe was up by seven. It was close in the end — too close for Europe, until Shane Lowry came through with biggest putt of his life to secure the gold trophy — but this requires a bigger picture. McIlroy has been saying for the last two years winning a Ryder Cup on the road is among the biggest accomplishments in golf. He must have been referring to the Americans, who haven't done that since 1993. Europe picked up its fifth road win in the last 10 Ryder Cups, and it now has won 11 of the last 15 times. That's the very definition of dominance. "When you think about the last away Ryder Cup about what people were saying about decades of American dominance — whether it was home for them or away — and to be able to do what we've done in Rome and then here, you know, it shut a lot of people up," McIlroy said. Whistling Straits, and even the U.S. win at Hazeltine before that in 2016, is starting to look like a blip on the radar instead of a foundation on which to build. Captain Luke Donald was told Europe had dominated the last decade and was in position to do that for the following decade. That's when Lowry interject, "You guys told us we wouldn't win one for 20 years, though." The Americans indeed put a scare into Europe, but even that required all the magic it could muster. Cameron Young and Justin Thomas both had to make 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win their matches. Eight of the singles matches went to the 18th hole, the most in the Ryder Cup since eight matches in 1993. In both years, one European didn't play and an American whose name was in the envelope — Lanny Wadkins in 1993, Harris English this time — were given a halve. Perhaps what the Americans didn't see coming after their big win at Whistling Straits was a changing of the guard. Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland were Ryder Cup rookies. Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick and and Tommy Fleetwood were playing in their second. They were a combined 13-5-5 at Bethpage Black. And then there's the Donald factor — the European captain, not the Ryder Cup guest on Friday who had Air Force One fly over the 15th fairway. He had been left behind when Europe took Henrik Stenson for the 2023 matches in Rome. And then Stenson went to LIV Golf and was stripped of his captaincy, Donald had only 13 months to prepare and he's pushed all the right buttons ever since. U.S. captain Keegan Bradley referred to Donald as the "best 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 a really unstoppable force, especially the first two day. ... He put his team in the best position to win." How close was it? Even after the great American rally, Europe only needed a halve from the six matches still on the course to capture the cup. There were no European blue scores on the board, but all the matches were tight. Lowry got the job done, with help from Russell Henley, who twice left 10-foot birdie putts short on the 17th and 18th holes that would have won him the match. Hatton let Collin Morikawa off the hook by missing three straight birdie chances from 8, 5 and 12 feet. But he never in big trouble and wound up getting another halve that made Europe an outright winner. And so it's on to Ireland for 2027, a chance for the Americans to end 34 years of winning away from home, and end six years without winning the Ryder Cup. The 17-inch chalice goes back to the UK, a trophy the Americans still seem to only borrow once in a while.