Europe may have come into the 2018 Ryder Cup as a slight underdog, but there was little doubt as to which was the better team after a dominating performance by the Europeans over three days of golf this past weekend at Le Golf National in France.
Europe outscored the United States on all three days of the competition on their way to a 17.5-10.5 win, the largest margin of victory since Europe scored 18.5 points in 2006.
Molinari Completes Perfect Ryder Cup
The Europeans have now won seven of the last nine Ryder Cup competitions, and have not lost in Europe since 1993, when the Americans pulled off a 15-13 win in England.
The hero for the Europeans was Francesco Molinari. The Open Championship winner scored a perfect five points, winning all four of his matches with partner Tommy Fleetwood before going on to defeat Phil Mickelson 4 & 2 in his singles match on Sunday. Molinari became the first European ever to score five points at a single Ryder Cup.
“This team has been incredible from the start,” Molinari told reporters. “We were determined to do the job. Nothing was going to stop us. And you saw it on the course.”
The Europeans have prided themselves on their team unity, taking players from a number of different nationalities and bringing them together to form a cohesive unit.
“This is the best team room I’ve ever been in,” European captain Thomas Bjorn said of his team. “It was calm, it was determined, it was focused and it was fun. The Ryder Cup was everything it should be for a European team.”
The United States was already down 10-6 heading into Sunday, meaning they would have to win eight points from the 12 singles matches to retain the cup, and 8.5 points to win outright. Early on, the Americans found some success, with Webb Simpson, Tony Finau, and Justin Thomas scoring wins as the USA scored 3.5 points in the first five matches.
But Europe never wavered, and in the end, there was little doubt as to who deserved the victory.
“There’s always a moment where it looks like a spark of light,” American captain Jim Furyk said afterwards. “When it was there for us, Europe played really well.”
Tiger and Phil Go Winless
The United States was particularly hurt by its two legendary veterans who have been anything but automatic in Ryder Cup play. Tiger Woods lost all four of his matches, while Phil Mickelson lost both of his contests, continuing decades of struggles in this event for the two best golfers of their generation.
“I’m one of the contributing factors to why we lost the cup, and it’s not a lot of fun,” Woods told reporters. “It’s frustrating because I thought we were all playing pretty well, and I just didn’t perform at the level that I had been playing, and just got behind early in the matches and never got back.”
There were also complaints about the team lineup. Patrick Reed told The New York Times that he was surprised to have sat twice during the weekend, and said he was “blindsided” when he wasn’t paired with Jordan Spieth, with whom he had compiled a 4-1-2 record over the past two Ryder Cups.
“The issue’s obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me…I don’t have any issue with Jordan,” Reed said. “When it comes right down to it, I don’t care if I like the person I’m paired with or if the person likes me, as long as it works and sets up the team for success.”
Odds are already available for the 2020 Ryder Cup, which will take place at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. According to Paddy Power, the United States is a 4/6 favorite to win when they host the event two years from now.