Team USA Crush Europe to Regain Ryder Cup

ryder cup

Team USA achieved a record-breaking victory against Europe winning 19-9 at Whistling Straits to reclaim the Ryder Cup trophy.

Reigning Open Champion Collin Morikawa sealed the win for the US, claiming the winning half point in the fifth of Sunday’s 12 singles matches following a draw with Viktor Hovland. From then on, the US continued to show their dominance and Europe went on the slump to their heaviest defeat in Ryder Cup history.

Team USA entered the final day of the competition with a six-point advantage only needing 3.5 points in the Sunday singles to claim victory with Steve’s Stricker’s team continuing to take command as they cruised to their second successive home victory.  

Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood were Europe’s only winners in the singles, and they released their emotions as they were on the brink of the heavy defeat.

Greatest

Captain Stricker praised his team prior to the winning ceremony. “This is the greatest team of all time, right here,” Stricker stated. “These guys are unbelievable.”

“The Ryder Cup means a lot to everybody, your side and our side” Stricker added. “We finally put in a dominant performance.

“This is a new era right here, they are young, motivated, they came here determined to win.”

During the three days, there were significant wins for the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler and Dustin Johnson, who made history by becoming the first American to win the maximum number of points at Whistling Straits since 1979.

Padraig Harrington, Team Europe captain expressed his disappointment but also praised Team USA saying: “It’s a tough loss, but they were better than us. They were a strong team and played on their best form. They had momentum the whole time.”

This victory was commanding victory for Team USA which saw them already build a big lead following the opening two days of the competition.

The end of Friday’s proceedings saw Team USA gain a 6-2 lead, which already meant Team Europe were facing an uphill task. That was extended on Saturday to 11-5. This meant that Padraig Harrington’s side needed a greater comeback than the one achieved in the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ back in 2012.

Victory

McIlroy was put out first and despite losing his three matches, the Northern Irishman put Europe back on track with a victory in the first hole against the Olympic champion Xander Schauffele.

This was followed by a solid start in the second match by fellow Irishman Shane Lowry going ahead in the second. This may have made a few European fans believe there could be another historic comeback on the cards however, Cantlay, FedExCup champion from earlier in the month, turned the match around going on to win the next four holes.

Scheffler continued the US momentum by birding his first four holes against World Number one, John Rahm. After that, DeChambeau showed his quality as he hit his tee shot on the par-four first onto the green following that with a 40-foot eagle putt, which stunned Sergio Garcia ending his 100 per cent record, which left Team USA on the brink.

“Unfortunately they were a little better than we were,” said Garcia. “We’ve got to accept that and we’ve got to get ready for Rome and try to get it back.”

The victory was completed with seven matches remaining on the course, expressing the dominance the home side had.

Justin Thomas beat Tyrell Hatton 4&3, Koepka defeated Bernd Wiesberger 2&1 and Daniel Berger dispatched Matt Fitzpatrick on Sunday with Team USA winning seven of their singles matches.

Ian Poulter, one of the captain’s picks who won his match stated his happiness with his contribution to the team but also looked forward to a better result in the next Ryder Cup.

“Sticking a point on the board is nice from a personal feeling, but it’s no consolation,” said Poulter on BBC Radio 5 Live

“We’ll saddle up and see if we can go again in Italy”.

For Team USA, they would hope that this is the start of a dynasty after previously losing seven of the last nine Ryder Cups but now winning back-to-back Ryder Cups on home soil for the first time in 38 years.

Their team included eight of the top 10 players in the world indicating how much stronger Team USA were compared to Team Europe.

The winning margin goes down in history as the biggest since players from continental Europe were authorised to play in the competition in 1979, shattering the previous record of 18.5-9.5 achieved by Team USA in 1981 and by Europe in 2004 and 2006.

The next Ryder Cup is arranged to take place in Rome in 2023.

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