ROME — No team needs instruction on how to celebrate, yet when the 12 men of Europe bounced around the stage parading the Ryder Cup it did not feel like any old win. It seems preposterous to speak of destiny guiding sporting outcomes, but that is how it appeared from the outset. Europe, a team connected by some invisible thread, a force that is felt but not seen, understood yet impossible to articulate, were not only too much for the United States, they were propelled by spiritual fuel unavailable to them.
By any number of golfing metrics the Americans are a team of greater technical accomplishment. And on the final day of competition, harnessed to the singles format, freed from shared obligation, they were immediately more comfortable chasing individual gains. Though the 12 points available were eventually shared, Europe were under serious pressure, culling only 3.5 points from the opening nine matches.
It was the heavy hitters at the top of the order, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton, who ground out vital points and the tail, marshalled brilliantly by Tommy Fleetwood, that acted as the insurance that would eventually pay out.
Everything that could go right for Europe did from the outset. The marginal moments built on the big gains. The fast start of Friday morning gave Europe the platform they sought. And they kept pushing, losing only one session of the five. There was a point in the singles when the tension rose, but the players responded. That intangible, competitive gristle born of a sense of belonging, saw tight matches turn back Europe’s way.
Rahm is inevitable, said one observer. And he was, twice wrenching losing positions Europe’s way for vital half points. Shane Lowry struggled all week but fought back from three down in the singles to tie with Jordan Spieth. In the last two matches Fleetwood and rookie Robert MacIntyre were never behind against Rickie Fowler and US Open champion Wyndham Clark, but with three to play they were no more than one up. Neither match went to the last.
Donald front loaded the week with his big players and two of them, McIlroy and Hovland played all five sessions. Between them Rahm, McIlroy and Hovland won nine matches, tied three and lost only two. That was the difference. Donald’s big ticket-sellers delivered, supported by the likes of Hatton and Fleetwood, who offered energy and personality as well as points.
Donald was meticulous in his planning and dexterous in his management of game week. He identified as critical factors not only the use of data to give his players confidence but the investment his players make in this contest and the emotional framework around it. “It’s an incredible week. The players gave everything. They are a pleasure to be around. They played like superstars.
“I gave the guys some videos on Monday of people who mean a lot to them, giving them encouragement. That’s why we play this game. Not just for ourselves but for those who mean a lot to us. Not many people gave us a chance, especially after what happened two years ago, but we proved them wrong. We played as a team, used the crowd, fed off their energy.”
McIlroy, who inverted the experience of Whistling Straits, where Europe lost by a record 19-9 margin with a best-of-the-week four points, was at the heart of everything, including the controversy of “capgate” on Saturday night when he let fly over the behaviour of the American team during the last match of the day lost on 18 to Patrick Cantlay and Clark.
He was tearful again after his victory over Sam Burns and defiant over the trashing of golfing standards and protocols in the Cantlay episode, which he claimed gave him righteous energy on the last day. “I apologised to Bones [McKay, caddie to Justin Thomas], and Joe [LaCava, Cantlay’s caddie who triggered McIlroy’s ire]. It’s a point of contention and it still hurts, but we will get over it and move on. Bones was just the first American I saw. I was hot coming out of there. We talked about it as a team. We felt like it was disrespectful, not just to Fitz [Matt Fitzpatrick] and I, but the whole team. It’s the way the Ryder Cup goes sometimes. You have to be thick-skinned.”
That is a sentiment the Americans will take home. They were never really in the contest, unable to eat into the five-point margin established on the first day. Outside the comfort of home, they seem unable to rise to the challenge. Thirty years and counting without a win on the road is not an accident.
The issue is not technical but emotional. It is not that they don’t care, more that they don’t know how to. The Ryder Cup clearly means more to Europe than it does to the United States. Galvanised by a sense of mission and the support of fans who get it, too, Europe proved just too strong.
