The 2018 Ryder Cup was held at Le Golf National in France where Team Europe would recapture the Ryder Cup against Team USA, winning 17½ to 10½. The score was 10 to 6 for Team Europe heading into Sunday Singles, the same score when Team Europe staged their amazing comeback at the “Miracle at Medinah.” Team USA did make an early run to shrink the gap and build the drama, but ran out of steam. Europe has now won seven of the past nine Ryder Cups. This year marks 25 years without a Team USA Ryder Cup victory in Europe – and by 2022 in Italy, it may be 29 years.
On paper, this was one of the strongest USA teams put together. Captain Jim Furyk’s American team had 31 majors between them to Europe’s eight and contained 11 of the top 20 players in the world rankings to Team Europe’s six. Half the European team were outside the world’s top 20, with five of them were in their first ever Ryder Cup. Yet every single player won at least a point for the team, leaving their egos at the door and wearing their emotions on their sleeves.
For Team Europe, they were down 3-1 after the first session of four-ball on day 1, but stormed back in the afternoon to sweep the foursomes, winning all four points and finishing the day 5-3. Day 2 didn’t bode any better for Team USA as they finished the day down 10-6. This begs most to wonder why Team Europe is so much successful at the Ryder Cups – part of it could be down to the pairings that USA put together (which looked fine on paper) or the poor driving and putting of the players. But some argue that Team Europe is more of a team and share a lot more of “togetherness” compared to an “individualistic” Team USA. This can certainly be up for argument though, but is an interesting thought. Just take a look at Patrick Reed’s comments about Jordan Spieth after the loss, which could give us an insight about the state of the Team USA room; or the fact that good friends Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka reported fought during and after the Ryder Cup as well.
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It was a near storybook Ryder Cup for rookie Tommy Fleetwood and Open Champion, Francesco Molinari though. Together, the pair, nicknamed “Moliwood,” went 4-0 in the four-ball and foursome matches. For the week, Fleetwood ended with a 4-1 record while Molinari ended up with a perfect 5-0 record and even sinking the clinching putt to secure the Ryder Cup for Europe. What a year it’s been for Molinari, reminiscent of Graeme McDowell’s amazing year in 2010 when winning the US Open and also the Ryder Cup for Team Europe at Gleneagles.
The biggest difference that can be compared are the captain’s picks – Bjorn’s picks won 9½ points while Team USA’s picks (which included Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson) won just two. Tiger Woods, after his 80th PGA TOUR victory at the TOUR Championship, went 0-4 for the week. Thorbjorn Olesen, ranked 45th in the world, scored as many points for Europe as World Number 1 Dustin Johnson for the U.S. Olesen didn’t even play on Saturday, but Sunday took on Jordan Spieth and torched him with six birdies the first in nine holes, winning 5&4. Ian Poulter, one of the most emotional Ryder Cup players, took on Dustin Johnson in Sunday Singles and won as well.
Overall, the Europeans played better, putted better, and kept the ball in the narrow fairways more. A familiar course and friendly crowd also helped. But something has to drive all of this strong play as a team – and that’s where the biggest difference in our eyes is. Team culture.
Source: Ryder Cup
