Bjorn hails team as best he’s ever been involved in
CAPTAIN Thomas Bjorn hailed the victorious European team as the best he had been involved with after they reclaimed the Ryder Cup in Paris.
Bjorn’s team wrapped up a 17.5-10.5 victory over the United States by scoring seven-anda-half points in Sunday’s singles session at Le Golf National.
It was Bjorn’s eighth taste of the Ryder Cup, having previously played in the competition three times and served as a vice-captain on four occasions.
The Dane said: “This is the best team room I’ve ever been in. It was calm, it was determined, it was focused, it was fun.
“Everything that this Ryder Cup was is what I think the Ryder Cup should be about for a European team.
“How do you sum that up? I felt all along that this was a good group of guys. The way they looked after each other and have been there for each other throughout the whole week made captaincy pretty easy.
“The hardest thing about the captaincy was that there were so many guys playing well, and being in such good frame of mind, that I wanted to get everybody on the golf course, but you can’t.”
Europe came into the final day holding a 10-6 lead and their ultimate margin of victory looked convincing, but the United States did make them battle hard. They claimed three points early on to move within one and, at that stage, what proved a pivotal match between Jon Rahm and Tiger Woods was in the balance.
Bjorn said: “There was a little moment in the middle of it all where I was getting a little bit worried, but then everybody stood up and did their bit.
“I can’t describe how I feel about these 12. They have been amazing from day one and I’m just so proud of them.”
All 12 members of Bjorn’s team contributed at least a point over the three days.
Meanwhile, United States captain Jim Furyk admits he should have done some things differently as the inquest into their defeat at Le Golf National began.
The American team was arguably the strongest to compete in the event with six of the world’s top-10 players and a combined 31 majors between them.
However, they were comprehensively outplayed by Europe from Friday’s foursomes onwards and some of Furyk’s decisions in relation to his selection of pairings came into question.
He split up the USA’s most successful partnership at Gleneagles and Hazeltine in Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed and, while Spieth won three out of four with Justin Thomas, Reed (left) was dreadful paired with Tiger Woods.
Furyk also played a clearly out-of-form Phil Mickelson in the Friday foursomes, an error he did not repeat as the left-hander was benched for Saturday.
“I know everyone wishes they had played better and I wish I probably would have done some things differently as well,” said the USA captain.
“But at the end of the day we did the best we could and we all worked hard.
“It was totally my decision and my call (on the pairings) and I think I had a few of you tell me that it was a gutsy play, but the one I thought it was the right thing to do. It was my call.
“We’re going to get second-guessed and we’re going to get questioned. But hats off what Europe accomplished this week.
“Thomas was a better captain, and their team outplayed us. They deserved to win. They played well.”