European golfers reclaim Ryder Cup
Europe’s finest golfers, sparked by a record-setting victory for Italy’s Francesco Molinari, recaptured the Ryder Cup on Sunday, denying a dramatic United States fightback to complete an emotional 17.510.5 upset victory.
Reigning British Open champion Molinari defeated five-time major winner Phil Mickelson 4 and 2 as Europe took an insurmountable edge over the favoured Americans in the biennial team showdown at Le Golf National.
“It was amazing,” Molinari said. “It’s an incredible achievement. We did an amazing job.”
In the process, Molinari – who had been winless in six prior Ryder Cup matches – became the first European and only the fourth player ever to go 5-for-5 in a Ryder Cup and did so just two months after hoisting the Claret Jug.
“It feels great but it’s not about me,” he said.
“It was about time, but it’s about the group not the individual. I couldn’t even dream of a summer like this.”
Europe had seized a 10-6 edge in Saturday’s foursomes and fourballs matches and got the points they needed to swipe the trophy after an early US surge. Every European player won at least once in the event.
“The attitude they had was unbelievable,” Europe captain Thomas Bjorn said.
“There was a moment when I thought this was going a little bit wrong, but when we got our momentum going it went very quickly.”
It turned out to be the most lopsided European triumph since an 18.5-9.5 victory at Ireland’s K Club in 2006.
The US team needed to match the greatest last-day comebacks in Ryder Cup history by taking eight singles points to keep the cup, but there was no magic like Europe’s 2012 “Miracle at Medinah” or the Americans’ 1999 “Battle of Brookline” victory.
“Their captain did a better job than I did,” US captain Jim Furyk said.
“Their players played better. We just have to tip our caps.”
The Americans, who have not won in Europe since 1993, lead the all-time rivalry 26-14 with two drawn but the Europeans’ ninth victory in the past 12 attempts gave them an 11-8 with one drawn edge since expansion from a British-Irish squad after 1977. –