All too familiar
Europeans continue mastery in golf’s showcase international event with decisive victory
GSee LENEAGLES, Scotland — In the past 20 years, the Americans have lost the Ryder Cup with Tiger Woods and without Tiger Woods. They have lost it at home, lost it on the road, lost it by an agonizingly small margin and by a demoralizingly large margin.
Their visit to the exclusive Gleneagles Hotel this year brought no relief.
The powerful and united European team, cleverly led by its Irish captain Paul McGinley, rolled to a 161⁄ 2- 111⁄ victory yesterday, its third straight and eighth
2 in the past 10 editions.
The previous two Cups were decided by one point
Page
very late on the final day of singles play. Although there were plenty of exceptional shots on this day, there was no great suspense after an early American charge soon faltered.
McGinley was quick to deflect the credit.
“I didn’t execute the plan; all the guys sitting at this table did,” he said, sitting alongside his champagne-drinking players. “It’s easy to put in place. It’s one thing to execute. I did the easy part. They did the hard part.”
The Europeans, who needed to win just four points out of the 12 singles matches, got an overwhelming early victory from world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, who defeated Rickie Fowler 5 and 4, and then a comeback win from Graeme McDowell, who rallied to defeat Jordan Spieth 2 and 1.
The Cup-clinching 14th point came shortly after 4:30 p.m., when rookie Jamie Donaldson’s birdie putt on the 15th hole was conceded by the American Keegan Bradley. That finished off Donaldson’s 4 and 3 victory.
“You can’t really put words to it, I suppose,” Donaldson said. “Obviously I knew it was all getting tight there at the end.” Not that tight. The lead for Europe heading into the singles was 10-6, a score that carried plenty of psychological baggage. In 1999, the Europeans lost a 10-6 lead and the Cup in Brookline, Mass. In 2012, the Americans lost a 10-6 lead at Medinah near Chicago.
But the Europeans have yet to squander such a big advantage on their own turf, and the PGA Centenary Course, designed by none other than Jack Nicklaus, was certainly home territory, packed with more than 40,000 fans for each day of the competition.
Needing momentum early, U.S. captain Tom Watson chose to favor youth and form over experience in the singles. He put Spieth, a 21-year-old rookie, in first position, 24year-old rookie Patrick Reed in second position and 25-yearold Fowler in third.
But the United States ended up getting just one point out of those three matches, as Reed, fiery and demonstrative, managed a one-hole victory over Henrik Stenson of Sweden, during which he put a finger to his lips early in the match to quiet the European crowd (it didn’t work).
Spieth took a three-hole lead over McDowell after five holes and still had it at the turn, but the Northern Irishman, who has not had his best season, found his form and putting stroke on the back nine and ended up teary-eyed in victory.
By then, McIlroy already had finished off his friend Fowler in grand style after starting the match with four birdies and an eagle in the first six holes.
“Early in the (day), the trending was exactly where we wanted it to go,” said Watson, who also had to ward off criticism from Phil Mickelson on his management style. “We had a lot of red scores up there. The U.S. players responded early. They just couldn’t keep it going. That was our problem.
“But I have to give credit to the European team … They have a wonderful team. They are stacked with great players, and it would have been a tough go to beat them this week. But we came in here thinking we could beat them, and it just didn’t work out.”