U.S. tries to end 25-year Ryder Cup drought in Europe

Another trip across the Atlantic turned into another failure for the Americans in the Ryder Cup. At least on paper.

What emerged that Sunday night after their 16½11½ loss to Europe four years ago in Scotland was enough frustration, mainly from Phil Mickelson, to overhaul a broken system. It brought Mickelson and Tiger Woods closer together in the search for a winning formula. It led to players having more input in picking their captain and forming their team. The hope was that it would create more continuity.

And for one Ryder Cup, it seemed to work.

Every player contributed at least one point for the first time since 1975 in a 17-11 victory at Hazeltine in Minnesota in 2016, the widest margin for the Americans in 35 years. Now comes the real test. The 42nd Ryder Cup matches are Sept. 28-30 at Le Golf National outside Paris, and U.S. captain Jim Furyk is well aware that Europe has not lost at home since 1993, the year Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau were born.

“We started changing the culture in 2014, and I think 2016 was a huge step,” Furyk said. “But in order to take the next step ... we wanted to have a winning record in 10 Ryder Cups over 20 years. The math is pretty simple. You have to win on the road. Eventually, we’re going to have to do that. We have our first opportunity this year.”

That opportunity involves Woods.

Furyk selected him as a vice captain in late February, when Woods was just returning following a fourth back surgery and had yet to break 70 in the six rounds and two PGA Tour events he had played. Since then, Woods contended on the back nine at two majors, had six top 10s and finished 11th in the Ryder Cup standings, making him an easy choice as a captain’s pick for his first Ryder Cup since 2012.

He hasn’t won a tournament in five years. His only winning Ryder Cup team as a player was in 1999. But he hasn’t lost his presence.

“He brings so much greatness to the game of golf, and he is the one person that probably sticks his nose a little outside the golfing environment and reaches a lot of people,” European captain Thomas Bjorn said. “It will be exciting in France to see him there.”