Magnifique
How Europe’s Ryder Cup band of brothers produced a victory for the ages in Paris
How Europe celebrated after their 17½-10½ Ryder Cup victory here.
Because Thomas Bjorn is the winning Europe captain who reclaimed the trophy in record-breaking scenes, because of a bet and, yes, because of sporting japes, the Dane has to administer a tattoo to, as his triumphant players described it, “the biggest part of his body”.
And that will seem so apt for years to come because this triumph for the ages – the scale of which nobody predicted – will leave an indelible mark on the biggest competition in golf. A rump deal, but worth it all the same. As if it needed it, the Ryder Cup now has a new dimension.
The mighty Americans were 10-6 down going into the 12 singles and lost them 7½-4½. That is an absolute stuffing, however you frame it.
They were favourites to win and lost like an embarrassed outsider.
Phil Mickelson dumped it into the water on 16th and all of that talk about the US Task Force set up after defeat in 2014 – that, of course, the left-hander himself had inspired – restating the Starred and Striped dominance went “gurgle, gurgle”.
This was the biggest margin in 12 years and it did seem just like the old days; although they actually they are not very “old” at all.
This was the seventh time in nine matches Europe have won, nine times out of 12th when that blue-and-gold flag fluttered the highest. If you want an inferiority complex then be an American at a biennial dust-up and then peer at that statistic.
And then look at the ease with which they swatted down the US behemoth at this fantastic venue, the best for a very long time. Granted, home advantage and course set-up is massive and the fact this contest has witnessed only two away victories in the last 11 might make the organisers analyse the anomalies.
But for now, Europe are magnificent and Bjorn has to be hailed as one of the finest European captains. Records broken everywhere.
Sergio Garcia displaced Sir Nick Faldo as the leading points scorer in the history of the Ryder Cup and Francesco Molinari became the first European to win all five of his matches following Larry Nelson back in 1979.
Garcia beat Rickie Fowler and 2&1 and riotously justified Bjorn’s controversial wild card, while Tommy Fleetwood had the opportunity to replicate his “Moliwood” partner but came up against that brick wall of fatigue and lost 6&4 to Tony Finau.
Tommy’s hair was flowing more than anyone else’s in euphoria, however, as he ran back out and cheered on his team. Everywhere you looked in the blueand-gold festivity there were celebrations. Meanwhile, the US were festooned in misery, no worse than the resurgent Tiger Woods having lost all four of his matches, an astounding occurrence considering his comeback the Sunday before.
We thought it was the “new Tiger” and maybe it is. But in this arena, unique though it is, perhaps it is the same old Tiger. Jon Rahm beat him 2&1 in a critical match and Woods barely seemed to flinch. This three-day shebang is, without doubt, Woods’s Kryptonite.
And certainly this was the same old America on European soil. They have not won away in 25 years and that will extend to 29, which is beyond incredible however you couch it.
This was supposed to be one of their best travelling teams, the most garlanded since the 1981 bunch of major-winners came across to Walton Heath and made the home team look as if they were playing a different game. If Rome
2022 is anything like this, then the eternal city will have a new ruin to put on the tourist route.
They were 3-0 ahead in the Friday morning four balls. Europe then won eight in a row, equalling the record. The Americans brought it back to 10-6 and because of the “Miracle of Medinah” the onlookers predictably talked of that European comeback in 2012, when they breached the same deficit to prevail.
Swap “miracle” for “mediocre”. Yes, there were moments when Americans might have believed they were on a roll, but this was merely “rah, rah, rah”, Starredand-striped style.
By his standards, Rory Mcilroy did not have a great Ryder Cup, winning two out of five, but the top match against Justin Thomas was at least spirited until the Irishman found a bunker on the last and then proceeded to locate the water, handing the point to his neighbour in Florida.
No matter, Paul Casey earned a courageous half against threetime major-winner Brooks Koepka and despite the unexpected 3&2 reversal of Justin Rose to Webb Simpson, there was always the Ryder Cup downside of Woods to rely on and the Ryder Cup upside of Ian Poulter.
The former lost 2&1 and then the latter beat world No 1 Dustin Johnson 2-up before celebrating by dressing in a post box outfit. Neither win seemed shocking and that sums up the Ryder Cup, right there. The Europeans knew the course like the back of their glove and together with a few weird pairings by American captain Jim Furyk, that was the difference. But then their celebrated Task Force invested all of the power in the players and when you do that there is nobody to blame. Bjorn set up this brilliant layout to give us the complete opposite of the birdie-fest of Hazeltine two years ago. It was tough and uncompromising, but that is how it goes.
When the last knockings arrived they were as inevitable as any demise. Mickelson going in the water was the definitive moment, but by then it was obvious. Furyk had toploaded and they had done OK, but down below reality lay. The teams marched in and so the inquest started for the Americans and the recriminations. Perhaps, Furyk was the luckier one, although his pain will last just as long as Bjorn’s ink.
“Let me put it this way, it’s going to go on a part that only Grace [his partner] will see,” he said. “I might have to send them a picture, well, then you’ll all see it as well, I guess! The worst decision I made all week.”