The Ryder Cup: a well-deserved victory for America
The problem with miracles, said Tom Fordyce on BBC Sport online, is that “they don’t tend to happen every time you want one”. Four years after the most astonishing Ryder Cup comeback of all time – the so-called “Miracle at Medinah” – Europe slumped to a humiliating 17-11 defeat in Minnesota last weekend. Backed by a particularly raucous home crowd at the Hazeltine National, the USA began with a “clean sweep” in Friday’s morning foursomes, held steady in the rest of the foursomes and the four-balls, before “polishing off” their opponents in Sunday’s singles. With six rookies in their 12-man team, Europe were always the underdogs – but this was an “evisceration”.
The standard of golf was incredible, said Ewan Murray in The Guardian. Patrick Reed’s dramatic singles victory over Rory Mcilroy included a four-hole stretch with a “combined total of nine under par”; the halved match between Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson featured an incredible 19 birdies. Europe captain Darren Clarke could have done a few things differently: Lee Westwood, one of his wildcard picks, “returned nothing from three matches”. But Davis Love III’S USA team firmly deserved their victory: they were superior throughout. Hopefully this will bring an end to the Americans’ “long-running woes”, said Brian Costa in The Wall Street Journal. Going into the tournament at Hazeltine, they had won just two of the last ten Ryder Cups; their last victory was back in 2008. It was about time that they “rediscovered their old glory”.
The only blemish was the rowdiness of the spectators, said James Corrigan in The Daily Telegraph. The European team were sometimes met with wholesale boos, and some fans shouted out just when players were about to take their shot. One idiot loudly told Mcilroy to “go suck a d***”. That sort of nonsense may be acceptable in a football stadium, but has no place on the golf course. Oh, do lighten up, said Alan Tyers in the same paper. Professional golfers lead an extraordinarily “gilded existence”: they play on beautiful courses, away from the “great unwashed”, spectators politely applauding their every shot. Being taunted by drunk fans for three days every two years is hardly the heaviest cross to bear. Besides, the “boorish” behaviour of Ryder Cup crowds is precisely what sets the tournament apart from all those other “prissy, polite competitions”. It’s “what gives the event its spice”.