In Britain years ago there was a much-loved television comedy programme called “Dad’s Army” and one of the main characters, the pompous Captain Mainwaring (pronounced Mannering), was fond of spitting out instructions through a pencil-thin moustache, instructing his hapless troops to remain calm as all was going wrong around him. His saying, “Don’t panic men,” became a catchphrase in Britain.
Europe’s record drubbing in the 43rd Ryder Cup verged on being embarrassing. Several sessions were more dire straits than Whistling Straits. Perhaps it is just as well that stoicism and calmness are essential elements of the British character because those are the qualities needed as the investigation into Europe’s performance begins.
There is no time to lose. The 44th Ryder Cup is in Rome in 24 months and fainthearts are already suggesting that Europe will need a Papal miracle to withstand the youthful invading force from the US. If the lessons of Whistling Straits are absorbed and acted on then the home advantage, and the considerable benefit of tailoring the course to their liking, could be of considerable help to the Europeans and render a miracle unnecessary.
There is no need to sugarcoat this. Give credit where credit is due. This Ryder Cup was a perfect storm for the US, a display of team golf the likes of which I have never seen in the 21 Ryder Cups I have covered. The US team included six major champions. As well there were eight of the world’s top ten and the remaining four of the team’s 12 were within the world’s top 21 making it easily the strongest team this century. In Wisconsin last week, Europe’s squad contained the world No 1 in Jon Rahm, only three others in the top 20, six men between 24th (Paul Casey) and 43rd (Sergio García), and also included Ian Poulter (50th) and Bernd Wiesberger (63rd). On paper it was like pitting a pistol against a Kalashnikov.
Steve Stricker’s team that won by a record margin on the shores of Lake Michigan was arguably the best since that of 1981, which was unquestionably the best to that date. That side contained eleven men who had won or would win a major championship, men with names like Trevino, Nicklaus, Kite, Floyd, Miller, Nelson, Irwin, Pate, Watson and Crenshaw who had 50 major championships between them. That is not including Larry Nelson who two years earlier had become the first man to win all five of his Ryder Cup matches.
Everything the US team did seemed to come off. In hitting a miraculous recovery shot Spieth nearly toppled into the cold water of Lake Michigan.
Ryder, Walker, Solheim and Curtis Cup teams from the Old World nearly always appear to be weaker on paper than those from the New World only for some or many of those from Europe to raise their games and surprise the Americans. Look at Europe’s victory against the odds in the recent Solheim Cup, for example. But this time the Americans played to their world rankings. Johnson, the highest ranked, won all five of his matches, equalling Nelson in 1979 and Francesco Molinari in 2016. Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay each won 3½ out of 4 available points, while Xander Schauffele earned 3 out of 4 and Scottie Scheffler 2½ out of 3.
Even more to the point, the Americans putted better than the Europeans on the soft greens that got faster as the competition wore on. Reflecting on this match, I can say that my overriding impressions are of some extraordinarily powerful hitting by Bryson DeChambeau or of an American holing a putt. It might have been Cantlay or Scheffler but if it wasn’t it was Jordan Spieth or DeChambeau and if it wasn’t one of those four then it was Tony Finau. Everything the US team did seemed to come off. In hitting a miraculous recovery shot Spieth nearly toppled into the cold water of Lake Michigan.
Europe’s five points on Friday and Saturday came from few players: Rahm and García with three victories, Shane Lowry and Tyrrell Hatton with one. Rahm and Hatton teamed for a half point, and Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland teamed for a half. This meant that six Europeans had not scored at all in the team sessions. Why? In part because of the staggering quality of the golf played by the US. In part because too many Europeans were not in form, which suggests that the qualifying system needs tweaking to try and make sure the chosen players are at their best when they want to be.
Fitzpatrick has yet to win a point in five outings in the 2016 and 2021 Ryder Cups. Fleetwood has not been the force he was in Paris three years ago nor more recently on the European Tour. Westwood, 48, qualified by having had two second places in tournaments in the US in March but did not have a top-20 finish in any since. And the slight concern that Poulter, 45, and not a resurgent Justin Rose, was one of captain Pádraig Harrington’s selections came to pass in the first two days though he maintained his unbeaten singles record by beating Finau, making it six wins and one half in seven singles.
No European was more disappointing than Rory McIlroy, 32. After 26 successive matches in the Ryder Cup the Northern Irishman was dropped for Saturday morning’s foursomes. In his losses on Friday and Saturday he got no further than the 15th green and in 45 holes in partnership with Poulter twice and Lowry once, he got one eagle but no birdies. The character he revealed when winning his singles against Xander Schauffele went some way towards making amends for his poor play to that point. Where had that form been earlier?
After beating Schauffele, beginning with a flourish of a birdie, McIlroy was moved to tears. “I love being part of this team and I love my teammates,” he said, visibly moved. “This is by far my best experience in golf. I should have done more for this team and I wish I could have.”
It is easy to damn Harrington’s team but that diminishes the efforts the PGA of America have made to improve their selection and preparations in recent years. Having been out-thought by Europe for most of the nine matches since the American victory at Brookline in 1999, the US were bound to catch up sooner or later and at Whistling Straits they did.
The cycle that brought Europe victory at home in 1985 when it had Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo, to whom José María Olazábal was added in 1987 and Colin Montgomerie in 1991, had to end just as the convincing nine-point victories by Europe in the US in 2004 and in Dublin two years later could not be sustained. There is no doubt that the momentum is now with the US. It looks like the dawn of an era of exceptional American success.
This defeat leaves European professional golf with a bloody nose and serious concerns. There are many more exceptional young players in the US than Europe at the moment. The young European golfers of the future – Bob MacIntyre, the left-handed Scot; the Højgaard twins from Denmark, Rasmus and Nicolai, who are 20 and already have four wins on the European Tour between them; and Thomas Detry from Belgium – need to train on and the upward progress of Hovland must continue.
If all these come to pass, if the selection system for the Europe team is amended, if team events such as the Seve and Royal trophies are revived or new ones brought forward, perhaps there is less to fear for the outcome in Rome in 2023 after all?
It is certainly a time to worry but not yet a time to panic.
Top (from left): Team Europe’s Lee Westwood, Sergio García, Jon Rahm and vice-captain Luke Donald had few answers for the U.S. side.
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