The American Demise at the Ryder Cup

What in the world happened to the Americans in the world of golf this weekend? The Ryder Cup went from good to bad, to just plain embarrassing, and all in a very short time frame of just three days. So what went wrong? Perhaps a better question is, what didn’t?

After Friday’s matches the United States were leading the Europeans 5 and 3. That was thanks to the fourball matchups between Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson, who defeated Paul Lawrie and Peter Hanson 5 — 4; and Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar’s 3 and 2 victory over Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer. The Americans were off to a terrific start and by the end of the first two days, they held the lead by four points. That made the following Sunday look like a cakewalk, and maybe that was the problem.

Jim Furyk seemed to have lost focus on 18 when he was matched up against Sergio Garcia; and he lost the putt for it. Bubba Watson and Keegan Bradley, who were stars the two days prior, completely fell apart. And Steve Stricker, who on Sunday was still looking for any win over the weekend, still came up short. Stricker’s loss was probably the most important of the day, as it gave Martin Kaymer the win so that Europe could claim the Ryder Cup.

This made for the fifth of the last six Ryder Cup events that Europe has won, and it wasn’t the first time they completely changed things around for themselves, either. They became famous for their 1999 Brookline comeback; but that was a different team, and on home soil to boot. Now with the win this year, they’re becoming favorites for the Ryder in 2014, and possibly several years after that, too.

Categorized in: Golf