Golf Year in Review #6: USA Wins the Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup started in 1927 as a biennial competition between players from the United States and players from Great Britain. In 1973, players from Ireland were added to the British team. Six years later, the Great Britain and Ireland team was expanded to include all of Europe.

In the 25 events played from 1927 until 1983 (Four times the event was skipped due to World War 2), the Americans won 22 times.

Since the emergence of the European “Big Five” of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Berhard Langer, Colin Montgomery, and Ian Woosnam, the Euros have been utterly dominant in this event.

In the 16 events beginning in 1985, the Europeans have won 11 times, and the United States have only won in Europe once (1993 at The Belfry, in England.)

At this point, it isn’t news when Europe wins. It’s news when they don’t.

The Europeans have won by an average margin of 3.3 points including absolute drubbings in 2004 and 2006. The U.S. lost by 9 points in each of those years.

Some of the losing captains of the American side have been Curtis Strange, Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, and Tom Watson. Watson also holds the distinction of being the last American captain to win in Europe.

In 2016, however, the Americans managed to win going away, never trailing in the matches.

It started off well for the USA as they took all four foursomes matches on Friday morning. It’s worth noting that the foursomes format, also known as alternate shot, has historically been the bane of the American players. The format is difficult in that you have to have players that are compatible and the USA has struggled with it. This is one of the origins of the argument that the Americans do not work well as a team.

The Euros bounced back in the afternoon, winning three of four fourball matches, but trailed 5-3.

On Saturday morning, the Europeans cut the lead to one point, taking two of four foursomes matches and halving one other.

That would be as close as they would come to retaining the Cup as the USA took three of four afternoon fourball matches, taking a 9.5-6.5 lead into singles play, where the USA historically dominated.

Needing only 5.5 points to win the Cup, the Europeans stormed out to win 3 of the first five matches on the course on Sunday. Then, the Americans remembered they are Americans and won five of the last seven matches and halved one other one. Only Martin Kaymer managed a full point for the Europeans in any of those matches by beating Matt Kuchar.

With three matches still on the golf course, Ryan Moore secured the crucial 15th point the Americans needed by beating Lee Westwood 1-up, and the victory was complete.

None of the American players were shut out of scoring, but four European players didn’t make a point for their side. This speaks to the teamwork and excellent play by the Americans throughout their team.

While they have been winning the majority of the Cups recently, the Europeans have never won four in a row. With their win this year, the Americans kept that streak intact and made the sixth spot in this countdown.

Cover Image via YouTube