The Ryder Cup is precious. Golf’s little pot of gold. In a fractured sport with an uncertain future, that has never seemed more important than in Rome last week.
And the match between Europe and the United States lived up to its promise in every way, attracting a huge crowd on the course and among spectators around the world.
They were rewarded with the home team winning 16½-11½. It featured exciting golf, it was tighter and tenser than the score suggests and there was plenty of controversy.
This was sport at its most captivating. A complete assault on the senses – golf but stronger – from a game generally at the sleepier end of the sporting scale.
The Ryder Cup is the lifeblood of the DP World Tour. Every four years (it was five on this occasion because of the pandemic), home matches generate the funds which fuel the European tour until the next one.
Adare Manor, an Augusta-like enclave near Limerick in Ireland, has plenty going for it in 2027 as Marco Simone enjoyed spectacular success last week.
We often talk about stadium golf courses – Augusta was the first to be designed to host golf as a spectacle – but this year’s Ryder Cup venue took it to another level.
The integrated stands and “natural” contours ensured that it felt like a stadium all around a large and very hilly property. It was a triumph of showmanship that generated a new level of partisan atmosphere.
The European players performed well from the start, reveling in the environment while the rusty Americans craved precision. It finally arrived, but there was too much ground to make up for the United States to keep the trophy.
The home players were better prepared, more motivated and, in Luke Donald, had a far superior captain. Telling his players to play three-hole matches during practice rounds to encourage a mindset conducive to fast starts was a well-thought-out strategy.
Donald had Zach Johnson’s affable act from the start. The enthusiasm with which the European captain began his opening speech in Italian last Thursday showed that he is a skipper in command.
His players could not help but be impressed and probably inspired. The tactical change to start proceedings with foursomes was rewarded with a flawless sweep Friday in the opening session.
By the end of the first day, each of his players had not only played but also contributed at least half a point, including Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre, who was out of luck, thanks to his inspired partner Justin Rose.
Their four-ball match against Max Homa ended in halftime as Rose won three of the final four holes. It was a lasting memory, the Englishman rolling a 10-footer to ensure the United States didn’t win a single match on the first day. It was the first time they failed to win a match in one day in the 96-year history of the event.
How Rose celebrated, punching the air animatedly and repeatedly, her body convulsing with adrenaline and competitive animal instinct. The crowd went crazy, it was an extraordinary sporting theater.
That night, I shared a car ride with a former European Ryder Cup player. He wondered aloud how the LIV players, who had removed themselves from Ryder’s account by joining the breakaway tour, might feel?
Were the millions of dollars they received enough compensation for missed moments like the one Rose and so many other players in Italy enjoyed last weekend?
Some things are priceless and the Ryder Cup sporting theater is surely one of them.
Yet there were rumors of a rift in the U.S. team’s unity. Money was at the heart of it.
Didn’t Patrick Cantlay wear an American cap to protest the fact that he wasn’t paid to play? Were there any schisms? The coming days and weeks will provide detailed information on any disagreements in the American camp.
It must be said that once placed in the whirlwind of “hatgate”, Cantlay played fantastic golf. There was no dispute about his commitment to the American cause in his play.
When he closed out Saturday night’s remarkable victory over Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, his roar showed just how much it meant. Then his caddy Joe LaCava crossed the finish line (literally) with his retaliatory celebration while waving his cap.
McIlroy’s furious histrionics in the parking lot as Justin Thomas’ bagman Jim “Bones” MacKay attempted to placate the angry Northern Irishman produced the social media content of the week.
That summed up the passion involved. McIlroy channeled his aggression into his singles match against Sam Burns the next day and secured four out of five points, while Donald cleverly used the incident as a motivator for the rest of his team.
They returned home last Sunday thanks to their large caliber. Jon Rahm’s epic halftime showdown with world number one Scottie Scheffler was one of the greatest golf matches I’ve ever had the privilege of watching.
It was a vital half-point to build on brilliant wins from Viktor Hovland, McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton. The search for the decisive last half-point continued until the penultimate match and Tommy Fleetwood’s extraordinary strike on the 16th.
It was one of three short par fours that not only showcased Europe’s strengths, but also provided golfing drama that would delight the thousands who noisily thronged the course.
The dramatic outcome allowed this 44th Ryder Cup to have it all. The United States was underprepared to accomplish what has become one of golf’s most difficult feats: winning away.
The match has not seen a road victory since Europe’s “Miracle of Medina” in 2012. It was the best Ryder Cup since then.
But he sailed close to the edge. There were needles between the teams. McIlroy and Wyndham Clark exchanged barbs on the eighth hole of their Saturday afternoon fourball over where the American player would take a penalty.
“Why are you crying ?” Clark asked the European talisman, who came from across the fairway, to oversee the proceedings.
“I’m not complaining, I just want to play by the rules,” McIlroy responded tersely.
There was also Brooks Koepka’s jibe on the first day at Rahm. It was good to see this advantage. The Ryder Cup could potentially become comfortable with so many players from both teams residing as friends in the United States.
Koepka was the only LIV player in attendance. The US PGA Championship winner and Masters runner-up played two sessions with Scheffler but won just half a point and suffered a humiliating 9&7 record against Hovland and Ludvig Aberg.
Were the other LIV players missed? It could be argued that the United States would have benefited from having an in-form Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed or Talor Gooch.
But are they able to reach the necessary heights while playing 54-hole tee times shotgun for guaranteed money as a staple of their competition? Koepka clearly had success early in the season, but were the major successes anomalies? Who knows?
Will the game bring people together? Will the framework agreement between Saudi payers of LIV and the PGA and DP World Tours come to fruition to cure the sport? Questions that will hopefully be answered soon.
In this match, Europe was unaffected in terms of players, but as things stand the flow of future captains is dry while Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia remain ineligible.
However, there is a simple and effective solution. Convince Donald to stay at the helm.
The Ryder Cup must remain strong and it could benefit from an away victory. For Europe, this will be the toughest task ever in the bear pit of Bethpage Black in New York in 2025.
There is no one better qualified for this position than the man who currently holds it.