Europe Continues Domination at Ryder Cup.

The European Team finished off Team USA at the Ryder Cup today with a dominating Singles session earning 7 ½ points for a total of 17 1/2 and kept their home winning streak alive. The Americans have failed to claim the cup in their last six tries on foreign soil. It was way back in 1993 at The Belfry that Team USA was victorious in an away game and overall this is the European’s ninth win in twelve tries since then.

There will be plenty of Monday Morning Quarterbacking as the US team looked to have the advantage on paper and was favored over the European who fielded five rookies. But this is why we play the game and the game played by Team Europe outclassed the Americans.

USA Captain Jim Furyk was adamant that he would pick the same players and play them in the same fashion as he did this week. And that is admirable. Furyk is known as a thoughtful, straight shooter that sticks to his guns and his players.

“I’m going to say it over and over and over again – I have every confidence in these 12 players. I think we have a great team,” he said. “I would take them right back into another Ryder Cup and play it all over again if I could. You can call me crazy, but I have every belief that these guys could get it done. I still do and I still would again.”

And he is absolutely right to stick by his choices because at the time he made them they were right on, well most of them anyway.

Here we go with the second guessing. Two words can describe the reasons Team USA is flying home empty handed. Pick any two: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka or Captain’s Picks. None of those players had a winning record this week.

Woods went 0-4-0 having lost all is mojo from the Tour Championship. Bryson DeChambeau went 0-3-0. Phil the Thrill did not thrill,went 0-2-0 and being benched by Furyk saved him from further embarrassment.

Fowler, DJ, Koepka, Reed and Bubba only totaled 5 ½ winning points.

Furyk’s picks only managed to go 2-10-0 with Tony Finau the class of the group at 2-1-0. Compare that with Thomas Bjorn’s European Captain’s Picks who went 9-4-1. That’s a huge disadvantage for any captain to deal with.

Here are some more two word reasons that Furyk’s team came up empty. Francesco Molinari 5-0-0, Tommy Fleetwood 4-1-0, Henrik Stenson 3-0-0, Sergio Garcia 3-1.

We can second guess all we want and many will but it was simple: the European Team outplayed the Americans. From the Friday afternoon session which saw them turn the tide they were nearly unstoppable.

The old saying goes, “coaches coach and players play” and here we’ll just say “captains captain and players play” and the Europeans played so much better.

Many of the American’s records were reflective of brilliant European play and just being run over by some world class play that Molinari and Fleetwood displayed.

But Furyk is right to stick by his men. At the time he made his picks they were all deserving of making the team. I’ll nitpick with his decision to put Phil and Bryson out in alternate shot which certainly is not their strong suit. But you know there was some pressure to play Phil (and not just from Phil) but Fourball would have been more fitting for their game. But when all is said and done that was only one point.

The Europeans just played better…and there is no need to get the Ryder Cup Task Force in DEFCON 1 mode. The process works. The Americans fielded the team they should have.

And maybe if Furyk and Bjorn put their teams out on the course next weekend the result would be different.

But for this week it’s the European team who deserved to win. After all, players play and they played like the winners they are.