In one of the greatest comebacks of all time in Ryder Cup history, the European team, in hand-to-hand singles combat, overcame a four-point deficit on Sunday to once again capture the championship, 14 1/2 to 13 1/2. It was also one of the greatest collapses ever seen, as American after American stumbled down the stretch with the pressure on in front of a home crowd and national television audience.
Forty-somethings Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, and Steve Stricker collected no points on Sunday. They were not alone, however. Snedecker, Kuchar, Simpson, Watson, and Bradley also folded. Did any Americans withstand the European onslaught? Jason Dufner played well. Dustin Johnson and Zach Johnson were steady and reliable. Anchor man Tiger Woods halved his match with Francesco Molinari, but by then the competition was decided.
After the huge upset (it had only become an upset because of the great American team performances on Friday and Saturday that had given USA such a great advantage heading into Sunday's individual match play), the Euros repeatedly cited the spirit of the late Seve Ballesteros as their "thirteenth man." Indeed, Seve's image was seen on the Euro team's golf bags and shirts, and the Euro players' putting on Sunday was clutch, phenomenal, and borderline supernatural. Yet a better argument could be made that the Euros' true "thirteenth man" was the American good old boy network, which led captain Davis Love III to select his friends (forty-somethings Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk, fading superstars of the tour) as captain's picks over rising young superstars Hunter Mahan, Nick Watney, and Rickie Fowler. Furyk and Stricker had a total of one win between them out of a combined eight starts.
Most critics talk about the inspired, bug-eyed performance of Euro Ian Poulter on Saturday afternoon as the turning point of the competition for the Euros. However, those in the know saw the frayed nerves and bug-eyed deer-in-the-headlights looks of Stricker, Furyk, and Mickelson (another forty-something) on Sunday which led to erratic putting from three of golf's short-game best as the true turning point. Furyk in particular took about an hour lining up an important putt on the seventeenth. It didn't matter. He missed.
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