Ryder Cup: US beat Europe to regain trophy at Whistling Straits
The United States have regained the Ryder Cup with a record victory at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
Open champion Collin Morikawa claimed the winning half point in the fifth of the 12 singles matches as the home side reached the 14½ points they needed early on Sunday.
Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter, who kept up his record of never losing in the singles, were in tears despite winning their matches as they showed the emotion of what will be a chastening defeat for Europe.
Around them, American players and fans celebrated, with Brooks Koepka downing a beer thrown to him from the crowd after he completed a 2&1 victory on the 17th green.
There had already been big wins for Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau amid a carnival atmosphere by Lake Michigan, while Dustin Johnson became the first American to win all five matches at a Ryder Cup since 1979.
“This is a special day for everyone here involved,” said US captain Steve Stricker “The Ryder Cup means a lot to everybody, your side and our side. We finally put in a dominant performance.
“These guys played great, they deserve it, they were fired up to be here and it showed.”
The US eclipsed the record 18½-9½ victories twice enjoyed by Europe and once by the Americans.
The Americans dominated the opening two days of the 43rd staging of the Ryder Cup, winning the first 6-2 and the second 5-3 to take a record 11-5 lead into the final singles.
Europe captain Padraig Harrington spoke on Saturday evening of using the spirit of 2012, when the visitors came from 10-6 down to win the ‘Miracle of Medinah’, to inspire his side.
He put McIlroy, who had lost all three of his matches, out first and the Northern Irishman immediately put European blue on the scoreboard by winning the first hole against Olympic champion Schaufffele.
And when Harrington’s fellow Irishman Shane Lowry went ahead on the second in the second match, the few European fans at Whistling Straits this week, started to believe.
However, Cantlay, who won the PGA Tour’s season-long FedEx Cup and its $15m prize earlier this month, won the next four holes to take control of that match.
Behind him, Scheffler birdied the first four holes as he put world number one Jon Rahm under early pressure.
And then the big-hitting DeChambeau hit his tee shot on the par-four first onto the green and holed the 40-foot eagle putt to stun Sergio Garcia.
They were leads the Americans would keep throughout their matches against the Spaniards, who had combined for three points from three matches in Friday and Saturday’s fourballs and foursomes.
“Unfortunately they were a little better than we were,” conceded Garcia who extended his points record to 28½ at his 10th Ryder Cup.
“We’ve got to accept that and we’ve got to get ready for Rome and try to get it back.”
More to follow.
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