The Americans worked themselves into a big hole during the Friday and Saturday pairs matches at the Ryder Cup in Ireland. The 10-6 hole deficit nearly mirrored what the red, white, and blue (or some kind of weird Argyle) faced two years ago at Oakland Hills in this same event— in fact, the Americans improved that deficit by a point in this edition of the matches.
Two years ago, in the Sunday singles' matches, the Americans managed just 4.5 out of a possible 12 points against the Europeans. The end result: the most lopsided, embarrassing final score in the history of the Ryder Cup — an 18.5 to 9.5 ass-whipping on American soil. This time, the result was almost exactly the same. The Americans were one point worse in the singles matches at the K Club, garnering a pathetic 3.5 points against a very strong European team. The result was the same as the 2004 Ryder Cup — another shameful 18.5 to 9.5 loss.
If you are an American, and I am, then what are you to make of this result? The one last bastion of hope and arrogance that the Americans had before the 2004 Ryder Cup was the singles format. The Americans have historically dominated that portion of the matches — in fact, so much so that the format was changed to provide more emphasis on the team match component. But, in the last two Ryder Cups, the Americans have a listless record of 8-16 against the Europeans in that format.
The Americans have always acknowledged their weakness in the team component. Hell, the 10-6 deficit was about common by recent standards. The President's Cup left the American captain, Tom Lehman, with some hope that this trend might be changed through the pairings of Jim Furyk/Tiger Woods and Chris DiMarco/Phil Mickelson that were so instrumental in the United States winning at RTJ last September. As it turns out, that was not the case in these matches as these two teams were marginal in their contribution to the trouncing.
Put these two realities together, and combine it with the fact that the Americans are nowhere near as close-knit as the European team, and it is not hard to realize that the USA has not a single significant advantage in the Ryder Cup. The reality says that the Americans should get crushed and, guess what, they did.
Do not fool yourself, though, if you are a European fan that will be talking trash for the next two years. The Americans, at the top of their team, are more talented than each and every European team member. The results in the most important tournaments in the world show that. Woods, Mickelson, Furyk, and even DiMarco are better golfers statistically over the past five years than every player on the European team. The Americans have and will likely continue to dominate in worldwide medal play events — it's a fact of life.
But, and this is a big one, if you are an American fan, you can no longer tout that fact when it comes to team-styled, match play based formats. The European team may be a bunch of B to B+ players, but they are all in that ranking. And what's more important than that is that they play like B+ to A players in the Ryder Cup.
Also, the bottom half of the American team consists of a bunch of B- to B players in terms of resume and experience. This team featured four untested Ryder Cup rookies. While the four of them made some significant contributions, especially J.J. Henry and Zach Johnson, that effort is not good enough. For the Americans to ever win the Ryder Cup again, all 12 players have to bond well and contribute to the team cause. The fact that Brett Wetterich had never met Tiger Woods before a pow-wow just one month before the matches is a sure sign that the Americans are not close enough. Making a couple of recon trips to the K Club and singing college fight songs together do not constitute closeness.
The best Americans are indeed the most talented in the world at individual tournaments, but the money available to them on the PGA Tour affords them a limited schedule. This limited schedule causes these players to appear aloof and distant to the other six to eight guys that struggle to make the team. How can a team bond together if some members are only ever playing for themselves and never really get to know the other players that could team with them for crucial victories in these kinds of formats? The correct answer is that type of bonding is impossible under those conditions.
The American team used to be closer. Jack, the Tom W's, and the rest of the USA team in the 1970s were competitors in individual events, but they had a bond that drove them together to consistently crush the Europeans (well, GB&I) in the Ryder Cup. The matches used to be a foregone conclusion before they ever started in the favor of the Americans.
Since 1985, though, that has changed. The European Tour began to produce a deeper batch of players, despite limited prize pools. They bonded and committed themselves to using the Ryder Cup as a stage for proving that European professional golf was alive, growing, and determined to be great again — even if they didn't show it much elsewhere. And it worked.
Now the Europeans use this stage to abuse the American assertion that they are the ultimate, unchallenged golfing power in the world. The Europeans may not show their considerable talents in the majors, but they deserve the respect of the American golfing public. They are fantastic golfers and they will win more majors.
Back to back embarrassments in the Ryder Cups can only lead to one conclusion — something fundamentally has to change for the Americans if they ever intend to seriously challenge for the Ryder Cup again. As a point of anecdote, I received a few pieces of smack talk from European fans following their win and every word read of a passion that the Americans seriously lack for this event. It will take an American commitment, anger, and spirit that resemble the words in those messages for this group of players to return to prior glory.
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