‘Stirring Sunday fightback cannot hide US Ryder Cup shortcomings’

The final score was undoubtedly impacted by America’s comeback on the final day, but it also revealed how far behind Europe is in their Ryder Cup efforts.

In a situation where they had nothing to lose, Keegan Bradley’s team showed that they had heart and ability abundantly by thoroughly dominating the final singles.

However, Europe had already won the 45th Ryder Cup before that session teed off, in essence.

Yes, it was tense and Luke Donald’s line-up only managed to win 15-13, but they had already done enough on the opening two days to make it happen.

The captains’ opening speeches immediately echoed the contrast. Bradley had a passion for Ryder Cup, while Donald was focused solely on the collective effort.

It was based on the emotions that were uncovered in the Full Swing documentary on Netflix. From there, he emerged as a surprising captaincy candidate.

He was also the focus of the lead-up. He wouldn’t play, wouldn’t he? Unnecessary distractions were made while Donald and his team of statisticians and strategists devised the most effective strategy for defeating America in their own backyard.

With his infamous speech at last year’s Presidents Cup, Bradley claimed that the US would “kick Europe’s]expletive asses,” which was a glorious motivation.

That was immediately written on the team-room wall in Europe.

More importantly, the participants were aware of the course setup’s limitations and had the ability to make adjustments. Bradley’s approach to the greens’ short, rough, and slick putting surfaces hasn’t changed much.

And it disastrously hurt his team. He said, “We made an effort to set the course so that our team could benefit.” It’s obvious that this wasn’t the wise choice.

I made a mistake with the course setup, I must admit. I should have heeded my gut feeling a little more.

“For whatever reason, that wasn’t the best course to take.” Without rain, the greens were as soft as I’ve ever seen them. They never really firmed up, especially in this country, where it can get quite firm.

Even though neither of Kevin Kisner nor Gary Woodland have any experience competing in the Ryder Cup, Bradley chose vice-captains Kevin Kisner and Gary Woodland.

Paul McGinley, the director of strategy, Thomas Bjorn, and Jose Maria Olazabal, the winning skipper, made up the lineup. Francesco Molinari and Alex Noren are both in close communication with the top players.

Edoardo, the other Molinari, is an expert at statistical analysis. Instead of relying on incomplete statistics that might be made, he compiles his own extensive data.

The Italian, who played in the victory in 2010, has a track record of identifying which partnerships will succeed and which won’t.

Europe won 6-2 in the foursomes, where the home team has traditionally been dominant. By the Saturday night, they had a record lead of 1112-4112, and the players were aware of this throughout.

After Europe’s fifth away victory, Robert MacIntyre declared, “We’re a big band of brothers. We’ve said it from the beginning.”

It’s a special feeling to do it again, but it was very special to do it when we were somewhat rejected and in the same manner as we did it before.

Europe was prepared to handle the crowds’ hostility. It was total carnage out there, but MacIntyre claimed that it improved the way things were handled.

We play for one another, to put it another way. We take any action. Look, Luke pointed out that I was a foursome player. I am a foursome player.

“I don’t argue or inquire as to whether I can play fourball.” I follow what is instructed. And I believe that the entire team does the same.

You ask “how high?” when Luke tells you to jump. That’s the only way we are aware as Europeans.

You listened to the coaches, the players in charge, and you followed instructions when you were a team sports player growing up.

And everyone in there follows our instructions, from Rory McIlroy to Jon Rahm, to everyone else.

Professional golfers are the embodiment of their sport, working as their own bosses all the time. They don’t like having people arrange them for them to go by.

Europe has long known this and developed the culture MacIntyre, a veteran of many glittering team rooms, has portrayed to extract the most from these characters.