USA wins Ryder Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dub]

USA wins on Furyks conceded par putt,...

Loved it thouroughly.

I'm going to the course tommorrow to work on my "pony riding" and dip spitting!!!!!! Anthony Kim and Boo Weekley kicked arse....as well as Poulter...just wasn't in the cards for his side this time.

[heyscuba]

One thing bugged me. Mahan nailed the amazing putt on 17 - that was worth exactly 1/2 point. He then proceeded to NOT play it safe and drove into the hazard on 18. That cost us exactly 1/2 point. I would have *really* preferred a safe drive aimed at the right edge of the bunker. Oh well.

I think those guys need to learn to control their emotions a bit after the high points,... get pumped, show a litttle emotion,... but then cool it and settle down, 30- 40 seconds of high energy yelling and screaming and fist pumping and crowd waving seemed a bit much and may have shown on 18 for Hunter,... Kim and Phil were celebrating a bit early yesterday too,... Phil has really disapointed me since Tiger went down,... But over all,... great matches and golf,...

[Mr.Buckethead]

I walked the course during 2 of the practice rounds. It was in amazing shape.

Very proud of the US team, very proud of Louisville because people got to experience great hospitality, incredible weather, and an amazing victory.

-My wife was ready to kill me after spending 20+ hours on golf in the last 3 days.

[dornoch]

It was a total team effort. Anybody would want to have Woods, 1 of the best 3 players in the history of the game on their team. But his record in the team matches isn’t good. Part of that is, I think that his playing partners and the team just figure oh Tiger will get 3.5 virtually all by himself. The other part is, fairly or not, he seems to have the same attitude about the cup that Nicklaus had/has.

In beginning to dissect why the US won, I can think of 2 swing matches:

Day 1 Alternate Shot: Harrington/Karlsson vs. Mickleson/Kim. Europe has just won 10, 11 & 12 to go 3-up. The other matches on the course are pretty close. Another US marquis pairing is about to get taken out again on a Friday morning session at the Ryder Cup.

Then: At 13, Kim makes par while Karlsson makes bogie. At 14, both teams make a mess of the hole. Mickleson salvages the situation by making one of his signature recovery shots. Karlsson makes a bogie and Kim makes a par. At 15, Mickleson makes a 12-ft birdie putt. Not only is it an unlikely comeback, but it cancels out Kenny Perry's woes later in the day on 17 & 18 that gave the EUROS a half point in that match.

Day 2 Four-ball: Garcia/Casey vs. Stricker/Curtis
At 8, Garcia make a long putt and lets out the now famous primal scream to get himself going. Stricker responds with an 18-ft birdie and scream of his own to halve the hole. At 18 the EUROs basically outplay the EUROS on the hole. In a little twist of irony, it's a US player who has to make a recovery from the "Azinger rough” around the greens. Stricker is a good scrambler, but his pitch still leaves him with a 15-foot birdie putt. Both EUROS in good position to birdie and win the hole. Based on the way the 18th hole had been played, Stricker "steals" a 1/2 point by draining his birdie putt.

The best match in terms of overall quality by both teams was also on Day 2 Four-ball: Karlsson/Stenson vs. Mickleson/Mahan

Karlsson was a 1-man wrecking crew on the back 9, with birdies at 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 18. But the team of Mickelson/Mahan matched him at 10, 14, 15 and 18 to hold the Euros off. Actually Mickleson had a 5-footer on 17 to go 1-up, but left the putt short.

So while Mickleson didn't have a good season (especially with Woods away), and he got crushed in singles--Mickleson did his job in 2 of the team matches, earning important halves.

Source: Ryder Cup.com

[Doctorfro]

... with a 3-wood. At least, that's what I said in the live blog. Yeah, that was a pretty piss-poor drive, and at the time he did it, the matches were absolutely nowhere near wrapped up. That half point could have been costly.

My thoughts exactly. And I thought I saw Zinger speak to him after 17. Guess he was talking about emotions and focus rather than strategy. I assumed anyone who has played match play would've played that last hole conservatively, especially since it was a short par 5 in which you could easily be putting for bird from relatively close in. Guess that's where a rook gets a little education from that. No matter. I'm just tickled that we won the whole thing. Kinda like USA basketball bringing the gold home this summer.

[dornoch]

For the most part the US struggled with 18 going all the way back to day 1 whenever the matches made it to 18. I thought Azinger would've addressed that either in the team room or on the course.

In a later post, I'll take a look at Par 5 and Par 3 performance during the team matches.

[gills]

It was a total team effort. Anybody would want to have Woods, 1 of the best 3 players in the history of the game on their team. But his record in the team matches isn’t good. Part of that is, I think that his playing partners and the team just figure oh Tiger will get 3.5 virtually all by himself.

Can you fill me in on this?

[dornoch]

Well Nicklaus geared himself for the majors. As a little boy Woods had Nicklaus' picture on his wall, he gears himself for the majors the same way. Nicklaus even though he said the U.S. would win big, also basically said it should be a friendly competition. According to some who cover the tour, Woods feels that all the ceremonial stuff leading up to the matches, while not quite what Mahan said, is still advertising for the PGA tour. O'Meara and Duval voiced some of the same sentiments before the 99 Ryder Cup. Nicklaus has said that a player is remember by his major wins, not his Ryder Cup record. It wouldn't be too ridiculous a suppostion that Woods feels and treats the Cup the same way.

[Jimbo83]

As a European i have to saw well done to the US.

I feel sorry for Nick Faldo as he will now get all the blame for the fact we lost. However i think the blame has to lie with the European big guns who did not perform well at all. The likes of Garcia, Harrington and Westwood played poorly.

Well done USA! What a player Boo Weekley is.

[mstuk]

Congratulations to the US team the better team won no question in my mind .

[BruceMGF]

Anthony Kim and Boo Weekley kicked arse....as well as Poulter...just wasn't in the cards for his side this time.

... and JB Holmes, when just one more point was needed. I wasn't expecting that. Kinda made up for that left-handed guy.

[PEZGolf]

USA wins on Furyks conceded par putt,...

Congratulations to Captain 'Zinger for an OUTSTANDING JOB! The whole team deserves credit but he deserves a lion's share of it. In case anyone thinks the Captain's role is not that important, consider this: the World's #1 was NOT there, and the US team won by 5 points (in case you have forgotten, in the last two matches, where the US had the World's #1, 2, and 3, we were STOMPED ON by a score of 18 1/2 to 9 1/2). He understands this is a team effort, and enthusiasm counts. Captains like Hal Sutton, Curtis Strange,Tom Lehman simply do NOT get it. Here are some others deserving kudos: 1. The American rookies, especially Boo and JB. Both of their single matches were critical after Phil and Justin were beaten. And they BOTH came through!! 2. Lineups-----While many analysts concentrated on "front-loading" vs. "back-loading", the real key was the middle matches. Not only did Boo and JB come through, but so did fellow Kentuckian Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk. 3. Understanding the pressure, the crowds, and the whole mindset. Criticize him as much as you want, Johnny Miller got it right with his comment, "There are tournament players and Ryder Cup players". Some like Arnie, Jack, Lee, Tom Watson, Walter Hagen, Seve, Jose Maria, Langer, Woosie, etc. can be BOTH, but there are other examplesthat make Johnny's point valid: Tiger, Phil, and Padraig. The Ryder Cup requires a true team esprit de corps, and many Americans, as "independent contractors" seem to resist that very concept. 'Zinger made it clear that is what it takes, and THIS team "got it". SIMPLY A GREAT WIN, especially with the singles on Sunday.

[PEZGolf]

USA wins on Furyks conceded par putt,...

Another great move and gesture by Paul Azinger was having Payne Stewart's son, Aaron, ride in the golf cart with him on Saturday. Payne LOVED the Ryder Cup and played a BIG role in our victory in 1999 at the Country Club. 'Zinger and Payne were good friends and used to talk about whether each of them would be a Captain some day since each had won the PGA Championship. They agreed that if either was named, he would select the other as an Assistant. I am sure the Payne is screaming and celebrating in Golf Heaven right now for the thrilling US victory! His spirit LIVES ON!!

[YogiTKE]

USA, USA, USA, USA, USA......What a great site that was.

[SideSwipe]

-My wife was ready to kill me after spending 20+ hours on golf in the last 3 days.

Heh heh .... I got the same feeling here. Whenever she stepped out of the room I would switch to the Ryder Cup and then switch it back when she returned (this while I have the Ryder Cup going on in another room). She's a good egg though, because she knows I only do this for the Majors and the Ryder Cup.

[ganjagolfer]

-My wife was ready to kill me after spending 20+ hours on golf in the last 3 days.

i give my wife a bunch of money and tell her to go shopping

[pjsnyc]

USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!

Gotta love A.K.'s USA buckle

[dornoch]

Based on something Johnny Miller said during the NBC broadcast, I decided to comb through the Par 3 & Par 5 performance in the team sessions. This is what I sorted out:

64 Par 3s played: US won 20 holes; EU won 10 holes, 34 halves.
41 Par 5s played: US won 9; EU won 14 holes, 18 halves.

Usually the talk before the cup is the US having the advantage of power on the Par 5s. Well with the technology boom and increased depth of the US tour, that perceived power advantage has decreased over time. Plus it looked like the EUROS had a plan on how to deal with the tricky #18, while the US often made a mess of the hole all the way up to the Mahan/Casey singles match.

In really digging into the numbers there was something eye-popping to me.
Of the total of 16 Par 3 holes played during Day 1 Alternate Shot:

The US won 10 holes; EUROS 3 holes; 3 halved.
The US went 3-0-1 at 14 on Day 1.
The US made 6 birdies, EUROS 1 birdie.
The US made 1 bogie, EUROS 7 bogies.

This triggered me to remember something Azinger said when Woods won the British @ Hoylake. To paraphrase Azinger, he said the set of Par 3s at Hoylake were the weakest he'd seen in a major championship in a long time.

While the pros plan how to attack Par 5s and shorts 4s to score, I'm going to propose a theory.

Maybe Azinger with his 4 alternate shot pairings really planned how they were going to attack the Par 3s early on .

That morning session on the first day, everybody is nervous. Of course, the EUROs had practice rounds and a run through of the course. Still the mindset with Par 3s even with the pros is usually par is a good score.

With the wind only at about 5 mph, maybe Azinger and those initial pairings said let's take advantage of our local knowledge of the Par 3s to try to make birdies.

Perhaps the US simply had better iron-players in these match-ups. Perhaps it was just a good run that they were so much better on the Par 3s. After the Morning Day 1 session, the US still had a slight edge on the Par 3s, but not nearly as pronounced.

That's my crackpot theory about a possible detail that helped allow the US to get that critical jump on the EUROS on day 1.

Source: RyderCup.com