ROME — Sunday was a formality, really.
Sure, the U.S. Ryder Cup team wasn’t mathematically eliminated through the first two days of the competition that spanned four team sessions.
But overcoming a five-point deficit entering 12 Sunday singles matches had never been done.
And, oh yes, the Americans had not won on European soil since 1993 — 30 years ago and six road-game Ryder Cups ago.
Make that seven.
The final score was 16 ½ for Europe and 11 ½ for the U.S., but this Ryder Cup wasn’t even as close as that score indicates — and that score indicates a rather lopsided affair.
Europe was better than the U.S. in everything.
The Europeans looked more prepared. They looked like they cared more. They looked more relaxed.
They won the first session — Friday morning’s foursomes — 4-0 and never took their foot off the gas until it was time to pop champagne corks and celebrate into the Italian night Sunday.
They beat the Americans with a replacement captain, Luke Donald, who was given the job after the originally appointed captain, Henrik Stenson, was stripped of his title because he joined LIV Golf.
They beat the Americans with their captain’s picks playing a lot better than the Americans’.
Europe’s six captain’s picks went 8-9-3 for the week while the six who Zach Johnson chose delivered to the tune of a ghastly 4-12-4.
“This is a moment where you literally just have to accept that the European team played really, really good golf,’’ said Johnson, who blindly refused to acknowledge that nine members of his team not playing tournament golf for five weeks leading into the Ryder Cup may have been a factor.
“Clearly our start Friday, the entire day Friday, was not what we were looking to do,’’ Jordan Spieth said. “And it’s really hard to come back in an away game when you fall so far behind.’’
Europe’s 19-9 loss to the U.S. in 2021 in Wisconsin left a terrible taste in the mouths of the proud European players.
“This means an awful lot,’’ said Rory McIlroy, who was one of two European players to play in all five sessions and he produced a 4-1-0 record. “I was so disappointed after Whistling Straits. We all were. And we wanted to come here to Rome this year and redeem ourselves a bit. We’ve got some fresh blood on the team that I think has worked really, really well.’’
Asked what stuck out most about Whistling Straits, McIlroy said, “The score line: 19-9. That hurt. It really did. There was a few of us up here that were on that team that wanted to come back, and everyone at the start of the week was talking about, ‘Oh, do you want to get revenge, do you want to get revenge on the U.S. Team?
“This wasn’t about revenge. This was about redemption and showing what we could do.’’
So, they did.
They dominated.
“This team felt on a bit of a mission,’’ Justin Rose said. “This one was clinical. It was relentless. From a performance point of view, this team had everything.’’
Europe’s big guns outplayed the Americans’ top players, among them No. 1 ranked Scottie Scheffler (0-2-2) and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka (1-1-1).
After McIlroy, Jon Rahm, ranked No. 2 in the world, went 2-0-2. Viktor Hovland, the only other player on Europe to play five matches, delivered a 3-1-1 record.
This is all you need to know about the Americans’ performance: Their best player was Max Homa, who was playing in his first Ryder Cup and he was the only U.S. player to go all five matches, posting a marvelous 3-1-1 record.
The pairings the U.S. felt best about based on their past Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup performances — Spieth and Justin Thomas, and Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay — didn’t work out.
Spieth played poorly and went 0-2-2 and Thomas finished 1-2-1. Schauffele was 1-3 for the week.
Collin Morikawa, another player who had a fabulous 2021 Ryder Cup, went 1-3. Cantlay played extremely well to give the U.S. a glimmer of hope late Saturday with a massive point in the four-balls against McIlroy. And he won his singles match Sunday.
Rickie Fowler, who was thought to be a glue guy for the team as a captain’s pick and with a lot of Ryder Cup experience, had the most forgettable week of all, going 0-2-0.
He was benched for both sessions on Saturday and in his singles match on Sunday, he hit his tee shot into the water on the drivable par-4 16th hole and gave the hole to Tommy Fleetwood, who would score the clinching point for Europe.
“Obviously bummed that the game didn’t exactly travel this week and struggled a bit the first day and kind of just never felt that comfortable,’’ Fowler said. “Fought, fought today, and I kept hanging around and tried to keep pushing. But ultimately a couple swings on my end that cost me.’’
It cost the entire team.
But Fowler was not nearly the only reason the U.S. was blown out this week. He was merely one of many.
