A Disastrous Start Doomed the U.S. as Europe Wins the Ryder Cup
While the Americans threatened to make a push after tempers flared on Saturday, Europe maintained its home dominance
GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy—The most anticipated moment of the Ryder Cup’s final day arrived when American golfer Patrick Cantlay and his caddie stepped into the amphitheater for the final session. Less than a day earlier, Cantlay’s long putt delivered the Americans a dramatic victory on the 18th hole, and his caddie’s celebration stirred up altercations with Rory McIlroy.
The fans greeted Cantlay with jeers and by waving their hats at him—mocking his decision to not wear a cap this week, and referencing how his caddie waved his own hat at the crowd during the controversial celebration. The question facing the Americans was whether the fiery conclusion to Saturday could spark a record comeback on Sunday.
But after an inspired effort on the final day, the Americans failed to erase their struggles to begin the competition.
Europe withstood a late U.S. push to reclaim the Ryder Cup with a 16.5 to 11.5 win here at Marco Simone Golf Club, continuing their dominance on home soil in this biennial event. The Americans haven’t won on this continent since 1993 and have more broadly watched as their counterparts have come to own this competition: Europe has now won eight out of the last 11 Ryder Cups.
“At one point I was looking at the board trying to figure out how we get to 14.5 points,” European captain Luke Donald said. “But in the end, we got there easily.”
How Europe eventually clinched was peculiar. The deciding moment came when Rickie Fowler conceded a putt to Englishman Tommy Fleetwood on the 16th green—a decision that quickly drew scrutiny given the stakes. That didn’t matter to the jubilant fans here, whose supercharged energy went up another notch. One gray-haired fan celebrated by taking a plunge into one of the ponds on the course.
Down by five points entering Sunday, the U.S. needed the biggest final day comeback ever in order to win. There were moments when that didn’t seem entirely unreasonable, as a half dozen of Americans charged ahead in their matches while others were tied. Until late, a draw was also in play and that practically would have been a win for the visiting side. In the case of a tie, the team that last won the Ryder Cup—in this case, that was the U.S. after its big win in 2021—retains it.
“I couldn’t believe what we were seeing on the board, to be honest,” Irishman Shane Lowry said. Those last couple of hours were probably two of the most stressful hours on the golf course I’ve had.
But the Americans failed to capitalize on the opportunities that they needed to convert on to pull off something improbable. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, in the opening pairing against Spanish golf star Jon Rahm, grinded his way back from two down and was ahead heading into the 18th hole. Yet when Rahm’s putt from 90 feet away gave him a mere tap-in for birdie, that left Scheffler needing to chip-in from a short distance away to maintain his lead.
Instead, Scheffler’s ball scooted right of the hole, delivering Rahm a draw that felt like a win for Europe, which needed only four of 12 points going into the day to prevail. Once Englishman Tyrrell Hatton topped British Open champion Brian Harman, Europe had 14 of the 28 points and the Americans’ only option was to do something distinctly European: play for a draw.
But after Fowler went into the water on the short par-4 16th, while Englishman Tommy Fleetwood drove the green, Fowler eventually conceded the hole. The Europeans could safely say veni, vidi, vici.
The Americans ultimately doomed themselves on the first day of the event with a performance that was nothing short of a disaster. They didn’t win one of the eight matches, allowing Europe to race out to an early five-point lead that ultimately proved insurmountable.
Europe built on that lead early on Saturday, but the Americans soon had their first burst of hope when they won three out of the four afternoon matches. That’s also when tensions flared inside the ropes and spilled into the parking lot.
In the final four-ball match of that day, Cantlay sunk a long putt on the 18th hole to deliver the U.S. a dramatic, comeback win over a pairing including McIlroy, sending the American team and its fans into a frenzy of hat waving. (Cantlay said the U.S. hats didn’t fit him, and that an unsubstantiated report that claimed he was not wearing a hat over compensation was completely false. He didn’t directly answer whether it had to do with not wanting a tan line when he gets married on Monday.)
Those celebrating included Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, whose antics got in the way of McIlroy, who still needed to putt. McIlroy could be seen asking LaCava to move before the two got into it, and soon Lowry was shouting at the caddie.
That wasn’t the end of it. Later, video showed McIlroy shouting and pointing in the direction of Justin Thomas’s caddie before McIlroy was restrained by Lowry and got into a car.
“He was just the first American I saw after I got out of the locker room,” McIlroy said.
Everyone leaned into the controversy on the final day. European fans mocked Cantlay relentlessly. U.S. fans embraced it and chanted “no hat Pat!” Some American players, including Justin Thomas, played hatless like Cantlay. After holes during his win against Austrian Sepp Straka, Thomas celebrated by pretending to tip a cap that wasn’t on his head.
And players on both sides said the incident motivated their teams.
“We needed to rally around something,” Scheffler said.
“I let it fuel me,” McIlroy said after he beat Sam Burns on Sunday.
But even though the Americans showed pluck in the singles matches, there was no overcoming how their star players were utterly dominated over the first couple of days. Scheffler finished without having won a match while suffering the most lopsided defeat in the event’s history. That happened on Saturday morning when he and Brooks Koepka lost to Norwegian Viktor Hovland and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg down by nine with seven holes to play. Afterward, television footage showed Scheffler appearing to wipe away tears.
Although some Americans such as Homa and Cantlay, who both won on Sunday delivered strong performances, the U.S. ultimately got clobbered by Europe’s stalwarts. McIlroy’s win on Sunday gave him an event-leading four points. Hovland also won his singles match, giving him 3.5 points. Rahm had two wins and two incredible draws—both in matches against Scheffler where he won the final hole to earn the half point.
The defeat will lead to inevitable soul searching for the Americans about why they lost an away Ryder Cup yet again. Captain Zach Johnson indicated after their early struggles that there was an illness running through the team.
Whatever the reason, the U.S. still hasn’t won a Ryder Cup on this continent in 30 years. And now it will be at least another four more.