C. C. Ryder

When the U.S. ended it's Ryder Cup drought, I expected an earth-shattering kaboom...Kind of anticlimactic, no?

Gary Van Sickle dug deep to find the drama:

After Davis Love III holed the putt that won the 1993 Ryder Cup at the Belfry in

England, he was so excited that he forgot to pick his ball out of the cup. He never saw it again. 

Love watched Ryan Moore clinch America’s first Ryder Cup victory in eight years on the 18th green at Hazeltine National on Sunday, then saw Moore make the same mistake. Love retrieved the ball, and when he went to Moore for a celebratory hug, the captain handed it to him.

“And then Ryan gave it back to me,” a moved Love said a few hours later at the winners’ press conference.

Is that the best you got, Gary?  After the inevitable and odious Task Force triumphalism, Gary hones in on this simple truth:

But maybe this win was as simple as this: The Americans just played better. They ran the Euros off the field on Friday morning with a 4-0 sweep and led at the end of each session. They out-putted the Europeans, a reversal of form, and even had more fun, possibly a first. The week was capped with a session for the ages.

For the ages?  C'mon Gary, I'll grant you that designation for '91, '99 and even '12, but yesterday had two really good matches early in the day and left NBC holding the bag for the final three hours of their broadcast.  Perhaps one of my legion of readers would fill me in on how Martin Kaymer stole his match from The Kooch, but the outcome was never at risk.

Jaime Diaz, in a piece posted Saturday late, summed up the Euro squad with this comparison to....  well, let him tell it:

A recent case was last season’s San Antonio Spurs, so long anchored by Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker, getting run out the gym in the NBA playoffs by a younger, faster and ultimately better Oklahoma Thunder team, as the venerable Greg Popovich let the beat down play out as if bound by sacred ritual.

It’s the code European captain Darren Clarke followed in his captain’s picks for this year’s Ryder Cup team, and just as crucially in his lineup for the Saturday afternoon four-balls. And it cost him, as Europe lost that session 3-1 as his veterans—but not his youngsters—were found wanting. If Europe can’t overcome its 9½- 6½ deficit in the singles, this will go down as the Ryder Cup in which the core of the European team finally got old.

Both sides erred in their strategies, the Euros just had less room for error....here's just a bit more from Jaime:

It’s a quality Westwood and Kaymer have demonstrated many times, and perhaps Clarke should be admired for having faith that they could find a way again. But this European team has a smaller margin for error than its most recent counterparts. While eight victories in the last 10 matches may appear dynastic, in truth the main carryover from one Ryder Cup to the next is that the differences in the quality of the teams will be minimal. 

This year the U.S., even with the oldest player on either team in Mickelson, is discernibly deeper. In the coldest terms, Clarke didn’t have the luxury of loyalty.

The great Jaime seems on the same page up top, but I'll pick a nit with his carryover comment, as I see the Euros entering a fallow period.   At the top they've basically got Rory, Henrik and maybe Justin Rose...  No spring chickens those last two, but even their rookies have some age on them, including Andy Sullivan (30), Rafa (32) and Danny Willett (29).

My sense is that Phil's hostile takeover of the Ryder Cup was perfectly timed...

I also agree with this from Brian Wacker:

Davis Love III didn’t go to such extremes this year at Hazeltine National. Instead, he went the other direction, reducing the rough -- the same way he did two years ago at Medinah -- and setting up pins that could be attacked. 

On Sunday, there were 124 birdies and five eagles made in the 202 total holes played over 12 singles matches. It was the product of the best players in the world performing on a course that was in pristine condition, particularly on the greens, but also pin locations that in Justin Rose’s eyes were not testing enough. 

“Setup-wise, this course can be as tough as you want it to be, there's no doubt about it,” he said. “I think today, I think if we were all to be honest about it, I thought the setup was incredibly weak. I thought it was very much a pro-am feel in terms of the pin placements. They were all middle of the green.

They sure were, which should be kept in mind when we evaluate the birdie binges in the Phil/Sergio and Reed/Rory matches...  But I'll guess this was an over-reaction to those late pins at Medinah, where the important information never seemed to get to Davis' players....  That said, Rose didn't take advantage of those pins much, did he?

This header had me rolling my eyes:

Ryan Moore goes from last-minute captain's pick to Ryder Cup hero

Yeah, not so much....  No reason to dump on the guy, as he found some form on Sunday.  In a perfect world we'd reexamine the Horschel rule and realize that the best strategy is to take the best golfer and hope it all works out....

If, like your humble blogger, you find yourself wondering who had the worst week, you could make the case for this guy:

In short, Willett's week in which he went 0 and 3 and his team lost the Ryder Cup for the

first time since 2008 was a complete disaster. But when Willett was asked what he thought about the experience, the reigning Masters champ managed to give an even more concise answer. 

"Sh*!" Willett responded drawing laughs from his teammates and members of the media. 

"I can only be honest," he said moments later. "Sorry, would you like me to elaborate? It was really sh*!"

Hey, he at least made his teammates laugh....unlike a certain portly southpaw...

And this from Josh Berhow's funniest moments from the pressers:

3. The Europeans were asked if the Americans have found the Ryder Cup recipe for success, which a reporter called the Europeans' "secret sauce."
McIlroy: "Come on, Poults."
Ian Poulter: "I guess I'm taking this one."
McIlroy: "What's the recipe of that secret sauce?"
Poulter: I think I just looked at a Tweet right now, which —"
Sergio Garcia: "You weren't checking Twitter (now), really!?"

Perhaps you had to be there, but at least no one stuck a shiv in Captain Clarke.

Let's spend a couple of minutes with the TC panel, then we can all get on with our day:

The Americans stormed to a 17-11 victory in the 41st Ryder Cup,winning the competition for the first time in eight years. Simple question: How did they do it?

Michael Bamberger: They had better golfers. Really, this year the sum total of talent favored the Americans. But the young talent on the European team was as impressive as anything. 

Jeff Ritter: Captain Love was able to get his entire roster in the mix and making positive contributions on the first day. Europe had too many guys who had hardly played, or who were playing poorly, to mount a serious rally. The U.S. deserved this one. As Michael said, they were the better squad.

Contra Phil, I suggested that they play better, and whatya know?  Davis got all of his players out there because he could.....

Whatever Davis Love III and his task force did to prepare for this Ryder Cup, it clearly worked. What's the biggest difference you noticed between the vibe around this team and the vibe around the team that Love captained in Medinah in 2012? 

BAMBERGER: Very little. The 2012 U.S. team had a tremendous rapport. They just didn't play well on Sunday. 

GODICH: More specifically, they just didn't putt as well -- at least not as well as the Europeans did.

See, I told them that they needed to make more putts.... Never mind.  seriously, if you thought Davis had screwed up in 2012, you wouldn't have given him the mulligan.... though he was admittedly just a seat-warmer for Phil.

And this about our hero:

Phil Mickelson battled Sergio Garcia to a half point on Sunday and finished the week with 2 1/2 points. After what he said after the 2014 debacle, Mickelson said he felt a huge amount of pressure to deliver this week. Did he?

RITTER: He formed a surprisingly successful pairing with Fowler, carried Kuchar on Saturday afternoon and then made 10 birdies on Sunday head-to-head again Sergio. Ten. Phil walked the talk.

Surprisingly effective in that they went 1-1?  Phil should not have been out in foursomes, but so be it...  My issues with Phil are not about his playing, well mostly, but he played when he wanted to play, and I'll question whether that's in the team's best interests....

GODICH: Without a doubt. Most important, he delivered on Saturday afternoon after many of us questioned why he was even playing, and again on Sunday in a taut singles match. But in the wake of his 2014 comments and the shots he took at Hal Sutton, I wonder if the golf gods we're saying, "You can have the Cup and even 10 birdies, but no way we're letting you win that singles match."

He played great on Sunday and made EVERYTHING, so the halve was irrelevant....  Kudos to Sergio for hanging with him and keeping us in front of the TV.  But it's the Phil show going forward, and we'll be here to poke him when he shoots his mouth off.

I have no clue as to what I'll blog about from now until mid-April.....you'll just have to tune in to see.