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“We talked about it as a team last night,” McIlroy said. “We felt like it was disrespectful, and it wasn’t just disrespectful to Fitz and I. It was disrespectful to the whole team.”

McIlroy was referring to an incident on the 18th green the night before, when Patrick Cantlay’s 43-footer for birdie sent the surrounding Americans into a hat-waving frenzy, Cantlay’s caddie Joe LaCava got too close to McIlroy for his liking, a confrontation ensued, spilling from the green to the parking lot to, eventually, the pool of Team Europe’s hotel, where Shane Lowry took him to cool off, literally, by taking to the cold plunge.

The incident immediately became the Ryder Cup’s most visible moment; it led to several viral videos that also told a larger story about Patrick Cantlay, the U.S. team and McIlroy’s emotions around the event. The point had also made a distinct difference in score; Cantlay’s match win meant the U.S. side still had a reasonable chance going to Sunday’s singles. That didn’t pan out; Europe trounced ’em 16.5-11.5. But even in victory, the moment was still on McIlroy’s mind.

“Everything will be fine,” he said post-win. “It’s a point of contention and it still hurts — but time is a great healer and we’ll all move on.”

He’s right: We all will move on. The golf world will move on from Rome and from the Ryder Cup. (Next stop: Jackson, Miss.!) Fans will finish their vacations and head home. We will, too. But what will we bring with us when we do? There’s no question that HatGate gave us the Cup’s biggest moment. But it was the small moments that defined the Cup far better.

I SPOKE TO BONES MACKAY on Tuesday. Golf’s most legendary active caddie had a moment to kill beside the practice green, and I was eager for his perspective given he’s now caddied a dozen Ryder Cups — and given it was hardly a sure thing that he’d be here. Justin Thomas’ down year left him (and Mackay) very much in limbo before a captain’s pick from U.S. captain Zach Johnson yielded one of the final spots.

“I’m just extremely grateful to be here. It’s my 12th Cup as a caddie and my 14th in a row, in some capacity — and it might as well be the first,” Mackay said. Then he spoke slowly, carefully, earnestly. “I just think this event speaks to what is great about golf. These guys do what they do, it means so much, and nobody’s making a nickel.”

The last time Mackay caddied at a Ryder Cup was in 2016, when he was still on the bag for Phil Mickelson. After their split, Mackay worked the next two editions for NBC. And then, just after the 2021 Cup, he got the call: Thomas wanted Mackay to join his team. Typically we hear about players splitting with caddies; these days it can be the other way around, too. Mackay finds himself part of a generation of caddies — think Webb Simpson’s longtime looper Paul Tesori, now on the bag for Cameron Young, or Rickie Fowler’s longtime looper Joe Skovron, now on the bag for Tom Kim — who have traded in for a newer model. I asked Mackay: What keeps them coming back?

“We were all out here when lunch consisted of a hot dog at a concession stand and an iced tea,” he said. “You’d get a ticket when you showed up. Now? I mean, life has changed dramatically for caddies in our time. And for those of us who were out here when we were sleeping four to a hotel room, it’s nice to stay out here as long as we can and enjoy what’s so amazing about it. We’ve got Tiger to thank for that because as soon as he showed up he changed all of our lives.”

That was another reason I wanted to talk to Mackay. For 25 years he was best known as Phil Mickelson’s caddie. For a decade Joe LaCava was best known as Tiger Woods’ caddie. Now here they were carrying for Thomas and Cantlay, two centerpieces of this Ryder Cup team. Just how well do they know each other?

“I’ve just learned so much from him,” Mackay said of LaCava. “When you’ve had 1,000 meals with a guy, you learn some things. He was out here for several years before I got out and I learned a lot from watching him communicate with Fred [Couples]. Just the little things. I remember him talking about Fred’s creativity.

“We were eating dinner one night and he says, ‘When Fred hits it in the trees I never say a word.’ I asked why that was. He said, ‘What he’s got going on in his head, his ability to see and execute shots with those hands? There’s no way I can bring anything to the table given what’s going on there.’ At the time I was working with Phil and I thought hmm, that’s something I can apply at work.”

Mackay also paraphrased Rory McIlroy. “I’ve always liked how he’s said it’s hard to ever call it a good year if you don’t win the Ryder Cup,” he said.

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It was a strange twist of fate that, just four days later, McIlroy would be screaming at Mackay about something LaCava had just done. He texted him on Sunday morning, apologizing.

“He was the first American I saw after I got out of the locker room so he was the one that took the brunt of it,” McIlroy said. “I texted Bones this morning and apologized for that.”

NOBODY WAS MORE IMPRESSED with Max Homa’s putt on the 18th green than Homa’s caddie Joe Greiner. It was Greiner who’d talked Homa into taking an unplayable lie just minutes before, forcing him to navigate a tricky up-and-down for par. When the eight-footer found the bottom of the cup, Greiner hit the deck, too, raising his hands above his head and lowering them in Homa’s direction, suggesting that he was, in fact, not worthy.

The rest of the U.S. team wasn’t particularly worthy either. Homa emerged the week’s top U.S. performer, logging 3.5 points over five matches while the next best earned just 2. That final putt earned Homa a 1-up victory, keeping the U.S. team’s winding path to victory still technically open. He got to do his favorite thing from the Ryder Cup, too:

“J.T. told me at the Presidents Cup about how it’s so fun being at these events because you can act like an idiot if you want to,” Homa said before Sunday singles. “And I acted like an idiot the few times I was lucky enough to have my ball go in the hole.”

The freedom to act like an idiot? Maybe that’s something we should all embrace.

IN THE AFTERMATH of his team’s resounding victory, Luke Donald was asked about his late parents. What would they have thought of all of this?

The question clearly took Donald aback. But he handled that surprise with the same thoughtfulness that he brought to his role the entire week.

“I’ve never had that one before. I’ve never thought about the answer,” he said. “Yeah, I miss them. I miss them, of course. I would have loved to share this moment with them.”

He concluded the answer with something profound — about the week, about his team, about the sport of golf.

“It’s not just for ourselves. That’s what makes the Ryder Cup so special is we play it for the people that mean so much to us,” he said. “Certainly my parents meant a lot to me. So yeah, they would be very proud.”

Rightly so. Donald was spectacular in his role as captain. I’m generally a skeptic on that sort of thing; how much can the captain really matter, anyway? And it’s much easier to look like the genius captain when your players are rattling the flagstick with every other chip. But I appreciated the way he handled questions head-on, the way he was respectful but firm, the way he supported his players with love and poise, the way he came off like someone who’d been leading teams his entire life.

But my favorite moment of Donald’s was his first. When he stepped to the podium at the opening ceremony he greeted the crowd with several lines of [what sounded to a dumb American like] beautiful Italian, sending a wave of delight through the crowd. Then he introduced each of the men on his team. And then they were off.

Rory McIlroy summed up Donald’s performance succinctly:

“I think everyone sitting here would be very happy to have him again,” he said, looking ahead to 2025.

The little things go a long way.

I CAME UPON XANDER SCHAUFFELE on the putting green just before his Sunday singles tee time. He wasn’t wearing a hat.

That’s unlike Schauffele. It’s unlike Collin Morikawa. It’s unlike Justin Thomas and it’s unlike Greiner, too. But all five went cap-free on Sunday, standing in solidarity with capless crusader Patrick Cantlay, he of the aforementioned Saturday kerfuffle.

The no-cap call came in response to a Saturday news report about Cantlay’s choice not to wear a hat as a form of protest; the same report alleged a “fractured” U.S. team room. My first instinct was that diving back into Saturday’s drama on Sunday meant living in the past. But the more I watched the U.S. team the more I appreciated the gesture. We often dog on the Americans for being unable to match the Europeans when it comes to team unity. But what better way to bring the gang together than to make a show of hatless solidarity?

“The loss that we had this week has absolutely nothing to do with team camaraderie because this is probably the closest team I’ve ever been a part of,” Thomas said post-round.

Homa echoed that sentiment.

“You watch this your whole life on TV and you get to experience it. It’s amazing. It’s a bummer to lose, clearly, but it was cool. I really love these guys, and it was a true pleasure to be with all of them.”

We never quite got to the bottom of exactly why Cantlay wasn’t wearing a hat. Was he dodging a nasty tan line before his wedding? Avoiding an ill-fitting hat? Leaning into his no-cap persona from Whistling Straits? Making a statement? Or just taking advantage of the sponsor-free week?

But we do know why the others weren’t wearing hats: solidarity with their most-maligned teammate. Even in a losing effort, it was a little gesture that went a long way.

THE TWO PIECES OF RYDER CUP CONTENT that made me think the hardest came from Ryder Cup Europe’s social channels.

The first video was simple and beautiful: Each of the 12 Europeans introduced himself to the camera.

The video was particularly powerful because it reminded us how we typically see these guys: through an American-centric PGA Tour lens. Sepp Straka typically has a Southern accent — but not here! That’s how you pronounce Nicolai Hojgaard? And that’s how Viktor Hovland says his own name?!

I’m always amazed at how well the European team meshes given their geographic differences and language barrier. But perhaps this is some tiny lesson: On Team Europe, come as you are.

In the second video, members of Team Europe attempted to pronounce the name of Swedish rookie sensation Ludvig Aberg.

The beauty of the video wasn’t that they nailed the pronunciation, although Hojgaard and Hovland seemed damn close. Instead, the beauty came from the fact that they’d tried to, that they’d given it thought, that there was a genuine curiosity that went into understanding someone else’s background.

I thought of the videos again on Sunday night as the Americans filed out of their losing press conference and the Europeans filed into their winning press conference and we all tried to make sense of why the latter beat the former with some sort of deeper analysis than well, they just made more putts.

Justin Rose provided one clue when he referenced the team’s scouting trip, Donald’s leadership message and how it all played into their preparation.

“There’s a really strong culture on the European team,” he said before seemingly taking a shot at the Americans’ buddy system. “A good pairing on the European team doesn’t mean playing with your best mate. It’s about representing something bigger than yourself, and I feel like that’s, for me, what being a European Ryder Cup player is all about.”

Jon Rahm was largely silent in the post-round presser; McIlroy was the center of attention both because of the previous night’s controversy and because he’s Rory McIlroy. But he chimed in helpfully and thoughtfully here.

“It’s the ability to walk through those gates and those doors and forget about who you are outside of this week,” he said. “What you have done or what you may do afterwards really truly doesn’t matter.”

But it was when McIlroy began talking about one aspect of their scouting trip that the rest of the group perked up, nodding in approval.

“Everyone would probably agree with me but we sat around the fire pit that night and we chatted and we got to know each other really well,” McIlroy said. “And that was an amazing experience. I got to know things about these guys; I thought I knew them for a long time, but I got to know something different about them.

“I think that really galvanized us as a team, and I think just spending time with these guys is becoming more meaningful because I know I don’t have that many left,” McIlroy said.

Shane Lowry objected when he said that — McIlroy, at 34, has plenty in the tank and just finished off his best Ryder Cup yet — but there was no denying the youth elsewhere on the podium. Jon Rahm is 28, Viktor Hovland is 26, Ludvig Aberg is 23 and Nicolai Hojgaard is 21. McIlroy admitted he looks at them with envy. He enjoys these weeks so much he wishes he could have more and more.

“To see guys like Ludvig come in here and be an absolute stud and take everything in stride, I wish I was in his position again, looking forward to playing in 15 or 20 Ryder Cups or whatever it is he’s going to play in,” he said. “I’m just so proud to be a part of this team. It is — it’s very, very meaningful.”

It’s the little stuff that made it that way.

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The 34-year-old wore big, boxy sunglasses to help with the setting sun on Sunday evening at Marco Simone, but it was his hug with Matt Fitzpatrick that knocked them askew. When McIlroy took the shades off, he wiped tears from his eyes. These were passionate hugs, part of one, big, jubilant exhale for the leader of Team Europe. After three or four dozen embraces, finally, his caddie Harry Diamond reappeared. Who knows where Harry had been — they won their match 2 and 1 over Sam Burns a while ago — but he was here now. Player and caddie clapped their right hands together and pulled each other in as Rory let out a scream.  

“YES. F–king YES,” he shouted. “Feels a bit different this time.” 

That quote in itself explains a lot about the 2023 Ryder Cup. It was played, like most Ryder Cups are, in direct reflection of the last Cup, in 2021 at Whistling Straits, when the Euros lost in record fashion, 19-9. The two years that followed were as rocky as Ryder Cup intermissions get, but it was all over once they guaranteed 14.5 points. McIlroy’s parade of hugs would continue in spurts for much of the next hour, as the final four matches played out purely in the name of record keeping, to the tune of 16.5-11.5. Only when everyone arrived on the 1st tee for the trophy ceremony did all of Team Europe begin to celebrate as one. 

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Jon Rahm had tied the Spanish flag around his waist like a beach towel. Shane Lowry tied the Irish flag around his neck like an orange and green scarf. McIlroy held up one corner of the Northern Ireland flag, posing for a photo and replacing cheeeese with, “For God and for Ulster.”

“Where’s the American flag?” Ludvig Aberg’s caddie, Jack Clarke, chided to Sepp Straka’s caddie, Duane Bock, loud enough for everyone to hear. Euro heads whipped around to see how the American looper would handle this tricky spot, cheering for European success over his home country. He mimed the lips-are-seeled sign while Straka jumped in with the final word: “It’s in the bin!” And metaphorically, it was. The Americans were beaten 4-0 in the opening session on Friday morning, about 54 hours before the closing ceremony, and that was the closest this event ever really felt. 

This moment, just minutes before the Euros got their sweaty hands on the trophy, was about as giddy as golfers get — a bunch of athletes bred to have individualistic egos, now experiencing the delights of winning with teammates.

Viktor Hovland to Jon Rahm: “We f–king did it. We f–king did it.”

Rahm, in response to his thirsty teammates: “I have tequila in the room.” 

Justin Rose’s caddie, Mark Fulcher, to McIlroy: “Congrats to you. Their leader. You are the leader.”

Tommy Fleetwood’s caddie, Ian Finnis, to Hovland’s caddie, Shay Knight: “No two more years of that s–t.”

Fleetwood himself was plenty genuine, just not as boisterous as his caddie. He was exhausted, standing at the edge of the huddle, leaning on the back of Tyrrell Hatton’s caddie, Mick Donaghy. “I’ve been feeling sick for about two hours during that,” Fleetwood said. Sick as in nervous. He played well, but spent much of the afternoon watching the leaderboards at Marco Simone flip from blue to red.

“Myself and Tommy and Bob were in the locker room before we went out,” Lowry said later, “and we joked about hoping that it wasn’t going to come down to our matches, and I couldn’t believe what we were seeing on the board, to be honest.”

“Ya bastards,” Fleetwood said with a smile. 

For about 50 minutes, a collapse felt plausible. The five-point lead they started the day with was whittled down to 2.5, but when Fleetwood sniped the green on the drivable 16th hole and Rickie Fowler fanned his into the water, the Cup was theirs. That’s when the stream of McIlroy hugs began. As well as a bit of showmanship.

“I can’t believe it!” McIlroy shouted sarcastically to the crowd along the 18th fairway. “Thirty-five years of overachieving. I can’t believe it!” The Europeans have now won seven straight home Ryder Cups — every one since 1993 — and won’t have to do so again until 2027. McIlroy is keeping some sort of receipts when he says that — implying that the discourse surrounding all those wins is that the Euros are punching above their weight. He repeated the sentiment a few times Sunday evening, emphasis on the sarcasm.

If it comes across as mocking, McIlroy was clearly okay with it. At its core, this event is all about egos being tested, ribbing from spectators, and players rising to the occasion. McIlroy did exactly that, winning more points (four) than any other competitor. He has the most poker chips at the table, and acted like it. When he sat down for the press conference, he first kicked his feet up on the table and leaned back. “I’ve been waiting 24 hours for this,” he said, anxious to get started.

The Cup had been a bit boring for most of four sessions until, on the 18th green of the final match Saturday night, it got personal. Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, lingered too long in McIlroy’s vicinity as he lined up a potential tying putt. A whole helluva lot happened Saturday night — Lowry got into it with LaCava, Justin Rose got into it with LaCava, McIlroy got into with Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay — but McIlroy and his teammates felt disrespected.

It wasn’t surprising then, 20 hours later, that McIlroy was roused into joining chants about Cantlay’s hat (or lack thereof). There’s a rivalry of sorts there. Cantlay and McIlroy are both members of the PGA Tour Policy Board and both have to work together to dictate the future of professional golf, but they don’t agree on everything. Through the dumb luck of a 43-foot putt that dropped Saturday night, both sides seem galvanized. Twenty-four months is a long time, but McIlroy is already thinking about 2025.

“I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen,” McIlroy said. “I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup. And that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.”

While we’re moving along in two-year increments, it’s impossible to not think of where he was two years ago, in tears at Whistling Straits. As a result of that record-breaking defeat, this European squad was a team that felt counted out and built something great from those hollow feelings. Their captain, Luke Donald, was an assistant captain then. But even worse, 18 months ago, he was the unwanted captain, who campaigned against Henrik Stenson for the role and lost, only to be gifted the position last summer when Stenson committed his future to LIV Golf. The Euros lost more than just Stenson to the LIV ranks, but McIlroy said it best before any shots were hit in Italy: They’re going to miss us more than we’re missing them.

On Sunday night, you had to believe him. He has even more poker chips now.

Instead of the old guard, Donald employed vice captains that were hype men as much as they were analytical gurus. Thomas Bjorn to make rookie Dane Nicolai Hojgaard feel comfortable. Nicolas Colsaerts to skol clap until he couldn’t skol clap anymore. Francesco Molinari as a familiar face, and Edoardo Molinari, his brother, as the statistician drawing up pairings. They paired players together in DP World Tour events to build camaraderie and organized a trip for all 12 at Marco Simone. Donald surprised players on Monday with special, two-minute videos from their loved ones. Simple encouragement if you ask the cap’, but incredibly meaningful if you ask the players.

Is that the reason there will be 30-going-on-34 years of European dominance in European Ryder Cups? Who knows. They did a bunch of these things because winning these events has grown into a process of checking boxes that create comfort and companionship. It may not have all been necessary, but in the immediate moments after a shellacking, it looks just one way: brilliant.

The last we saw of those brilliant boys Sunday night was from afar, through squinted eyes and camera lenses. They stood together atop the clubhouse balcony of Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, with 15 bottles of Merlot lined up neatly in front of them. Dozens of photographers waited in the courtyard below, ready for the shower.

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In what has become fairly predictable history, the Ryder Cup ended on Sunday evening in Rome in a European victory. For the seventh straight time, the United States Ryder Cup team traveled to Europe to play in the Cup and lost, a streak that now spans 30 years and at least three generations of American Ryder Cuppers.

The latest defeat, a 16.5-11.5 throttling at Marco Simone, wore all the same signs as the ones that came before it. The Europeans rode a rabid crowd, a loud crowd, to an early spate of momentum. They dominated in foursomes play, throttling any hopes of a U.S. charge in both morning sessions. They proved relentless in fourballs, even in the face of a more talented American side, stealing a few points on gutsy halves and ambush victories. And on Sunday, they stepped on the U.S.’s throats, winning a disproportionate percentage of the perceived “50-50” matches en route to a trophy-lifting celebration.

The characters might have been different, but the story was the same. So why, exactly, was the U.S. so surprised by it?

Some of the blame can be placed squarely on the shoulders of U.S. captain Zach Johnson, whose American team looked overmatched, outmaneuvered and generally lifeless until about 5 p.m. local time on Friday. The U.S. lost its first four matches handily, halved three matches it should have won in the following session, and didn’t claim its first full-point victory until the third match on Saturday morning — an alternate-shot session that also included the biggest blowout loss in Ryder Cup history.

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If the performance wasn’t bad enough, Johnson seemed out of his depth even in trying to explain it, largely declining to acknowledge the European advantage or accept responsibility for the Americans’ sleepwalking start to the event. Even after it was all over on Sunday evening, Johnson neglected to address any of the specific strategic or competitive differences that led to the Europeans’ lopsided victories, chalking up large amounts of the tournament’s outcome to good fortune and … the infinite possibility of the universe?

“This is a moment where you literally just have to accept that the European team played really, really good golf,” Johnson said Sunday. “And that is really my freshest reflection right now, is that Luke’s team played great, and my boys rallied and fought.”

In Johnson’s defense, the U.S. showed admirably on Saturday evening and Sunday, rallying behind Patrick Cantlay’s hatless crusade and creating 45 minutes on Sunday where it looked as though they might even have a chance to win. But to point to the U.S. response in defense of Johnson’s captaincy is to ignore that the Americans were caught sleeping in the first place — and have been at every road Ryder Cup for the last three decades.

It was Johnson’s job to understand these dynamics, to craft his pairings to give the U.S. the best chance to succeed in a hostile environment. A hot start would have gone a long way toward doing that. Instead the Americans had three alternate-shot pairings that needed all of five holes to effectively lose their matches.

“There’s no perfect formula to it,” Johnson said Sunday. “The formula this week is they got off to a great start, and that momentum led them into a pretty nice lead going into today. And our boys fought like madmen and made it interesting, you know, made them earn it.”

Johnson’s right. He might have pulled every correct lever this week and still found himself on the losing end of this weekend’s wager. The Europeans really played that well.

But the point is to pull all the right levers anyway — to acknowledge that the last three decades of misery represent more than just a pesky statistical anomaly and to employ a defined strategy to address it. Johnson never seemed to have that all together in Rome.

For what it’s worth, ZJ wasn’t the only one left at a loss. His players were similarly befuddled by the European dominance they had just witnessed, and more pressingly, what they could have done to stop it.

“It’s tough,” said Rickie Fowler, loser of four Ryder Cups and who went 0-2 in Rome. “Damn, they definitely take advantage of those opportunities, especially on home soil, making putts, chipping in, and those are big momentum shifts.”

Brooks Koepka agreed, saying, “This week, they just holed a lot more putts, a few more chip-ins.”

Sometimes, as Koepka and Fowler pointed out, golf can really be as simple as the difference between holed putts and missed ones. But are we really supposed to believe that European home-soil dominance can be distilled down to the Europeans consistently making more putts every four years for the last three decades? Wouldn’t mean regression give the U.S. at least one victory in that time? Wouldn’t luck eventually fall in their favor ?

Of course it would. Every golf fan since the Clinton Administration has attempted to parse out the secret behind Euro dominance, but the closest we’ve gotten to an answer is this: It’s all of the things. The crowd, the leadership styles, the team bonding, the course knowledge, the course setup, the style of golf and, yes, the number of putts made. The Americans have lacked in some or all of those ways over the last 30 years of Ryder Cup losses, and the Europeans have made them pay every single time.

This is why it was concerning that Jordan Spieth appeared to be the only American team member willing to admit the answer was even slightly more nuanced than a swift kick in the rear end on Sunday evening, the night the streak extended until at least 34 years.

“I think we would probably say, give us a week after the Tour Championship or two weeks after and then go, instead of five,” he said of the Ryder Cup’s current schedule location. “If it were tighter to our Tour Championship and/or even if it were later and we had more of an opportunity to get a little rest and play more of an event or something, then it helps a bit.”

Spieth was as close as anyone came to reaching an answer on Sunday at the Ryder Cup — a day the Europeans appeared on the glimpse of their own youth movement, riding their new three-headed monster of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland to a worryingly dominant win.

But if you were a fan of U.S. golf, the really scary moment came after, when Johnson addressed the media for the first time.

“We’re going to learn from this,” he said. “I mean, that’s what Team USA does.”

But how will they learn? And is that what Team USA does?

After all, three decades of losing U.S. captains had said the same thing.

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But don’t be fooled. The man does not mind drama. And as this week’s Ryder Cup reminded us, he has a special gift for stirring things up.

Signs that he was primed to draw attention to himself were clear before the competition started, when Koepka leaned into the role of confident outlier, the only LIV player to earn his way onto either 12-man roster.

“I had the same opportunity as the other LIV players,” he said when asked about the roadblocks his LIV peers faced. “And I’m here.”

If the others felt left out, shrug. So be it.

“Play better,” Koepka said. “That’s always the answer.”

This was classic Koepka: quietly cocky, cooly dismissive, in tones that suggested that not much was a big deal to him, anyway.

Not long after, Koepka doubled down on the casual smack talk when he said that “very few” of the players ready to do battle in Rome were equipped to handle full-blown Ryder Cup pressure in a decisive match coming down the stretch. 

“False confidence,” Koepka called it.

Was he dissing his own teammates? Taking a swipe at the opposition? Whatever the case, this, too, was classic Koepka, throwing chum to the press by pumping himself up as he matter-of-factly put down others. Once more, he’d become a story before he’d struck a shot.

When Friday foursomes finally rolled around, Koepka didn’t have a chance to walk the talk. He sat out the opening morning sessions. But come Friday evening, he had more to say — not about himself but about Jon Rahm and Rahm’s demonstrative reactions to the ups-and-downs of the halved four-ball match they’d just played.

“So, yeah, I mean, I want to hit a board and pout just like Jon Rahm did,” said Koepka, after Rahm eagled the final hole to halve the match. “But you know, it is what it is. Act like a child. But we’re adults. Move on.”

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He sounded like he wanted to stay above the fray, even as he dived headlong into it.

Rahm, for his part, did not engage. Koepka’s comment, he said, must have been a reference to his “letting out frustration” by slapping a board after leaving a putt short on the 17th hole.

“If Brooks thinks that’s childish, it is what it is,” Rahm said. “He’s entitled to think what he thinks.”

By that point, the competition looked like it was men against boys. The Europeans led 6.5-1.5. Presented with a chance to help close that gap the following morning, Koepka instead found himself on the wrong end of a headline-grabbing loss, as he and Scheffler suffered a 9-and-7 foursomes thrashing from Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland. It was the most lopsided beatdown in the history of Ryder Cup partner play. Both Americans were benched that afternoon.

As Saturday wore on, cameras caught up with Scheffler, sitting on the sidelines beside his wife, weeping in frustration. If Koepka was around, he wasn’t easy to spot.

In fairness, he has never been a rah-rah guy. As at past Ryder Cups, Koepka spoke abstractly this week about camaraderie and bonding, but he always seems as much a lone wolf as he does an alpha male. His is, at any rate, not the first guy you envision when you picture group-flag waving or Champagne celebrations.

Maybe that helps explain his Ryder Cup record. Entering this week, Koepka was 6-5-1 in three prior Ryder Cup appearances, but he’d never lost in singles. On Sunday, he continued that solo streak, dispatching Aberg 3 and 2 in a match he led from the opening hole. By the time he closed it, the Ryder Cup itself was all but over. Koepka had played three matches, winning one, losing one, and tying another. But if he’d had little impact on the outcome, he’d left a vivid mark on the event.

“I mean, there’s got to be a winner and there’s got to be a loser,” Koepka said, as home-team celebrations spread across the grounds of Marco Simone Golf Club. “All you can do is give it your all and see where it takes you.”

Somewhere, a jet was waiting. Koepka sounded ready to be taken somewhere else.

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Europe claimed the Ryder Cup over the U.S.A. on Sunday at Marco Simone outside of Rome, beating the Americans 16.5-11.5 and extending their lengthy winning streak at home. A lot happened this week, but let’s start here: What was the difference between the two squads?

Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): The stars showed up for Europe. Rory, Rahm and Hovland went 4-7-3 at Whistling Straits but combined for a 9-2-3 record this time (although Rahm was great both years). It was the opposite for the Americans. Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth were both 0-2-2. Thomas, despite his play coming in, has thrived in this event. But he was 1-2-1. Xander and Collin both had three wins two years ago. This year they got a point each. And by the way, Dustin Johnson, while he was never really in consideration this year, had five(!) points in 2021 they had to replace. These events are just really hard for the away team to win, and Europe did a better job playing together and got what it needed from its big guns. And as much as the U.S. team likes to say some of the controversy from this year didn’t affect them, why is it that the controversy always seems to follow the Americans?

Jack Hirsh, assistant editor (@JR_HIRSHey): I agree with Josh, however, the U.S. team’s advantage coming in was depth. The last man on the U.S. team was Justin Thomas, he of two major victories and a sparkling team match record. The last man on team Europe was Ludvig Aberg, he of exactly zero major championship starts. Aberg got two points this week, including a demoralizing beat down of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, while Thomas had to carry Jordan Spieth, who might as well have not played this week. The Europeans also got a multi-point effort from Robert MacIntyre, and had five players win three or more points! Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler laid a big ole’ goose egg this week. The depth advantage was totally flipped.

Jessica Marksbury, senior editor (@Jess_Marksbury): All great points. I would agree that the U.S. did not get what was expected from the stars on the roster. I mean, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the most consistently excellent player on Tour, failing to win a match outright is unthinkable! Then, of course, there’s the horrific performance in foursomes, in which Europe won seven of the eight available points. You can’t expect to win a Ryder Cup with a record like that. Then there’s the clutch factor. Team USA just seemed to be lacking in the department. Down the stretch, it was Europe who drained the putts and chips when things were tight and it really mattered.

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): Europe’s best players showed up, while the USA’s did not. The Euros also got off to fast starts, dominating the 1st hole all week, and they also came up clutch coming down the stretch. There were a number of reasons Europe won, but those are the things that stick out to me.

Who are your two American and European MVPs? And whose performances were you most disappointed by?

Berhow: Rory got the most European points but I think it’s Hovland. He was winless at Whistling Straits and was 3-1-1 this week. He was also one-half of the historic 9-and-7 win over Scheffler and Koepka. Homa is the easy pick for the U.S. MVP, which isn’t a surprise given his Presidents Cup performance last year. Disappointments? Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, was 0-2-2 and in the losing foursomes match that kicked off the entire Ryder Cup on Friday. It’s honestly hard to find some disappointing performances for Europe. Hojgaard was winless but played well in his match he halved when partnered with Rahm, and Fitzpatrick was 1-2 but was on fire when teamed with Rory in Friday afternoon fourballs, leading Europe to its only win of that session.

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Hirsh: Sure, Rory took care of business in about as subdued manner as one can in the Ryder Cup, so I’ll go with Jon Rahm and not for the matches he won, but for the ones he tied. On Friday afternoon, his two eagles in three holes helped keep an American flag off the board for the entire day. On Sunday, his tie (against Scheffler again, no less) stopped an American rally before it could even get started. For the U.S., the MVP is Homa no question, as no one else even had more than two points. In terms of disappointments, no one really disappointed me for the winners. Rose played far better than his record and Højgaard had a solid rookie debut. For the U.S., it’s no competition: Spieth. He was supposed to be a no-brainer captain’s pick and ended up weighing down Thomas more than anything. If he hadn’t played, I might not have noticed.

Marksbury: I’ll cast a third vote for Homa — his 3.5-point tally speaks for itself. For U.S. MVP No. 2, I’ll go with Patrick Cantlay. He had two wins and two losses, but the wins were important ones: the gutsy finish against McIlroy and Fitzpatrick in Saturday four-ball, and a singles victory that was a must-win to keep any hope of a U.S. comeback alive. Europe’s MVP was McIlroy for sure — he was on the razor’s edge of going 5-0, were it not for Cantlay’s insane birdie on the 18th hole on Saturday. My European No. 2 is Jon Rahm. His gutsy halves were incredible momentum-killers for the Americans. Biggest U.S. disappointment has to be Scheffler, simply because, when you have the resume he does, expectations are through the roof, and he didn’t deliver. On the European side, it’s hard to pick on anyone, because they all contributed, so I’ll just go with the default lowest points-earner in Nicolai Hojgaard.

Melton: USA MVP: Max Homa. He was the lone American with a winning record on the week, and one of the few players who didn’t look overmatched. Europe MVP: Rory McIlroy. Wee Mac provided four points on the week, and was an emotional leader for his team at Marco Simone. USA LVP: Scottie Scheffler. If you’re the No. 1-ranked player in the world, you can’t lay an egg like that. Europe LVP: Nicolai Højgaard. He was the only Euro without a win, but he still contributed with a half.

Much has been said about how the two teams prepared for this week. Seven of Europe’s players, for example, played in the BMW Championship two weeks ago, while the majority of the U.S. hadn’t played since the Tour Championship five weeks ago. How much stock do you put in that? And is it something the Americans need to address?

Berhow: It definitely could be a factor and it’s something the Ryder Cup Committee should look into after getting some honest feedback from its players. But most of the Americans had a few weeks off before the 2021 Ryder Cup and dominated. So back then we probably said they were well-rested?

Hirsh: I don’t think that’s anything more than coincidence. If the result had been flipped, we’d be saying the same thing about the Europeans not taking enough time off before the Ryder Cup. Hindsight is always 20/20 and the only way to eliminate this discussion is the move the Ryder Cup to the summer, which ain’t happening.

Marksbury: I think there’s something to it. Five weeks is a really long layoff in pro golf. No player would ever “rest” like that for a major championship, right? Why should the Ryder Cup be any different?

Melton: I suppose rust could be a factor, but it’s impossible to pinpoint just one reason the Americans played so poorly. They just looked straight-up bad.

Luke Donald was the Europeans’ winning captain, with Zach Johnson taking the loss. What’s your take on their influence over their teams? And what’s your opinion on Johnson’s performance specifically?

Berhow: It’s hard to say without being in those team rooms, but you have to feel good for Donald, who wasn’t even supposed to be the captain this year yet stepped in, received rave reviews and led his team to a victory. Donald and his crew seemed to do a good job of setting up the course in their favor. As for Johnson, I don’t think he put out the right pairing to begin this entire Ryder Cup to get his team started off on the right foot, and I wish we would have heard even a few more genuine answers from him. Everything was just “so proud of my guys.” Was hoping for more honest answers and less canned comments.

Hirsh: I agree 100 percent with Josh about Donald, specifically when it comes to course setup, which has become as much of a factor as anything in these matches, with the home team taking the last five. For Johnson, I think he will go down as the worst captain in U.S. Ryder Cup history. (Yes, worse than Watson!) Again agree with Josh that his answers were not sincere and as someone who used to cover college football, it sounded a lot like coach-speak. Deciding to provide Jordan Spieth with whatever information he did Saturday evening on the 16th tee may have been worse than Hal Sutton pairing Tiger and Phil together twice in 2004.

Marksbury: Fair points on Johnson, but I’m inclined to give him a little bit more slack. Could he have made better decisions in terms of player order on Day 1? Yes, definitely. But at the end of the day, his guys didn’t deliver. When a power pairing like Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler get waxed 9 and 7, what can you do? There are limits to Johnson’s powers.

Melton: Captains can’t hit the shots for their players, but they can at least put them in positions to succeed, and this week it didn’t seem like Johnson did that. He told the media he “wouldn’t change a thing,” but I’m sure he’d do things differently if given a mulligan.

Patrick Cantlay was the talk of the Ryder Cup on Saturday, when a report alleged “a fracture” in the U.S. team room and said Cantlay wasn’t wearing his team hat in protest of players not being paid for the Ryder Cup. (Cantlay called the report “totally false.”) How would you unpack everything that happened with Cantlay?

Berhow: He was asked on Saturday night if Ryder Cup players should be paid and while he didn’t say yes, he didn’t say no. His non-answer said enough. In my opinion, two things can be true: Patrick, and probably others, might think players should get paid. But it also might not be that big of a deal to them where it splits a team room.

Hirsh: Obviously, someone thought or said something about it or it wouldn’t have come out or would have been denied sooner. I’m sure the players want to be paid, but I don’t think it was enough to make Cantlay protest by not wearing a hat; that seemed pretty strange. He was still wearing the rest of the uniform and not wearing a hat is a pretty common thing at the Ryder Cup.

Marksbury: Cantlay isn’t the first player to believe he should be paid for exhibitions like the Ryder Cup, or to have a desire to opt out of the pomp-and-ceremony events that accompany them. Like Josh, I think his non-answer about whether or not players should be paid is telling, but it seems very unlikely that that would cause any friction in the team room.

Melton: I agree with Josh. I believe Cantlay has his grievances with the lack of pay in the Ryder Cup, but I don’t think the team room was as fractured as some might’ve suggested.

Despite the lopsided final score, Europe clinched the Cup when Rickie Fowler conceded a birdie putt of 2 feet, 8 inches to Tommy Fleetwood, a move that was questioned on the broadcast. Should Fowler have made him putt?

Berhow: It seemed generous! But in the grand scheme it wasn’t really going to matter much. But ideally you’d like to see guys have to make a putt to actually clinch a Ryder Cup. Oh well.

Hirsh: It was gracious, but honestly, if I’m Fleetwood, I want to hit that putt. I want to say “I made a putt to win the Ryder Cup” no matter how short it was. I would have said, “Thanks, but let me make this.”

Melton: He absolutely should’ve made him putt it! They might be pros, but three-footers aren’t automatic. His teammate Robert MacIntyre missed an even shorter putt not long before. It didn’t have any impact on the final score, but conceding a three-footer with the Cup on the line isn’t the best strategy.

Marksbury: Rickie is known for being gracious and a gentleman, but I agree with Jack. Make Tommy drain the putt!

Justin Thomas was the most controversial captain’s pick coming into the event, and he finished the week 1-2-1 (1.5 points) thanks to a singles victory on Sunday. Was the pick warranted?

Berhow: Hindsight is always 20/20. Thomas was not great, but neither was his partner, Jordan Spieth, or a lot of the Americas, for that matter. I think Cam Young or Keegan Bradley would have been the pick over Sam Burns, if I had to pick one mulligan. But the U.S. needed better play from lots of people. It’s hard to argue with the energy Thomas brings, which was evident in his singles win over Sepp Straka.

Hirsh: Tough to say because Spieth was so uncharacteristically inept. I again agree with Josh that it probably should have been Bradley over Burns.

Marksbury: I’d pick JT again. Maybe it wasn’t his week, but few players bring the energy like he does when he gets on a roll.

Melton: Pundits speculated Thomas would be the Americans’ emotional leader in Rome, but it’s tough to be a spark plug when you don’t play well. I don’t fault the pick, it just didn’t work out. That’s how it goes sometimes.

Twenty years from now, what will you remember most about the 2023 Ryder Cup?

Berhow: Rory McIlroy, yelling in a parking lot.

Hirsh: Yup, not every day you see a good ole fashion parking-lot shouting match.

Melton: HatGate and the power of social media. It started with a tweet! Gonna be fun to reminisce on that one.

Marksbury: HatGate is hard to top! For the sake of variety, I’ll go with this: I love the fact that the Ryder Cup ain’t over til it’s over. Despite the historic shellacking the U.S. suffered in the first two days, I’ll never forget that, late on Sunday, there was still a chance the U.S. could win. A path to victory did exist, and didn’t seem totally outrageous. Sure, it didn’t end up coming to pass, but it could have! And that’s the real beauty of this event.

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For the Americans, the week was rough. After falling behind 4-0 early, they never found their footing and could not close the gap. There was a brief moment Sunday afternoon when a comeback looked possible, but that was quickly thwarted as the Europeans took the title at Marco Simone.

Here’s how every player (and captain) performed in Rome.

Team Europe

Rory McIlroy

Record: 4-1-0
Grade: A+

In the absence of the likes of Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy stepped into a senior leadership role for the first time at this Ryder Cup — and he delivered in a big way. Playing all five sessions, McIlroy delivered four points for the Euros, his lone loss coming in a tense match against Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark Saturday afternoon. Despite the small blemish on his record, the 34-year-old delivered the best week of his Ryder Cup career.

Tyrrell Hatton

Record: 3-0-1
Grade: A

Tyrrell Hatton had a losing record in Ryder Cup play coming into the week, but he got back above .500 with a stellar few days in Rome. Three and a half points from the middle of the lineup will always play.

Viktor Hovland

Record: 3-1-1
Grade: A+

Viktor Hovland played like a man possessed this week. He went 1-0-1 on Day 1, and then opened Day 2 with a 9-and-7 beatdown of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka. Although he lost his afternoon four-ball match, he came back strong on Sunday with a stress-free singles win to finish the week with 3.5 points.

Tommy Fleetwood

Record: 3-1-0
Grade: A

News

Tommy Fleetwood was a crucial piece of the Europeans’ 2018 win in Paris, and his strong play was equally vital in Rome. He played four sessions and delivered 3 points, including the clincher in his singles match against Rickie Fowler. When the Ryder Cup is played on European soil, there are few players that elevate their play like Fleetwood.

Jon Rahm

Record: 2-0-2
Grade: A

Part of the Euro’s three-headed monster that includes Hovland and McIlroy, Jon Rahm also brought his A-game to Rome. He ranked second in strokes gained among the 24 competitors, and battled world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to a halve in the first match of Sunday singles. Another excellent showing for the Spaniard.

Robert MacIntyre

Record: 2-0-1
Grade: B

The Scottish rookie did not lose in his three sessions, however his play wasn’t as tidy as the final tally indicates. He was the worst player on Team Europe according to strokes-gained data. A singles win was a nice way to end the week, but by that time, the Cup was all but decided.

Ludvig Aberg

Record: 2-2-0
Grade: B+

Ludvig Aberg had plenty of hype coming into the week, and he showed some of those flashes of brilliance that made him a captain’s pick. His pairing with Viktor Hovland was particularly strong as they went 2-1-0 together, including their 9-and-7 win over Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka. Although Aberg dropped his final two matches of the week, it looks like he’ll be a part of many more European teams.

Justin Rose

Record: 1-1-1
Grade: B+

News

Justin Rose was a steady presence for Team Europe, but his highlight of the week came when he stole a half point in the Friday afternoon session to stifle the American’s momentum. His experience paid dividends as he stepped up when it mattered most.

Shane Lowry

Record: 1-1-1
Grade: B

Shane Lowry was solid (if unspectacular) in delivering 1.5 points for the Euros. His play might’ve been middling, but his role as a hype man (and enforcer) was where he delivered the most value.

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Record: 1-2-0
Grade: B-

The former U.S. Open champion caught a serious heater Friday afternoon as he scored the first point of his Ryder Cup career. However, he went winless in his other two matches.

Sepp Straka

Record: 1-2-0
Grade: B-

Luke Donald didn’t rely on Sepp Straka too much as he only played foursomes and singles, but the Austrian still secured a point in the first session. A respectable Ryder Cup debut for the two-time PGA Tour winner.

Nicolai Højgaard

Record: 0-2-1
Grade: C+

The lone European player with a goose egg in the win column this week, Nicolai Højgaard was a bit overmatched in his first Ryder Cup appearance. Luckily, Team Europe did not need to rely on him too heavily, and he did not give away anything easy to the Americans.

Luke Donald

Grade: A+

Luke Donald pushed all the right buttons this week in Rome. From the course setup, to the pairings, to the motivational speeches and beyond, Donald proved his mettle in debut as a captain.

Team USA

Max Homa

Record: 3-1-1
Grade: A

Max Homa brought his best stuff to Rome. He was the lone American with a winning record on the week, and a big reason why the final margin wasn’t even larger.

Patrick Cantlay

Record: 2-2-0
Grade: B+

News

Patrick Cantlay was largely a no-show through the first three sessions. Then, HatGate became the talk of the grounds and he elevated his play to the next level. It was a strange week for Cantlay, but his play helped spark the Americans’ short-lived comeback bid.

Brian Harman

Record: 2-2-0
Grade: B

It was a solid debut for the 36-year-old Ryder Cup rookie. He and fellow rookie Max Homa proved to be a formidable pairing.

Brooks Koepka

Record: 1-1-1
Grade: B-

Brooks Koepka had an up-and-down week, the low point being a 9-and-7 drubbing Saturday morning. He halved his other team match and remained unbeaten in singles play.

Justin Thomas

Record: 1-2-1
Grade: C

Many wondered if Justin Thomas would be able to find his game in Rome, but after four matches it appears his struggles have continued. He was among the bottom four players on the week in terms of strokes gained and was unable to create any magic with Jordan Spieth.

Wyndham Clark

Record: 1-1-1
Grade: C

The reigning U.S. Open champ scored a point in four-balls thanks to Patrick Cantlay’s long bomb, but otherwise it was a quiet Ryder Cup debut.

Sam Burns

Record: C
Grade: 1-2-0

Sam Burns scored an impressive win over Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg in four-balls, but he didn’t do much else.

Collin Morikawa

Record: 1-3-0
Grade: C-

Collin Morikawa was the other half of the pairing that took down the previously unbeaten Scandinavians, but like his partner, the rest of the week was a struggle. He remains without a win in his singles career.

Jordan Spieth

Record: 0-2-2
Grade: D+

Jordan Spieth looked completely lost at times in four-ball, leaving partner Justin Thomas on an island. A couple halves salvaged an otherwise disastrous week.

Scottie Scheffler

Record: 0-2-2
Grade: D

News

Scottie Scheffler might be the No. 1-ranked player in the world, but he sure didn’t look like it at Marco Simone. He played Jon Rahm to a draw in singles, but his putting was an issue all week.

Xander Schauffele

Record: 1-3-0
Grade: D

Xander Schauffele might’ve gotten it done in singles, but it was against the Euros’ 12th man. Losses in three other sessions made for a horrendous week for Schauffele.

Rickie Fowler

Record: 0-2-0
Grade: D-

Rickie Fowler only appeared in two sessions, and he didn’t do much with that playing time (other than concede a putt that officially clinched the Cup for the Euros). His Ryder Cup record has now fallen to an awful 3-9-5.

Zach Johnson

Record: Captain
Grade: D-

Zach Johnson was supposed to be the figure that led the Americans to a historic victory. Instead, he’s the latest in a string of captains who took a beatdown in Europe. From his captain’s picks underperforming, to his questionable lineup decisions throughout, tough week for ZJ.

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His campaign began in earnest on Friday morning when he and Collin Morikawa suffered a 2-and-1 loss to the strapping European duo of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka. The U.S. was blanked 4-0 in that session — a harbinger of more beatdowns to come — but those weren’t the only aches and pains the Americans were feeling.

According to U.S. captain Zach Johnson, “a bug” had infected members of the U.S. team. “We’re just fighting things, I mean, internally,” Johnson said Friday evening. “It’s kind of passed around a little bit, caddies, players.” He added: “We have got some congestion and some just signs of things that are unfortunate. It’s one of those where sometimes the energy is probably a little low.”

Among the harder hit Americans, it appeared, was Fowler. Golf Channel reported that Fowler had a sinus infection and rumors flew around the press tent about other afflictions that might be dogging the six-time Tour winner. When Johnson was asked Saturday afternoon whether he sat Fowler in the morning foursomes because Fowler was ailing, Johnson said: “I’m not going to get specific on individual guys. I don’t think that’s fair.”

Johnson also benched Fowler in the Saturday-afternoon four-balls, meaning Fowler would just play two matches in this Ryder Cup: in Thursday foursomes and Sunday singles. Johnson stressed that Fowler’s light schedule was not health-related, it was strategic. “Our matchups felt it was best to go this direction,” the captain said Saturday evening, with his team in a five-point hole. “Rickie is the consummate professional and team player. We had an embrace that I’ll never forget and a smile afterward. … Knowing him, [not playing] is probably motivational.”

Whatever his condition, Fowler wasn’t holed up Saturday. He was out and about at Marco Simone, working on his stroke on the practice green and signing autographs. When Patrick Cantlay made a clutch match-winning birdie on 18 to give the U.S. some glimmer of hope, Fowler was cheering along greenside.

When Sunday dawned, with the U.S. needing a historic singles charge to retain the Cup, Fowler had a big task on his to-do list: try to knock off scrappy Tommy Fleetwood, who was 2-1 on the week to that point and 6-3-2 in Ryder Cups overall. Fleetwood drew first blood in what would turn into a seesaw battle, with a birdie at the par-4 2nd, which Fowler countered with a stuffed tee shot at the par-3 4th that tied the match. Fleetwood birdied 7; Fowler birdied 8. Still tied.

Then Fleetwood made a move, winning holes 9, 10 and 12 with Fowler winning just one hole in that stretch. When they arrived at the par-4 14th, Fleetwood was 2 up. But Fowler wasn’t ready to pack it in. He knocked his approach on the par-4 to 16 feet and jarred his birdie putt to cut Fleetwood’s lead to one.

The drivable par-4 16th, with water guarding the right side of the green, produced fireworks all week at Marco Simone; Fleetwood and Fowler’s tee shots were no exception. But first some context: With Europe needing just one more half-point to secure the Cup, Fowler and the three other remaining U.S. players still on the course had no margin for error. They needed to win out, meaning Fowler needed to get back two holes from Fleetwood with three to play.

Fowler stepped in first with 303 yards between him and the hole and…not good. His drive started right and stayed right, leaking toward the pond. Never had a chance. “Rickie let me off,” Fleetwood said later. “You never really want to see someone hit in the water, so I was not particularly pleased about that.”

As Fowler’s ball gurgled and disappeared, you couldn’t have blamed Fleetwood for playing it safe with his own tee shot and clubbing down. Instead, he grabbed driver and hit the blast of the week: a frozen rope that settled on the middle-back of the green and left him just 20 feet for eagle. “There’s no point in me bailing out with the tee shot there, he could still make 4, and he probably was still going to make 4,” Fleetwood said. “I was just very happy to sort of tee the driver down. I was playing very, very well, put a swing on it and it set off straight and it wasn’t moving.”

Fleetwood was right about Fowler.

After taking a drop, Fowler spun a wedge to 6 feet, setting up a likely par, meaning Fleetwood would need to two-putt to win the hole and guarantee Europe the half-point it needed to clinch the Cup. On a line sloping away from him, Fleetwood hit a good but not great putt that came up 2 feet 8 inches short.

As Fleetwood approached his ball to mark it, he and Fowler exchanged a few words.

The American had conceded defeat.

Fleetwood picked up his ball then threw his arms skyward as the crowd roared. With Fleetwood dormie with two to play, his and Fowler’s match had not been decided (Fleetwood would secure a win on 17, where he stuffed his tee shot to within 3 feet), but the Ryder Cup was over. The prize was Europe’s again.

There are at least two ways to assess Fowler’s gesture: (1) It was the honorable and sporting thing to do; Fleetwood was highly unlikely to miss a putt inside three feet, or (2) Rick, come on, man! Yeah, it was close but nerves make golfers do funny things. For the Ryder Cup-clinching point, you gotta make Tommy Lad earn it!”

Brad Faxon, a two-time Ryder Cupper on the call for NBC, was squarely in the second camp.

“That will not be conceded,” he said incorrectly. “No chance.”     

The sequence called to mind another act of sportsmanship: when Jack Nicklaus conceded a two-footer to Tony Jacklin at the 1969 Ryder Cup, which resulted in the first tie in the event’s history. As Jacklin recalled it, Nicklaus told him, “I don’t believe you would have missed that, but I’d never give you the opportunity in these circumstances.”

Fleetwood also was unlikely to miss his birdie try, but if social media was any indication a cross-section of U.S. golf fans was none too impressed by Fowler’s generosity, given the U.S., in that moment, was in full desperation mode.

Fowler wasn’t asked about the concession after the match, but Fleetwood was, saying simply, “I was quite pleased when he gave me the putt.”

After four years in the wilderness, Fowler had a resurgent 2023, tying for fifth at the U.S. Open and winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic, while racking up 16 other top-25 finishes. It might feel like just yesterday that he was a motocross-loving rookie with floppy hair and orange hats, but this week marked Fowler’s fifth Ryder Cup appearance. At 34, he was the second-oldest member of the team behind Brian Harman

It wasn’t all that long that Fowler had no visions of being in Rome — “Just to be on this team was kind of very distant on the radar a year ago, where I had been the last few years,” he said Sunday — but when he did earn a pick, surely he didn’t envision the week playing out like this. What U.S. team member would have?

“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,” he said. “Fought today, and I kept hanging around and tried to keep pushing. But ultimately a couple swings on my end that cost me, and Tommy played some pretty solid golf.”

If Fowler can keep his form and qualify for a sixth Ryder Cup in 2025, he will descend with his teammates on rowdy Bethpage Black for another crack at the Europeans. “It will be significantly different,” Fowler said. “There’s nothing like a New York crowd or a Northeast crowd. It should be very interesting.”

Ryder Cups always are.

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He combed through his bag slowly, inspecting tees and ball marks, one by one, until there were no more to toss away in the pond to his right. The crowd had long since moved on from the conclusion of his match, a thriller with Europe’s Jon Rahm, but for the moment Scheffler seemed unwilling to do the same.

If you were looking for clues to explain how the U.S. found itself on the wrong side of yet another European Ryder Cup loss, you didn’t have to look much further than this scene on the 18th. On one side of the green, Rahm thrust his fists into the air triumphantly before disappearing into a golf cart bound back for the course. On the other, Scheffler sat around for a long while, making quiet small talk before disappearing into the U.S. team room.

These were the scope of emotions surrounding a tie, Scheffler and Rahm’s second of the week — both of which left Scheffler feeling like the loser, even though the scoreboard said otherwise.

The first blow came on Friday evening, when Rahm poured in a 40-footer on the 18th for eagle to steal a halve for the Europeans like a bandit — moving the score at the end of Day 1 from a European lead to a European blowout. The last came on Sunday morning, when Scheffler and Rahm found themselves in a deathmatch to start the suddenly competitive Sunday singles. This time Scheffler had done the damage himself, blowing a greenside chip from a tricky lie well long of the green. Rahm didn’t make a mistake over three days in the tournament, and he wasn’t about to start on his last hole of the week. He got up and down nonchalantly for birdie, while Scheffler missed the chip coming back to win the match. It was another halve for Scheffler, who suddenly looked up at the scoreboard to see his Americans were running out of time.

A few hours later, Rickie Fowler conceded a short putt to Tommy Fleetwood and two things suddenly became official: the Europeans had won the Ryder Cup, and the United States’ best player had been held winless at a team event … again.

The second thing (Scheffler) might ultimately be less significant than the first (the result of this Ryder Cup), but the two are related in a way that is closer than anyone on the U.S. side would like to admit. The truth is that Scheffler has now gone two full team events for the United States without a single match victory, an 0-5-3 record since the start of the 2022 Presidents Cup that directly correlates with his ascension to becoming arguably the best golfer in the world.

Included in that stretch is the absolute undressing Scheffler and his partner Brooks Koepka faced in their morning foursomes match against Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland on Saturday — a session in which the United States desperately needed to mount a comeback, and in which Aberg and Hovland slammed the door shut with the largest margin of victory in an alternate shot match ever in the Ryder Cup, 9 and 7.

“After finishing on the 11th hole yesterday, I had plenty of time to rest and get ready for this morning,” Scheffler said with a grim chuckle on Sunday evening. “Pretty much all there is to say.”

No, the 9 and 7 victory didn’t singlehandedly sink the Americans, and by all accounts it was a historical aberration for two of the best players on the whole U.S. roster. But the thing about the Ryder Cup is that every match and every player matters. The best teams find a way to turn losses into halves; the losing teams find ways to turn halves into losses.

The Americans were the losing team this week for a number of reasons, but Scheffler’s profile makes him one of the biggest. Ryder Cups, after all, are won and lost by the stars. And in a week in which the Europeans rode their best players — Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy — to 10.5 points, the Americans rode Scheffler to a measly one.

That wasn’t good enough, even if Scheffler wasn’t necessarily bad in any of the matches he’d played — well, except for that Saturday morning match, which Scottie himself admitted was “terrible.”

“It’s a tough week, and sometimes you get on the wrong side of things,” Scheffler said. “It was pretty tough.”

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It is tough, and tougher now that the Americans enter two long years of questioning before the Ryder Cup returns to Bethpage in New York. The U.S. will be the favorite there, too, and barring disaster, Scheffler will be part of the roster equation.

The question now is what shape his role on that roster will take. There isn’t another player of Scheffler’s ball-striking ability walking through the door for the U.S., but there may be a few more who can rattle in testy 10-footers with ease. The Americans needed more of those this weekend in Rome — and they’ll need ’em again if they’re going to stare down the Rahm/McIlroy/Hovland trifecta in earnest in ’25. Losing 9 and 7 won’t be an option again then — and it shouldn’t have been now, not for a player of Scheffler’s caliber.

Scheffler knows this. It’s why he was spotted crying in a cart next to his wife, Meredith, in the aftermath of the walloping.

“I was emotional after the round because I care a lot about this tournament,” he said. “At the time I felt like I was letting these guys down.”

That was difficult, but the harder pill to swallow came after the beatdown was done, when U.S. captain Zach Johnson elected to sit Scheffler for Saturday afternoon fourballs — the second time in the last two team events that Scheffler has found himself on the bench in the midst of a winless weekend.

Scheffler left the course and returned to the team room then, watching hopelessly as the U.S.’s best session of the week came in the lone one in which he did not participate.

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The post 6 big decisions that helped fuel Europe’s Ryder Cup romp appeared first on Golf.

The post 6 big decisions that helped fuel Europe’s Ryder Cup romp appeared first on Golf.

One key to Europe’s success this week? Luke Donald’s six captain’s picks. Half of the players on both team’s 12-person rosters were handpicked by their respective captains, and the performance of those players played an enormous role in the Ryder Cup’s outcome. How did the picks stack up against one other? Read on for a complete breakdown.

Ryder Cup captain’s picks performance breakdown

U.S. captain’s picks: Sam Burns, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas 

Europe’s captain’s picks: Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Nicolai Hojgaard, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Sepp Straka

Total matches played by U.S. captain’s picks: 20

Total matches played Europe’s captain’s picks: 20

Total points scored by U.S. captain’s picks: 6

Total points scored by Europe’s captain’s picks: 9.5

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These numbers are revealing, because although the captain’s picks for both teams played the same number of total matches, Europe won 3.5 more points.

Where did these points come from? Here’s a breakdown of each format:

U.S. captain’s picks points in foursomes: 0

Europe’s captain’s picks points in foursomes: 5

U.S. captain’s picks points in four-ball: 2

Europe’s captain’s picks points in four-ball: 2

U.S. captain’s picks points in singles: 2.5

Europe’s captain’s picks points in singles: 1.5

Europe was buoyed by a stellar performance from Tommy Fleetwood, who, with a 3-1-0 record, was one of five European players to earn 3 points or more, and earned the clinching point for Europe’s victory in his singles match against Rickie Fowler.

The U.S., conversely, was led by Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas in the captain’s pick category, with them managing only 1.5 points each. Fowler was the only member of either team to fail to score any points, though he did play only two matches.

Captain’s picks rankings by points:

Tommy Fleetwood (EUR): 3 (3-1-0)
Ludvig Aberg (EUR): 2 (2-2-0)
Brooks Koepka (USA): 1.5 (1-1-1)
Shane Lowry (EUR): 1.5 (1-1-1)
Justin Rose (EUR): 1.5 (1-1-1)
Justin Thomas (USA): 1.5 (1-2-1)
Sam Burns (USA): 1 (1-2-0)
Jordan Spieth (USA): 1 (0-2-2)
Sepp Straka (EUR): 1 (1-2-0)
Collin Morikawa (USA): 1 (1-3-1)
Nicolai Hojgaard (EUR): 0.5 (0-2-1)
Rickie Fowler (USA): 0 (0-2-0)

Ultimately, it was the team-play sessions where Europe’s captain’s picks really shined, especially foursomes, in which they scored 5 points compared to the U.S.’s 0.

The deficit highlights the crucial importance of a team’s captain’s picks. For Europe this year, Donald’s selections made a critical difference.

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The post Ryder Cup records: Here’s how all 24 players finished appeared first on Golf.

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World No. 2 Rory McIlroy went 4-1-0, the best mark the 34-year-old has ever had in his seven Ryder Cup appearances.

McIlroy’s stellar record wasn’t the only strong performance for the victors, as four other players won at least three points in the 16.5-11.5 win. Only one golfer did the same for the U.S. team.

Keep reading below for all the records for the 24 players at this year’s Ryder Cup at Marco Simone.

Records for all 24 2023 Ryder Cup players

Rory McIlroy (EUR): 4 points, 4-1-0

The leader of the European team had a little bit of everything this week. Big wins playing with Fleetwood and Fitzpatrick and a Sunday gut punch by handling Sam Burns with ease. Patrick Cantlay’s birdie putt Saturday night — plus whatever happened afterward — was the only blemish on what was McIlroy’s best-ever Ryder Cup performance.

Tyrrell Hatton (EUR): 3.5 points, 3-0-1

Hatton quietly had Europe’s most efficient week, going undefeated in four matches, including birding 16 Friday evening to help deny Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth a full point.

Max Homa (USA): 3.5 points, 3-1-1

The lone bright spot for the Americans was Homa, who moved to 7-1-1 in his career in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches and was the only American to play all five matches. His clutch up and down on 18 against Fitzpatrick in singles kept the Americans alive for nearly another hour.

Viktor Hovland (EUR): 3.5 points, 3-1-1

Hovland was perhaps the hottest player in the field after winning the FedEx Cup in August and he played like it. He and Ludvig Aberg’s 9-and-7 thumping of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka Saturday morning nearly demoralized the Americans.

Tommy Fleetwood (EUR): 3 points, 3-1-0

Fleetwood clinched the winning point for the Europeans by defeating Rickie Fowler in singles. That came after two foursomes victories with McIlroy.

Jon Rahm (EUR): 3 points, 2-0-2

The Masters champion picked up two foursomes wins with Hatton, but it was perhaps his two half points, both coming against World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, that may have proved the biggest.

Robert MacIntyre (EUR): 2.5 points, 2-0-1

The rookie from Scotland ends his first Ryder Cup undefeated after taking down U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark in singles.

Patrick Cantlay (USA): 2 points, 2-2-0

Cantlay became the rallying point for the U.S. after reports of him being a divider in the locker room circled Saturday. He birdied his final three holes Saturday to steal a point from McIlroy and Fitzpatrick and then took down Justin Rose Sunday.

Ludvig Aberg (EUR): 2 points, 2-2-0

The rookie had an impressive debut, winning two fourball matches with Hovland, including a record 9-and-7 rout of Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler Saturday morning.

Brian Harman (USA): 2 points, 2-2-0

Harman got two big wins and found a solid partnership with Homa, but he couldn’t keep the momentum in singles, falling to Hatton.

Wyndham Clark (USA): 1.5 points, 1-1-1

When the pressure was highest, Clark did not rise to the occasion. Twice he had chances to secure full points after perfect drives in the 18th fairway, only to blow his approach way right. He was bailed out by Cantlay Saturday evening.

Shane Lowry (EUR): 1.5 points, 1-1-1

Lowry battled to a tie with Jordan Spieth Sunday after falling 3 down early and got an early win Friday morning to help kickstart the European victory.

Brooks Koepka (USA): 1.5 points, 1-1-1

Koepka didn’t look like his normal steady self but handled the upstart rookie Ludvig Aberg in singles to keep the U.S. alive.

Justin Rose (EUR): 1.5 points, 1-1-1

Rose was better than his record would indicate, running into an inspired Cantlay Sunday after helping to turn the momentum Friday afternoon with back-to-back birdies to tie his match.

Justin Thomas (USA): 1.5 points, 1-2-1

After being a controversial captain’s pick, Thomas didn’t get his only point until a nearly meaningless singles match with Straka.

Sam Burns (USA): 1 point, 1-2-0

Burns and Collin Morikawa combined to give Viktor Hovland his only loss of the week in fourballs and he hung with McIlroy as long as he could Sunday.

Matt Fitzpatrick (EUR): 1 point, 1-2-0

Fitzpatrick was red-hot Friday afternoon in fourballs with McIlroy to finally earn his first Ryder Cup point. He also fought Max Homa till the end in singles.

Sepp Straka (EUR): 1 point, 1-2-0

In his first Ryder Cup, Straka got a win in that dominant opening session with Lowry and had a chance to earn the clinching point if he could have flipped his singles match with Thomas on the final hole.

Collin Morikawa (USA): 1 point, 1-3-0

Aside from pairing with Burns in Saturday afternoon fourballs for a win, Morikawa was disappointing and held by a balky putter.

Xander Schauffele (USA): 1 point, 1-3-0

Schauffele was winless until taking down Højgaard in Sunday singles in what was a shocking performance for the player who won three points at Whistling Straits.

Scottie Scheffler (USA): 1 point, 0-2-2

Scheffler’s two most significant matches were brutal ties at the hand of Rahm. His loss on the 18th hole Sunday in singles all but assured a European victory. Being a part of that 9-and-7 rout Saturday morning is not what you want out of your World No. 1 star.

Jordan Spieth (USA): 1 point, 0-2-2

Spieth was statistically the U.S.’s worst player off the tee and left partner Justin Thomas to fend for himself several times in both his fourball matches.

Nicolai Højgaard (EUR): 0.5 points, 0-2-1

Højgaard earned one half-point in his Ryder Cup debut, helping Rahm grind out a half-point against Koepka and Scheffler Friday afternoon with six birdies.

Rickie Fowler (USA): 0 points, 0-2-0

In one of the biggest surprises of the entire Ryder Cup, Rickie Fowler played in just two matches, the fewest of any player, and failed to record a point.

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