Europe retained the Ryder Cup in emphatic style on Sunday with a singles performance that secured the trophy for the third successive time.
STRAFFAN: Europe’s rampant golfers retained the Ryder Cup at the K-Club on Sunday crushing the United States in the closing 12 singles to complete a second straight rout. The triumph was the first time that the Europeans had won three times in a row and represented a new low for American golf in the 79-year-old history of golf’s biggest event.
The winning putt went to Sweden’s Henrik Stenson defeating JJ Taylor four and three on the 15th green. Minutes later Ulsterman Darren Clarke, who lost his wife Heather to cancer a month before the event, won his singles against Zach Johnson amid emotional scenes on the 16th green.
“I just can’t say enough about my team,” said European skipper Ian Woosnam. “I was on edge for a little bit but with that blue getting more and more on board I got comfortable.”
Woosnam’s men went into the final day with a commanding 10-6 lead after four hard-fought sessions of fourballs and foursomes on Friday and Saturday. That left them needing just four points out of the concluding 12 singles to retain the cup as holders and 4.5 points to clinch the win.
With talisman Colin Montgomerie and the immaculate Paul Casey leading the way, any hopes the Americans might have had of pulling off another stunning comeback like at Brookline, Massachusetts seven years ago were quickly dashed.
The leaderboards were soon dominated by the blue of Europe with little red in sight to cheer the American supporters. The only blip on the European radar surprisingly came from Sergio Garcia who quickly fell four down to US wildcard Stewart Cink.
There was no way back for the 26-year-old Spaniard but he had been the star turn on the first two days winning all four of his games.
Cink apart, the only other American who bucked the trend was the game’s supreme talent Tiger Woods. Finally looking more like his old self after once again failing to the deliver when playing with a partner, Woods edged ahead early on giant Swede Robert Karlsson and he finished it off three and two at the 16th to bring his Ryder Cup record in singles to won three, lost one and halved one.
But Montgomerie had already come in with Europe’s first point sinking a six-footer on the 18th against Toms to win by one hole and join an elite group of players on six Ryder Cup singles wins.
In-form Englishman Paul Casey soon followed finishing off Jim Furyk two and one and inflicting a first defeat in five singles matches on the world No.3. David Howell crushed Brett Wetterich five and four to make it 13-8 and then two wins seconds apart from Luke Donald two and one over Chad Campbell and finally Stenson clinched the Ryder Cup for Europe.
Minutes later came Clarke’s emotional win. “This is just as good as it gets and for the Irish it’s just fantastic,” he said. “People have shown how much they care for me and how much they cared about Heather.”
Results
Europe 12 USA 8
Stewart Cink (USA) bt Sergio Garcia (ESP) 4 and 3
Colin Montgomerie (SCO) bt David Toms (USA) 1 up
Tiger Woods (USA) bt Robert Karlsson (SWE) 3 and 2
Paul Casey (ENG) bt Jim Furyk (USA) 2 and 1
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