Hard to make sense of the Sunday mayhem at the Ryder Cup

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BETHPAGE, N.Y. — Team Europe left Bethpage Black with the Ryder Cup, and Team U.S.A. miraculously managed to leave New York with its pride intact.

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As late afternoon shadows grew, so did the American side’s chance of pulling off the most impossible comeback in golf history. The knock on the U.S. was that their members don’t know how to play as a team, and on Sunday they almost proved that they didn’t have to.

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With Europe entering singles play needing just two of a possible 11 points (the Viktor Hovland-Harris English match was halved due to a neck injury for Hovland), it wasn’t until the eighth match of the day that any player on either side could finally exhale. Shane Lowry secured the Ryder Cup by rolling in a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th to win the hole and tie Russell Henley, earning Europe the all-important half-point to reach 14 for the week and retain the trophy as defending champs.

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Needing another half point to win outright, and a full point to avoid any controversy from Hovland’s inability to play, Europe’s Tyrrell Hatton and Robert MacIntyre each added half-points in the final two singles matches to run the final score to 15-13.

It was a most unlikely finish to one of the strangest Ryder Cups in history.

This week’s result was set to be a reckoning of everything that’s wrong with the U.S. team. With the balance of skill between the two sides more evenly matched than ever before, Luke Donald’s Team Europe took it to Keegan Bradley’s squad over the first two days, seemingly exposing all of the institutional flaws of the U.S. team as they built a massive lead.

The Europeans looked more prepared, made better strategic choices, had better camaraderie, had more experience, and played much, much better golf through four sessions. Post-mortems had already been written for Bradley’s team, including in this publication by yours truly.

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Then somehow, the U.S. team, showing incredible determination and heart, got up off the mat on Sunday and nearly overcame a seven-point deficit. The largest comeback on Sunday in Ryder Cup history is four points.

For a long while it seemed as though this year’s Ryder Cup was the definition of everything that was wrong with sports. There was ugliness from fans and that was so far over the limit it was jarring even in these times when there’s nothing left to be shocked about. From a sporting standpoint it looked like we were heading toward a Sunday with a foregone conclusion, missing the unpredictable outcome that separates sports from scripted entertainment.

The drunken New York fans seemed one step away from pitchforks.

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Then suddenly we were gifted one of those magical, impossible days where as a sports fan you’re left staring at the field, or rink, or golf course with your jaw on the ground trying to figure out what you had just witnessed. Only one European managed to win a match on Sunday. One. Ludvig Aberg 2&1 over Patrick Cantlay. The U.S. won or tied the other 10 matches.

Boston sports fan Bradley said on Saturday night that he was at the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots’ comeback from a 28-3 deficit to win. This was more like 48-3, and the U.S. team nearly pulled it off.

What does it all mean?

Does the U.S. Ryder Cup program need to take a hard look in the mirror? The answer isn’t as clear. Yes, they lost at home at Bethpage Black, but they somehow left New York with their heads held high, with humiliation no longer a part of any conversation.

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Is Keegan Bradley a good captain? He made at least two very questionable pairing choices, but he also managed to bring out the absolute best in his team when things looked unbelievably bleak, which is what great leaders do.

So, what’s next for Team U.S.A.?

The most obvious move after this home defeat is the break-glass option to make Tiger Woods the 2027 captain at Adare Manor in Ireland. In a perfect time, one might think the U.S. and Tiger would prefer to have him be a home captain where the path to success is generally much easier. But that ship sailed back to Europe along with the Ryder Cup trophy after Sunday.

Has Tiger ever shown a knack for playing well with others? Of course not. Are there still fundamental problems that plague the U.S. team? Probably. Is putting a towering figure in the captain’s seat as American as apple pie? You bet. Will we all be glued to the Ryder Cup to see if he can pull it off in Rory’s backyard? Definitely.

By 2027, we might have figured out what we just saw. See you in Ireland.

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