Well that was certainly disappointing for the Americans. Not only did the final score show a solid beatdown by the Europeans but the Americans lost every single segment during this cup and their are a few people that easily garner the blame and the credit. One of them just happens to be the number 2 ranked player in the world.Weather
Man did it rain hard this weekend in Ireland. It was downpouring pretty much all of Saturday. 36 holes in straight rain can not be fun. Any other tourny would have given a rain delay with that sort of weather, unfortunately the Europeans performed like they were used to the rain while the Americans wanted to hide under their Umbrellas.
Tape Delay
I tried hard to avoid the bottom line on ESPN and any other news source that would tell me the score before I could watch the matches, but I think its fully impossible as a sports fan to not find out the results of anything that is on tape delay. All I needed to do to mess up was during half time of the Michigan game I went into the kitchen to make myself some lunch, and then of course they go the Europeans are leading 10-6, thus rendering me knowledgable of the fact that the Americans once again lost the afternoon session 2 1/2 to 1 1/2. Damn it.
Local Boy
JJ played pretty well for a rookie at the Ryder Cup. He halved all 3 of his matches so he was one of the few Americans that didn't lose points throughout the Cup. In addition the two four ball matches he halved with Stewart Cink, he was the main cog in their come from behind ties. He ran off a large streak of birdies on friday, and went eagle birdie on saturday on 16 and 17 to put himself in a position to take a full point but unfortunately on the 18th on Saturday he rolled his 1st putt well by, lipped out his second putt and had to settle for a half. In the end JJ can atleast be proud with how he performed.
European Heros
Sergio Garcia - For some reason Sergio throughout his career has been unbeatable during Ryder Cup group play. And this year was no difference having Sergio go 4-0 on friday and saturday, and despite his singles loss to Stewart Cink on Sunday Sergio is a big reason for the Europeans dominance.
Lee Westwood - This captains pick worked out to perfection. Westwood won 3 matches and halved his other two as he was utilized to capacity by his captain. Westwood is one of these Europeans that is very good but never seems to do anything huge at big tournaments but when it comes to the Ryder Cup he turns into Zues.
Darren Clark - He was the hero. He was the inspiration for the Europeans and in edition he went 3-0. Thats pretty darn good for a man coming off such a devastating loss
American Goats
Chris Dimarco - I thought he was going to be a warrior this weekend well turned out he caught the plague from partnering with the initial carrier Sir Mickeltits.
David Toms - Yep I played with Phil too, so naturally I couldn't win a single match.
Phil Mickelson - The king of all goats. Phil managed only 1/2 point throughout the Ryder Cup. And coming from the #2 ranked player in the World, a guy who typically is a birdie machine which is perfect for four ball matches, the fact that Phil could only manage one halved match is completely unacceptable and he should feel a large brunt of the blame for the Americans embarrassing Ryder Cup loss.
Wrap Up
Well betting on the Americans in a Ryder Cup is certainly fools gold. You look at the American Squad and see players like Woods, Mickelson and Furyk and their major championship pedigree and think that they will come up huge in a big spot but then its really the Europeans who choke in majors like Sergio and Monty that are unbeatable in these matches. Whether it be that the Europeans enjoy the tourny more, take the tourny more seriously, are better suited to the weather conditions, simply tougher, who knows but the Europeans beat up the Americans every Cup nowadays and going into 2006 they will be major favorites.
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