And it was worth it. The tournament turned out to be not the most dramatic and stubborn, but a record one. The US national team, when it comes to the average golfers rating in the world table of ranks, had the strongest roster ever. However, the Stars and Stripes are almost always stronger on paper, but nine of the previous 12 were won by the Europeans.
Heading into Sunday, the United States held the largest winning margin since 1975 with their 11-5 lead. It only took five singles matches on Sunday for Team USA to capture the win. Rory McIlroy won the first match of the day over Xander Schauffele, but Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau finished their strong performances shortly after. Scheffler started out as the only American underdog since he was up against the world No. 1 Jon Rahm, but he kept the lead the entire match, even being 4UP a few times.
A very emotional speech was made at the awards ceremony by the captain of the US team, Steve Stricker, who had been preparing the team for the tournament for 2.5 years. Recall that the Ryder Cup was supposed to take place a year ago, but was postponed due to the pandemic. “I’ve never won a Major, but this is my Major,” Striker said, barely holding back his emotions, and then lifted the trophy above his head.