The Ryder Cup retained

Europe glory at Gleneagles

In hindsight now, it all seemed so simple, but even though Europe won with 2 points to spare, the weekend was not without it's turning points.

Part of the Ryder Cup's beauty is that golf is normally an individualistic pursuit, a player and their caddy against the rest of the field. But the Ryder Cup is different for the first 4 rounds over 2 days, it is about teamwork, and even on the 3rd day in the singles matches, it is heavily reliant on the collective spirit of the players.

Friday

The Friday fourballs and foursomes were full of twists and turns.

The fourballs saw Europe start well but fade at the crucial point, to allow the Americans to take a 2 1/2 to 1 1/2 lead. Spieth and Reed looked especially good, feeding off of each other and beating Poulter and Gallacher comprehensively 5&4.

The foursomes, saw Europe fightback, Garcia and McIlroy snatched a half at the last, and Donaldson and Westwood; McDowell and Dubuisson and Rose and Stenson all won outright, to turn the tables in Europe's favour.

Europe take a 5 - 3 lead.

Saturday

The morning fourballs went the USA's way again. Spieth and Reed again looked impressive beating Bjorn and Kaymer 5&3, and Mahan & Furyk beat Donaldson and Westwood. Rose and Stenson scored a key point for Europe, and continued their great start of 3 points from 3 matches.

Europe 6 1/2 USA 5 1/2

The foursomes left it all to play for, and it was a big shock to see Phil Mickleson omitted from the entire day's play on Saturday.

Europe started positively in the foursomes, racing into the lead in 3 of the matches.

In the end only Spieth and Reed, the rookies, could get anything out of the afternoon for the USA, and even then Reed missed a key putt on 16, and although they did go 1 up on 17 they were pegged back to all square on the last.

The morning's momentum that favoured USA, had swung back to Europe.

Going into Sunday's singles, it was advantage Europe.

Europe 10 USA 6

Sunday

The Americans came out of the block quickly on Sunday, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed both racing into leads against McDowell and Stenson respectively.

But McIlroy was in imperious form against Rickie Fowler, and the USA's chances soon waned.

In the end McDowell managed to beat Spieth coming from 3 down to win 2&1, and with points coming from McIlroy, Kaymer (with a lovely chip-in) and Garcia, and halves from Rose and Poulter, it was left to Jamie Donaldson, who won 4&3 against Keegan Bradley, and he produced a lovely iron shot, to leave a short putt, which Bradley conceded.

Europe 16 1/2 USA 11 1/2

Europe retained the Ryder Cup, and made it 3 consecutive wins. Since 1990 of the 12 Ryder Cups played, Europe have now won 8, and USA just 4.

Players of the weekend

Justin Rose - Rose won 4 out of possible 5 points for Europe. He was the first player to fire for Europe and delivered some fantastic match-play golf over the weekend, his fourball with Henrik Stenson against Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar was the round of the weekend, with Rose and Stenson setting a Ryder Cup record of 12 under for their fourball match, whilst collectively the fourball was 21 under. He was unbeaten in the tournament

Jordan Spieth - Spieth partnered well with fellow rookie Patrick Reed and they secured 2 1/2 points from their first 3 games, which left Captain Tom Watson, ruing not playing them on Friday afternoon. Spieth had a great start to his singles, being 3 up on Graeme McDowell, but the Northern Irishman, managed to come back and win the game. 

Patrick Reed - Reed partnered well with Spieth on the first 2 days and revelled in the Ryder Cup atmosphere, silencing the crowd with his putting. He came away with 3 1/2 points from a possible 4, showing maturity beyond his years, and was unbeaten over the weekend.

Players with weekends to forget

Phil Mickleson - His weekend started with a witty jibe about US players not 'litigating one another' but ended with jibes at Tom Watson's captaincy, that endeared himself to few, however true his words were (although Faldo's criticisms, seem hypocritical, given his criticisms of Garcia).

Mickleson actually did well in the matches that he played, securing 2 points out of a possible 3. However, the out of column is where Mickleson would contend with Watson. 'Lefty' was left out on Saturday, despite imploring with Watson to play. 

 

Mickleson has a poor Ryder Cup record (14 points from 37 matches - 38%),but fitness prevailing, he is almost certain to play the next Ryder Cup, where Watson will almost certainly not be the captain.

Stephen Gallacher - It is harsh to pick out Gallacher in his first Ryder Cup, but he picked up 0 points from 2 games, and whilst McGinley's wildcard choice could not be questioned too much, as he was in great form, it is likely Luke Donald would have fared better.

Bubba Watson - Big Phil will be remembered for his comments, but there was nothing memorable about Bubba's display, losing all 3 of the matches he played. Although one of the defeats was the record breaking match against Rose and Stenson, as one of the USA's key players, more was required from Bubba.

Rickie Fowler - Fowler was Watson's go to guy it seemed, alongside Jimmy Walker. (Only Walker, Fowler, McIlroy and Rose, played in all 5 matches). However despite playing all 5 matches and sporting a USA haircut, Fowler scored only 1 1/2 points and failed to win any matches.

The next Ryder Cup is at Hazeltine Golf Club in USA in 2016.