Tag: 2023 Ryder Cup

Stefan Schauffele says Xander’s Ryder Cup place was in jeopardy, sounds off on player payment

Stefan Schauffele gave pointed comments on player payment at the Ryder Cup to multiple outlets on Sunday.

Xander Schauffele compiled a 1-3-0 record at last week’s Ryder Cup, but according to a report in The Times, his status on Team USA was up in the air until just a few weeks before the event.

Stefan Schauffele, Xander’s father, told The Times that his son’s place on Zach Johnson’s squad was in doubt due to a dispute over an agreement granting Netflix access to the team room for its Full Swing docuseries. The issue reportedly wasn’t resolved until just weeks before a team scouting trip to Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome. Stefan also claimed the PGA of America used “strong-arming tactics.”

A report from Sky Sports during the Ryder Cup claimed there was friction in the U.S. team room, and that Patrick Cantlay was at the center of the conflict due to his beliefs that players who play in the Ryder Cup should be paid. The reporter, Jamie Weir, also shared that “Before the Ryder Cup it was widely reported that (Schauffele and Cantlay) were the ones refusing to allow Netflix cameras access to the team room.”

Cantlay, who played twice alongside his good friend Schauffele, refuted the report all weekend.

Stefan claimed the “ink-smear” about a fractured team room may have developed Xander and Cantlay asking for a “player participation and benefit agreement,” which he said was sent in July, to be amended in three different places, one of which regarded the Netflix access. The U.S. went on to deny access to the team room to preserve the “sanctity and sacredness of Team USA” after a unanimous vote by Johnson and his players.

From the Times report:

“The PGA of America were not willing to even talk to us about (the three amendments),” Stefan Schauffele told The Times. “It was very late in the schedule right before the team came here [to Rome] to practice because they had moved the deadline and they said, ‘If you don’t sign it by then, you’re off the team’, but they never gave us the contact information of their legal counsel.”

“Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2), finally, the head of the PGA of America got wind of this, because it was not him that was blocking it, and put our lawyers in contact with the PGA of America’s general counsel, and then it took a few hours to hash it out and it was fine. Then I received a message that Xander was back on the team. That you can quote. That’s the extent of this and I think it’s shameful.”

Stefan confirmed the issue of players not being paid is a point of contention, but told the Times it wasn’t discussed in Rome “because it’s the wrong venue and time,” but does think a conversation needs to be had and sides need to come to the table to negotiate.

“The PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe need to be more transparent and disclose how this money from the Ryder Cup is being distributed,” he said.

“They are using players’ intellectual properties to make money and the American players don’t get paid,” he added. “More importantly, this would become a non-issue if all proceeds, net proceeds, from the Ryder Cup were to be donated to common charitable causes. Right now, the American players are asked to donate their time pro-bono in the name of patriotism so these organizations can benefit from the profits.”

“The PGA (of America) uses this money, and the PGA Tour gets 20 percent that goes into the retirement of every member. The 12 players supposedly need to eat it and their intellectual property gets abused for the benefit of 200 other people. That’s not right.”

But Stefan didn’t stop there. He also gave some interesting quotes to No Laying Up’s Kevin Van Valkenburg.

“If the PGA of America is a for-profit organization, they need to have the players share in that profit instead of being so damned intransparent about it with intent,” Stefan said. “They should reveal the numbers, and then we should go to the table and talk. Alternatively, they can donate all proceeds after opening the books to a charity of our joint choice, and then we will happily play for free. Please print that.”

“I think it’s absolutely non-controversial,” he continued. “Imagine if the winners got $2 million and the losers get nothing. How good of a competition would we have now? I think it could be made so much better because of that. I don’t see a negative there. I think we need to talk about it without bringing up the issue of patriotism, which I think is a really, really cheap shot. Because they’re so wrong, especially these (PGA of America members) are not owning any mirrors in their houses because they’re the ones that are not patriotic. Hopefully the conversation, in seriousness, leads to talks about it that make sense. And then everyone can be happy.”

The discussion around the Sky Sports report was never going to end with Cantlay’s denial, and Stefan Schauffele throwing gas on the sizzling fire has only ensured the discussion of players being paid will continue long after the 2023 Ryder Cup post-mortem ends.

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Highlights from Team Europe’s epic 2023 Ryder Cup celebration in Italy

The Europeans sure know how to party.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it was conquered in three.”

That was one of many posts on the Ryder Cup Europe social media accounts to celebrate the team’s 16½-11½ win over the United States in the 44th playing of the biennial bash, held this year at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy.

The team celebrations with the Cup in the hours and days that follow are always fun to see, and European captain Luke Donald foreshadowed what would be a fun night in his interview with Golf Channel’s Cara Banks just minutes after Europe secured the Cup.

“We always do it right in Europe, we do it right,” said Donald with a smile. “We’ll have a few drinks.”

Did they ever.

The chants started with “Two more years!” for the captain and transitioned to cheers of “Ole! Ole! Ole!” and songs of victory on the team bus. Check out the highlights from Team Europe’s epic Ryder Cup celebrations.

MORE: Changes afoot for USA | How each player fared | Future sites

Fresh off Ryder Cup, Patrick Cantlay to marry Nikki Guidish on Monday in Rome

Patrick Cantlay has big plans for Monday.

ROME – Patrick Cantlay may not have been on the winning Ryder Cup team on Sunday, but he’s got big plans for Monday.

Cantlay, 30, and fiancée Nikki Guidish, are tying the knot in Rome.

“Well, I am getting married tomorrow, yes,” Cantlay said during a press conference afterwards. “I’m very excited about it.”

The press room gave him a rare round of applause.

His wedding plans came up during a discussion about his headwear. Cantlay famously went hatless at the Ryder Cup, which became a hot topic of conversation. He claimed it was because the team hat didn’t fit his head while one report cited sources saying it was to protest the fact that players don’t get paid directly to play in the Ryder Cup.

There was some debate whether Cantlay chose not to wear a hat during the Ryder Cup because he didn’t want to have tan lines for his wedding day. That theory was posed by Stefan Schauffele, Xander’s father.

“I apologize for anything my dad said,” Schauffele said, breaking into laughter.

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Rory McIlroy gets philosophical during Ryder Cup controversy, leads Europeans to victory

The person who may deserve the most credit for assisting McIlroy has been dead for centuries.

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ROME – When it became a foregone conclusion that the European team had clinched the 44th Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rory McIlroy went galloping down the 18th fairway to celebrate with teammate Shane Lowry. The burly Irishman’s match was still to be decided but he squatted and lifted McIlroy in his arms as if a catcher and pitcher celebrating a World Series victory.

Sporting a five-point lead heading into Sunday Singles, Team Europe allowed things to get interesting for a hot second before reclaiming the Ryder Cup by a final score of 16 ½ – 11 ½. In the baking heat of the Eternal City, a partisan crowd broke into a chorus of Ole! Ole! Ole! And McIroy joined in the singing, “Champione! Champione! Champione!” Before long, he popped open a bottle of champagne, took a swig and relished in victory.

Less than 24 hours earlier, after losing a four-ball match, McIlroy was as mad as he’s ever been coming off the golf course. American Patrick Cantlay had drained a 43-foot birdie putt at 18 to flip the match and his caddie Joe LaCava waved his hat and interrupted McIlroy’s preparation to attempt a putt to tie the hole. McIlroy’s anger spilled out into the car park. He was headed for the U.S. locker room to tell them that LaCava’s conduct was a disgrace when he came across American caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay and had to be restrained by Lowry, who forced him into a car headed to the team hotel.

“He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” McIlroy said of Mackay. “I texted Bones this morning and apologized for that.”

2023 Ryder Cup
Joe LaCava, caddie for American Patrick Cantlay, gestures with his cap on the 18th green during the Saturday afternoon fourball matches at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, Italy. (Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Video of the incident went viral on social media. McIlroy said Lowry made sure he cooled off back at the hotel, dunking himself in a cold plunge.

But the person who may deserve the most credit for turning McIlroy’s frown upside down has been dead for centuries. On the way to the course, McIlroy, who is a student of Stoicism, read some of the meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher.

“Seeing that we are in Rome, I thought it would be a good time to revisit some of his thoughts,” McIlroy said. “Humility and gentleness are better virtues than being frustrated and angry. I had to let it out but then I had to reset.”

It all started with “Hat-gate,” after a social media posting reported “a fracture” in the U.S. team locker room. Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir cited sources as saying Patrick Cantlay was protesting that players aren’t paid to play in the Ryder Cup – though they do receive a $200,000 donation to a charity of their choice – by not wearing a hat. Cantlay refuted the report as false, but the fans let him have it anyway, waving their hats at every chance, singing, “Patrick, Patrick, where’s your hat?” Another fan yelled, “Come work with me at the factory. We get paid by the hour.”

Cantlay took it all in stride and acknowledged the jabs and wisecracks with a smile and a thumbs up like a politician. The stunning reversal of his match in the gloaming on Saturday gave the U.S. side a glimmer of hope of making a comeback from a 10 ½ – 5 ½ deficit. But the incident with caddie Joe LaCava also served as fuel to the European side to give no mercy.

“I didn’t let it take away from what’s been a fantastic week. I used that little incident last night to my advantage,” McIlroy said. “I think what transpired in that last green, it gave us a little bit of a fire in our bellies to try and get the job done today.”

2023 Ryder Cup
Rory McIlroy of Team Europe celebrates winning his match 3 and &1 on the 17th green during the Sunday singles matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on October 01, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

McIlroy did his part defeating Sam Burns 3 & 1, capping off a record of 4-1, most points scored by any player and his best showing in seven Ryder Cups. McIlroy, John Rahm and Viktor Hovland – Europe’s big three – combined for a record of 9-2-3. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who tied with Rahm on Sunday, went 0-2-1. The U.S. captain’s picks were a pitiful 4-12-4.

Two years ago, McIlroy broke down in tears on Saturday after losing his third straight match and was benched for the afternoon session. His emotions showed how much he cared for the event. But what was it that hurt the most about the team’s defeat at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin?

“The score line, 19-9. That hurt. It really did,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I gave my best performance, and I didn’t feel like I did my part for the team. And you know, there was a few of us up here that were on that team that wanted to come back, and everyone at the start of the week was talking about, oh, do you want to get revenge, do you want to get revenge on the U.S. Team, and this wasn’t about revenge. This was about redemption and showing what we could do.”

2023 Ryder Cup
Team Europe captain Luke Donald and Team Europe celebrates with the Ryder Cup trophy after beating Team USA during the final day of the 44th Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)

The victory on the rolling hills of Marco Simone, a mere 10 miles from the famed Colosseum wasn’t built in a day. European Captain Luke Donald built a plan that depended heavily on data analytics and his decision to start the first two sessions with foursomes (alternate shot) helped the Euros open a commanding lead.

“Not many people gave us a chance, I don’t think, especially two years ago,” Donald said. “Yeah, well, we proved them wrong.”

During a team scouting trip to Marco Simone, the team bonded around the fire pit.

“I got to know things about these guys,” McIlroy said. “I thought I knew them for a long time, but I got to know something different about them.”

This was supposed to be the year the American side finally won on European soil for the first time in 30 years. They planned to take advantage of a transition year for the Euros, who were going through a youth movement led by the 23-year-old hotshot Ludvig Aberg and 22-year-old Nicolai Hojgaard. The Euros proved to be more than capable of holding serve at home.

Hovland, one of two players to play all five matches for Team Europe, put the first point on the board for Donald’s team. Europe reached 14 ½ points to win back the cup after Tommy Fleetwood drove the green on the drivable par-4 16th and Rickie Fowler hit it in the water. After Fleetwood knocked his eagle putt to 2 feet, 8 inches, Fowler conceded the birdie putt to give Europe the half point needed to win.

It marked the eighth time in the last nine playings of the biennial event that the home team has won. The next Ryder Cup will be held in New York at Bethpage Black. Asked if home-field advantage has become too big of a deal in the Ryder Cup, McIlroy said, “So I’ve said this for the last probably six or seven years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup. And that’s what we’re going to do at Bethpage.”

Then he pounded the table with his fist and his teammates cheered as McIlroy smiled the smile of a man already contemplating his next victory.

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Rory McIlroy says Ryder Cup incident with caddie Joe LaCava still hurts, but time heals

The next Ryder Cup will be staged at New York’s famed Bethpage Black, where fans won’t hold back.

While Rory McIlroy and Joe LaCava haven’t yet met face-to-face to talk about hat-gate, they have texted, and McIlroy said during Team Europe’s Ryder Cup press conference that everything will be fine.

The pair got into a heated discussion on the 18th green Saturday evening after LaCava made a scene and got in the way.

“It’s a point of contention and it still hurts,” said McIlroy, “but time is a great healer and we’ll all move on.”

It was a Saturday morning report from SkySports journalist Jamie Weir that began a storyline that ultimately engulfed the events in Rome. Weir said Patrick Cantlay’s refusal to wear a team hat centered around his desire for Ryder Cup players to get paid. European fans reacted by waving their hats at the American player all weekend.

The whole scene culminated Saturday evening with Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, waving his hat after Cantlay drained a match-winning putt to give the U.S. team life heading into singles.

McIlroy took issue with LaCava’s antics, and his frustrations boiled over in the parking lot when he had to be restrained while talking to caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay. The Northern Irishman texted Mackay Sunday morning and apologized. Shane Lowry was the one who stepped in to pull McIlroy away and get him inside a courtesy car.

“He was the first American I saw after I got out of the locker room,” said McIlroy, “so he was the one that took the brunt of it. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

When asked if he was much of a car-park scrapper, McIlroy said “No, but if I need to … ”

Added Lowry: “I had to do all the work. I was going to have to do all the work.”

McIlroy said he was relieved that Lowry intervened, noting that he took him down to the hotel’s cold plunge to quite literally cool off.

“We talked about it as a team last night,” said McIlroy. “We felt like it was disrespectful, and it wasn’t just disrespectful to Fitz and I. It was disrespectful to the whole team.

“I get that we get the banter when we go over to the States and play, and you know, the same happens here. It’s just the way it is. It the way the Ryder Cup goes. You have to have thick skin. That’s just the way it is.”

Cantlay called Weir’s report “totally false.”

The next Ryder Cup will be staged at New York’s famed Bethpage Black, where fans won’t hold back.

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Patrick Cantlay calls report about his Ryder Cup hat ‘totally false’

Cantlay said he took the crowds taunts and turned them into fuel.

Patrick Cantlay insists there isn’t “a shred of truth” in what SkySports journalist Jamie Weir wrote about his decision not to wear a Ryder Cup team hat.

For starters, Cantlay said, the hats didn’t fit. He called the report, now known as hat-gate, “totally false.”

Weir tweeted on Saturday that sources told him Cantlay’s hatless appearance was due to his belief that Ryder Cup players should be paid. He also said that Cantlay’s opinions had fractured the team room.

“It’s crazy that one journalist can put a tweet out there totally unfounded with complete lies,” Cantlay told the media after his 2-and-1 singles victory over Justin Rose. “The crowd ran with it, and I tried to have fun with them all day, smile.”

Cantlay said he took the crowds taunts and turned them into fuel.

“I did my best to embrace it,” he said.

European fans waved their hats at Cantlay on Saturday as he almost single-handedly gave the Americans something to smile about with a string of big-time putts to close out Saturday’s four-ball match. “Hats off to your bank account” and “Show me the money” were two favorite chants from the raucous crowd.

Rory McIlroy, who still had a putt left on the 18th hole after another Cantlay make, took issue with Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava taking off his own hat and getting in the way on the green. McIlroy, who later had to be restrained in the parking lot Saturday night, said he still hasn’t talked to LaCava about the incident.

Cantlay, nicknamed “Patty Ice,” earned two points for Team USA in Rome and improved his singles record at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup to 4-0-0. He went 2-2-0 overall at the 2023 Ryder Cup, which the Europeans won the 2023 Ryder Cup 16 ½ to 11 ½.

After the matches were over, Cantlay confirmed his big plans for Monday during the U.S.’s media session.

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How each American, European player fared at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy

Only one player earned four points this week and just one went home pointless.

The Europeans are back on top.

After a historic loss two years ago Team Europe dominated the 2023 Ryder Cup to reclaim the trophy with a 16½-11½ victory over the three days of play at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome in Italy.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was the only player to score four points this week (4-1-0), while four players went unbeaten: Tyrrell Hatton (3-0-1), Viktor Hovland (3-0-1) Jon Rahm (2-0-2) and Robert MacIntyre (2-0-1).

Here’s a breakdown of how each player fared this week by session at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.

MORE: Sunday singles results | Best shots

European player records

Player Overall (W-L-T) Singles (W-L-T) Foursomes (W-L-T) Fourball (W-L-T)
Rory McIlroy 4-1-0 1-0-0 2-0-0 1-1-0
Tyrrell Hatton 3-0-1 1-0-0 2-0-0 0-0-1
Viktor Hovland 3-0-1 1-0-0 2-0-0 0-1-1
Tommy Fleetwood 3-1-0 1-0-0 2-0-0 0-1-0
Jon Rahm 2-0-2 0-0-1 2-0-0 0-0-1
Robert MacIntyre 2-0-1 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-1
Ludvig Aberg 2-2-0 0-1-0 2-0-0 0-1-0
Shane Lowry 1-1-1 0-0-1 1-1-0 0-0-0
Justin Rose 1-1-1 0-1-0 0-0-0 1-0-1
Matt Fitzpatrick 1-2-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 1-1-0
Sepp Straka 1-2-0 0-1-0 1-1-0 0-0-0
Nicolai Hojgaard 0-2-1 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-1

American player records

Player Overall (W-L-T) Singles (W-L-T) Foursomes (W-L-T) Fourball (W-L-T)
Max Homa 3-1-1 1-0-0 1-1-0 1-0-1
Patrick Cantlay 2-2-0 1-0-0 0-2-0 1-0-0
Brian Harman 2-2-0 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-0-0
Justin Thomas 1-2-1 1-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-1
Wyndham Clark 1-1-1 0-1-0 0-0-0 1-0-1
Brooks Koepka 1-1-1 1-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-1
Sam Burns 1-2-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 1-0-0
Collin Morikawa 1-3-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 1-1-0
Xander Schauffele 1-3-0 1-0-0 0-2-0 0-1-0
Scottie Scheffler 0-2-2 0-0-1 0-2-0 0-0-1
Jordan Spieth 0-2-2 0-0-1 0-1-0 0-1-1
Rickie Fowler 0-2-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0

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Ryder Cup fans jumped in the water to celebrate Team Europe’s win over USA

Now this is how you celebrate.

Team Europe entered Sunday with a considerable lead in the Ryder Cup after dominating the Friday and Saturday Foursomes, but Team USA still had a slim chance to make what would have been the greatest final-day comeback in the tournament’s history.

Tommy Fleetwood put an end to that possibility with a 3 and 1 win over Rickie Fowler to clinch the title. Team Europe went on to win 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 to defend its home turf at Marco Simone Golf Club and reclaim the Ryder Cup after losing the last tournament on U.S. soil in 2021.

Fans were ecstatic about the result and showed their pride by jumping in the water.

That’s how you celebrate.

Lynch: Ryder Cup won’t be unscathed by golf’s new world order. Radical change is coming

This is the major event most vulnerable to radical change from the cash arms race disfiguring golf.

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ROME — Every Ryder Cup offers a masterclass in provincial myth-making, somehow convincing the credulous that Europe’s team room is always friction-free and that only American fans are guilty of boorish behavior. This week in Rome, one of the Cup’s most enduring fables was exposed — the utopian notion that it exists on a patriotic plane entirely unsullied by something as vulgar as money.

That’s not because some team members feel they should be paid to play (a position that’s neither new nor entirely unpardonable). The finances matter enormously to Ryder Cup organizers, who depend on its proceeds to operate for the years between “home” editions. Widen the lens beyond individual players or even individual Cups, and it becomes apparent that this is the major event most vulnerable to radical change in whatever ecosystem emerges from the cash arms race disfiguring golf.

The Ryder Cup reliably showcases the sport’s greatest theater and passion. That’s the user experience. The apparatus around the Cup and its inner workings are strained, and demand a rethink that’s more pressing than any ideas we’ll see emerge from the post-mortem analysis of Team USA’s latest defeat.

Some of the issues are owed to the ownership structure. Europe’s half of the Cup is mostly held by the DP World Tour, with minor slices owned by a couple of regional PGA associations. There is no asset of remotely comparable value that the European circuit can bring to the new for-profit entity it is creating with the PGA Tour and, negotiations pending, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (plus sundry investors who don’t have a side hustle abusing human rights).

Yet as vital as the Ryder Cup is to the books of its various owners, it is commercially isolated. Business types gripe about its limitations in terms of opportunities and partnerships that global sponsors will pay handsomely for. Eventually, some enterprising corporate cipher will see a means by which it can be plugged into a bigger commercial platform to increase profits. Any such platform must be built around the world’s best players, so it seems ordained that wherever the major tours go in the coming years, the Ryder Cup must follow.

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And that involves major changes to what we know now.

The qualification system in Europe has been modified more frequently than Cher’s face, but every tweak has had the same rationale: accommodating stars who mostly compete in the U.S. while preserving a pathway to the team for guys who ply their trade at home. Leveraging the Ryder Cup to reward loyalty to the DP World Tour is parochial but necessary. On the opposite shore, the PGA Tour has no ownership stake but is the means by which players qualify. These systems (mostly) work now, but what happens if top players one day commit to a lucrative global schedule of tournaments elevated above the current American and European circuits? The Ryder Cup qualification system will immediately become unfit for purpose.

The fix for that is something that should be considered now: go to 12 captain’s picks and dispense with the points system entirely. Such a move would certainly have opponents, but plenty of pros. It would be tour-agnostic and grant skippers the latitude to choose on form and compatibility, and to do something that’s impossible with automatic qualifiers: leave at home those openly ambivalent about being here. It would also restore authority to captains, particularly future U.S. leaders, and not leave them hostage to the preferences of the automatics, which is what Zach Johnson essentially admitted has been his situation.

(If the team is to be drawn from whatever strata exists, why not the captaincy too? Former players are by disposition and circumstance myopic and deferential to their colleagues. Why not a captain from outside the traditional golf sphere? Someone recognized for their ability to get the best from the best. While the captain hits as many shots as the spectators, playing status need not be a consideration. Make it a position for proven performance specialists, not past their prime players.)

For all the pablum about continental rivalries, the modern era in the Ryder Cup has always been tour versus tour, PGA against Europe. The old legends — Ballesteros, Faldo, Woosnam — felt disrespected when they traveled to the U.S., which only fueled their determination to stick it to the Yanks every two years. Now, at least half of the European team lives stateside and both Scandinavian standouts this week — Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg — spent their formative years in U.S. colleges. The old enmity is being diluted, and that will only accelerate as the lines between tours are blurred. What the Ryder Cup cannot lose or imperil is its heartbeat, the thousands of spectators who bring the noise regardless of what side of the ocean it is held on.

The concerns voiced in the aftermath of the 44th matches in Rome will be short-term in nature — what went wrong for the U.S., who is to blame, what must be done. However entertaining these recriminations may be for onlookers, those of us who love the Ryder Cup must grasp that the years ahead will bring challenges even more daunting than trying to beat Europe at home.

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Team Europe, fueled by a hat controversy, wins 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome

The final tally in Rome wasn’t as close as it felt, at times, on Sunday.

Team USA tried to rally around a hat controversy that was fueled by a parking-lot feud, but the spark proved too little too late. Team Europe rode the momentum of a Friday morning foursomes sweep at the first Ryder Cup in Rome all the way to Sunday, extending a decades-long tradition of winning on home soil.

Viktor Hovland, one of two players to play all five matches for Team Europe, put the first point on the board for captain Luke Donald’s team at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Europe reached 14 ½ points to win back the cup after Tommy Fleetwood drove the green on the drivable par-4 16th and Rickie Fowler hit it in the water. After Fleetwood knocked his eagle putt to 2 feet, 8 inches, Fowler conceded the birdie putt to give Europe the half point needed to win.

The final tally in Rome wasn’t as close as it felt, at times, on Sunday with Europe winning, 16 ½ to 11 ½.

The U.S. last won a Ryder Cup overseas in 1993.

A Saturday report from SkySports Jamie Weir insinuated that Patrick Cantlay’s refusal to wear a team hat centered around his desire for Ryder Cup players to get paid. European fans reacted by waving their hats at the American player all weekend. The whole scene culminated on Saturday evening with Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, waving his hat after Cantlay drained a match-winning putt to give the U.S. team life heading into singles.

Rory McIlroy took issue with LaCava’s antics getting in his way on the green. His frustrations boiled over in the parking lot when he had to be restrained while talking to caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay.

After a loss two years ago at Whistling Straits brought McIlroy to tears, he won four points in Rome. McIlroy told NBC after winning his singles match that he used the incident on the 18th green and the parking lot Saturday night to his advantage.

“It was a bit of a deflating finish last night,” said McIlroy, “but I think what transpired on that last green gave us a little fire in our bellies to go out and get it done today.”

Cantlay, who improved his singles record in team play to 4-0-0 after a 2-and-1 victory over Justin Rose, told NBC after singles play that the report about Ryder Cup money and division in the U.S. team room was totally false.

“It couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Cantlay. “There hasn’t been one word of that all week. The U.S. team has been close all week.”

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