There’s a good chance the trash talk between the two teams won’t stop until 2025 at Bethpage Black.
The United States’ struggles in Europe continued at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside Rome, losing to the Europeans 16½-11½.
Many of the players who participated in the biennial bash stayed put for a few days after Sunday night to take in the sights and spend some time with their loved ones.
Justin Thomas was part of that group, and he posted a photo dump of a Lake Como vacation with his wife, Jillian, to his Instagram.
One of the comments on the post came from European Ryder Cupper Shane Lowry — who went 1-1-1 in Italy — who posed a simple question: “Any pics from Rome???”
JT — who went 1-2-1 — replied, saying, “Shane it’s been two weeks and was starting to forget……”
More than 270,000 people from 100 different countries attended the 2023 Ryder Cup to watch the Europeans defeat the Americans, 16½-11½, and reclaim the cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy.
Even more watched from home.
On Tuesday, Ryder Cup Europe shared early numbers that showed a rise in average viewership on Sky Sports, particularly in the United Kingdom, which saw a 38 percent increase compared to the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits and a 25 percent increase from the last European-hosted Cup in 2018 at Le Golf National near Paris.
“The 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy once again underlined the global appeal and continued growth of one of the world’s leading sporting events,” said Guy Kinnings, Executive Director of the Ryder Cup. “This year’s contest, played against the backdrop of the historic city of Rome, truly connected with fans around the world, and our early figures show significant increases in engagement even from the recent record-breaking editions.”
While the 2023 edition was the most watched Ryder Cup ever on Sky Sports, the NBC Sports coverage in the United States left fans wanting more.
Not even two hours into the coverage of the Friday foursomes matches and television viewers who were awake at 1 a.m. ET for the start were already fed up with the coverage (or lack thereof).
Airing on USA Network, the broadcast missed the introductions and tee shots from the third match of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka vs. Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa and showed more commercials than golf shots. This year’s broadcast featured a score bug in the bottom right of the screen that showed the matches and live results, which was a nice innovation, except when the coverage didn’t provide context for how those scores came to be.
The 2025 Ryder Cup, the 45th playing of the biennial bash between the U.S. and Europe, will be held at Bethpage Black in New York.
Ryder Cup Europe confirmed that no injures were reported.
A structure at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy, went up in massive flames on Thursday just days after the club hosted the 2023 Ryder Cup.
A video surfaced on social media of a three-story hospitality stand engulfed in fire, producing large black smoke clouds that could be seen from miles away. Local news stated that five teams of firefighters are on the scene and that no injuries were reported. A notice was sent to local residents to close their windows.
“A fire was reported in one of the temporary hospitality structures to the right of the first fairway at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club earlier this afternoon,” a statement from Ryder Cup Europe read. “Local fire crews were called to the scene at 5:07 p.m. local time and quickly brought the blaze under control. Nobody was injured in the incident and the fire did not spread beyond the hospitality structure. There was no damage to the golf course or any over structure. The cause of the fire is currently being investigated.”
Hundreds of thousands of fans were at the club over the last week to witness Team Europe defeat Team USA and reclaim the Ryder Cup, 16½-11½.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome originally was designed by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio and opened in 1989. The layout was completely renovated in 2018-2020 by a team of European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson in conjunction with Tom Fazio II, a leading American architect and the son of Jim Fazio – Tom Fazio worked for his dad on the original layout. The renovation included a complete rerouting of the hilly layout with the Ryder Cup in mind. With 155 feet of elevation change across the course, the holes were laid out to favor match play, with several drivable par 4s. Marco Simone is a public-access layout with tee times available on the course’s website.
“Pat, he’s got a big noggin,” Furyk said. “We have a hard time getting him in a hat.”
An unfortunate narrative that often comes out after the U.S. loses a Ryder Cup is that there was either a lack of overall team comradery or outright dissension.
Jim Furyk, the host of this week’s PGA Tour Champions Constellation Furyk & Friends at the Timuquana Country Club, heard it as a Ryder Cup player and captain and he’s hearing it again after serving as one of Zach Johnson’s vice captains in Rome last week when the U.S. lost to Europe 16.5-11.5.
He said reports of disunity are “absolutely not the case.”
“I was in that team room each and every night,” Furyk said on Tuesday during a news conference to promote the World Champions Cup, a match-play event for PGA Tour Champions players in December. “Those 12 guys really bonded, really got along. I know we’re disappointed that we didn’t bring the cup back to the United States but I can say and I’ll stand by it, those 12 guys really got along well and supported each other. As captains, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Furyk also said reports that Patrick Cantlay ostracized himself from the team and didn’t wear a USA hat during competition as a protest over not getting paid to play in the Ryder Cup were false.
The rumors were so viral that European fans on-site took their hats off and doffed them sarcastically whenever Cantlay passed their way.
Team USA vice captain Jim Furyk talks to Team USA golfers Collin Morikawa and Sam Burns during a practice day for the Ryder Cup golf competition at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports
Furyk said that resulted in a show of U.S. bonding when the entire team and caddies took off their hats and waved them at the fans after Cantlay birdied his last three holes on Saturday to win a fourball match with Wyndham Clark against Rory McIlroy and Matthew Fitzpatrick.
“I’m not sure where [rumors of team disharmony] came from, especially after you saw the support Patrick had with the guys raising their hats in front of the green,” he said. “He took a lot of beating that day from, whether it was from the media, from the fans about not wearing a hat, the speculation that maybe he didn’t want to wear the American flag, whatever it may be. I think you saw the support from the players.”
Furyk said Cantlay’s decision not to wear a hat came down to being unable to find one that fit.
“Pat, he’s got a big noggin,” Furyk said. “We have a hard time getting him in a hat. He hasn’t worn one for three or four years in the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. If he’s going to birdie 16, 17 and 18, he can wear whatever he wants, I’ll say that.”
“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.
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.
The incident then spilled over to the parking lot at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, where a visibly heated McIlroy needed to be restrained by teammate Shane Lowry as American caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay approached to discuss what happened.
Before Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm began the opening match of Sunday singles, Golf Channel reported that McIlroy and LaCava had mended fences after the dust-up on the 18th green. Steve Sands reported LaCava reached out to McIlroy’s camp on the car ride home from the course and texted the group, “I love you guys and respect all of you.”
McIlroy’s team reportedly said they felt the same way, which led to LaCava asking for a face-to-face meeting with McIlroy on Sunday morning. According to Sands, that brief meeting happened, and “everything’s been diffused.”
Well, McIlroy begs to differ. After his 3-and-1 singles victory over Sam Burns, Golf Channel’s Cara Banks asked McIlroy about the meeting with LaCava, and the four-time major champion said it didn’t happen.
“I haven’t met Joe,” said McIlroy, shaking his head.
“I was focused. I was very focused,” he said of his mindset entering the final match. “I let it fuel me, I didn’t let it take away from what’s been a fantastic week. I used that little incident last night to my advantage.”
“It was a situation where our matchups felt it was best to go this direction,” said captain Zach Johnson.
ROME – Why was Rickie Fowler benched on Saturday?
The 34-year-old American, who is playing in his fifth Ryder Cup, didn’t play in either session on Saturday at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy. That followed sitting the afternoon fourballs session on Friday, too.
Fowler has been rumored to be one of the players dealing with a bug that U.S. Captain Zach Johnson said has been going through his team’s locker room. Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported that Fowler had a sinus infection. But Johnson said it wasn’t an illness but rather a captain’s decision that was the reason that Fowler sat all day on Saturday.
“It was a situation where our matchups felt it was best to go this direction,” Johnson said. “Rickie is the consummate professional and team player. We had an embrace that I’ll never forget and a smile afterward. And you know what, it’s hard. I want to play all 12 guys every match — every session, excuse me. That goes without saying. So it was nothing more than that. He is a dear, dear, dear friend. And knowing him, it’s probably motivational.”
“I told Wyndham when we were going to the first tee today that we were going to use all the energy out there as fuel, and we did.”
ROME – Hats off to Patrick Cantlay.
He breathed some much-needed life into the 44th Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club by holing a hat trick of putts on the final three holes to flip his fourballs match and give the U.S. a glimmer of hope that they could mount a comeback in Sunday singles and retain the Cup.
It was as cold-blooded as Ian Poulter going into Poulter-geist mode late on Saturday in 2012 and inspiring the Europeans to one of the great comebacks at Medinah.
But that only scratches the surface of Cantlay’s day. While he was busy taking on Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton in the morning, Sky Sports’s Jamie Weir posted on social media that among other things, Cantlay was behind a rift in the U.S. locker room and he “believes players should be paid to participate in the Ryder Cup, and is demonstrating his frustration at not being paid by refusing to wear a team cap.” He credited unnamed sources.
Cantlay wears a hat on the PGA Tour and is paid handsomely to do so, previously by the investment bank Goldman Sachs and currently by DeWalt, the tool maker. When asked about why he wasn’t wearing a hat this week, Cantlay explained, “The hat doesn’t fit. It didn’t fit at Whistling Straits, and didn’t fit this week. Everyone knows that.”
That may be and plenty of golfers, including Rory McIlroy, have gone hatless in the Ryder Cup before. Still I tend to agree with ESPN’s Michael Collins, who tweeted that Cantlay saying he can’t find a hat that fits – despite the players being measured several months ahead of time for team uniforms – “is like a fat guy in Whole Foods saying, I can’t find the vegetables.”
But to think Cantlay doesn’t want to win the Ryder Cup is ludicrous. This is the guy who told his teammates at Whistling Straits, let’s step on their neck and score 20 points.
In any event, word spread quickly in the grandstands, and fans began taunting Cantlay, who was paired with American Wyndham Clark in a fourballs match against McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick. At the sixth green, fans shouted at Cantlay, “Show me the money,” and by the 16th they were waving their hats at the hatless wonder.
Spectators shake their hats and caps at Patrick Cantlay of Team United States (not pictured) on the 10th hole during the Saturday afternoon fourball matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on September 30, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
“I’ve never had so many standing ovations going to tee boxes and greens. I thought it was fantastic,” Cantlay said. “You know, I told Wyndham when we were going to the first tee today that we were going to use all the energy out there as fuel, and we did.”
“Y’all just don’t quit, do ya,” American Brian Harman said as Cantlay was bombarded with Hat-Gate questions during a press conference afterward. “We love each other, man. It’s been the most fun getting to hang out with these boys. Whatever happens tomorrow, I mean, love you boys.”
“Love you too, Harm,” Cantlay said.
“Think you’re putting too much into the hat,” Clark said.
“They said it on Twitter, though, so it has to be,” Harman quipped.
“If it’s on Twitter, it’s true. Verified,” Cantlay added.
Caddie, Joe LaCava waves his hat as he celebrates with Patrick Cantlay of Team United States on the 18th green during the Saturday afternoon fourball matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on September 30, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
But the hat-waving had one more unforeseen consequence on Saturday. Cantlay’s caddie, veteran Joe LaCava, who has worked for Fred Couples and Tiger Woods during a distinguished 30+-year career, had heard enough during the day and waved his hat around in celebration on the 18th green. It bothered McIlroy, who was lining up a putt to try to tie the match. Tensions flared. Things escalated quickly from getting chippy to getting personal and those words spilled over from the golf course to the parking lot with McIlroy needing to be restrained by Shane Lowry and helped into his courtesy car back to the team hotel. The Ryder Cup finally got interesting – all because of Cantlay playing without a hat.
“He might come out with a hat tomorrow with a big ol’ middle finger on it for all we know,” NBC’s Paul Azinger.
If all the Americans don’t come out Sunday and play hatless in unity with Cantlay, then what are we even doing here?
The final match of Saturday afternoon’s fourballs session got a bit heated on No. 18 after Patrick Cantlay drained what would become a match-winning birdie putt thanks to a few misses from Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick.
After European fans had been waving their hats in Cantlay’s direction all afternoon after reports surfaced that he’s not wearing a hat this week because he’s not being paid to be there, members of Team USA put their hats in the air when the putt dropped. Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, and Wyndham Clark’s caddie also put their hats in the air. Shane Lowry and LaCava later shared some words with each other.
McIlroy was caught on video in the parking lot yelling at Jim “Bones” MacKay about the situation.
