SponsorRL2023 – Syndication Server

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.

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/JGRH7YoBLH5_irLuYq4-/1696198358368_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0iampkdmVzYnhsZnh1ZXRjaWd2cHdzNHNtb3ZteGNuYm4iIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNyI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

ROME – When it became a foregone conclusion that the European team had clinched the 44^thRyder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rory McIlroy went galloping down the 18^thfairway 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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

Victorious in Rome 🏆 🇪🇺 @Rolex | #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/v8mubTNvHC

— Ryder Cup (@rydercup) October 1, 2023

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.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=451201133]

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.

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.

[pickup_prop id=”34810″]

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.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=451202732]

Europe inches closer to winning 2023 Ryder Cup, but U.S. wins Saturday fourballs session to maintain glimmer of hope

The Americans have some work to do Sunday to retain the Cup.

ROME – For the first time at the 44^th Ryder Cup, the U.S. won a session at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/EmHc64oBLH5_irLut5dX/1696174265541_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0iaXZ3dXF5endncnh1ZXRjaWd2cHdzNHNtb3YyZGt6Y3kiIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNyI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

After winning the Saturday afternoon fourballs 3-1, the U.S. trails 10 ½ to 5 ½ and will need to erase the largest deficit in Ryder Cup history if it is going to retain the Cup.

But we’re saying there’s a chance, especially after Patrick Cantlay birdied the final two holes, including a 30-foot birdie putt at 18, to flip his match.

“Hopefully have a ray of light and we can build on this session and try and pull off a big victory tomorrow,” Cantlay said.

Two years ago, the U.S. led 11-5 at Whistling Straits before cruising to a 19-9 victory. No team has rallied from more than a 10-6 deficit, but the U.S. only needs to reach 14 points to retain the Cup. In both 1999 and 2012, the winning side earned 8 ½ points in Sunday singles.

The U.S. showed some life winning the first two matches, but the Euros bounced back to win the third match and inch closer to extending the U.S. losing streak on European soil, which dates to 1993. It looked as if it would be a split of the session. That is until Cantlay’s heroics.

“Feels like we have momentum and we go kind of into the locker room laughing a little bit which just feels good,” Max Homa said.

Here’s a recap of all four matches.

Ryder Cup: Tournament hub | Photos | Fans

2023 Ryder Cup: Check out U.S. Ryder Cup Team merchandise from Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren is bringing elegance and style to Rome as the 2023 Ryder Cup official uniform provider for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/tNIR54oB6a832FGHo2zj/1696094197736_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0ib3JoZXN1cnZncnh1ZW50YmhhenRlcnNoamJ4dGU2dGsiIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNyI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

Since 2014, Ralph Lauren has been the official uniform provider for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team as well as the caddies, spouses and partners.

This tradition has been continued at the highly anticipated 2023 Ryder Cup at the picturesque Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome, Italy. Spectators and attendees can purchase RL items in the merchandise tent to show their support for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team.

This partnership marks a convergence of timeless elegance and athletic prowess, as Ralph Lauren’s iconic designs will grace a great group of athletes and supporters.

Focusing on performance fabrics, each piece is designed to move. Ralph Lauren has added subtle Ryder Cup specific touches to collars, trims, zippers and more.

Golfweek’s Averee Dovsek had a chance to see the collection first hand and gave fans at home the full rundown.

If you couldn’t make it to Rome to catch all the live action, you can shop the Ryder Cup collection at home at ralphlauren.com.

Europe’s Big Three deliver, Luke Donald makes the right calls among 5 things to know about Day One at the Ryder Cup

The City of Eternal Light may not have been built in a day, but the 2023 Ryder Cup may have been lost in one.

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/q1Y35ooBLH5_irLuUbyX/1696079625555_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0ib2V5dnNtenZuNXh1ZXRjaWd2cHdzNHNtb3Zrd2U2a3kiIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNyI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

ROME – The City of Eternal Light may not have been built in one day, but the Ryder Cup in Rome may have been lost in one after Team Europe jumped out to a 6 ½ – 1 ½ lead over the Americans.

It equals the biggest day one lead in Ryder Cup history (1975 and 2004) and marked the first time in history that the United States have failed to win a single match in a Ryder Cup matchday.

It was a dominant performance by the Euros, who lead after the first session for the first time since 2006. In fact, it was a clean sweep and the U.S. didn’t hold a lead in any match until Justin Thomas made a birdie on the sixth hole in the first match of the afternoon session.

Here are four more things to know from Day One of the 44^th Ryder Cup.