Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker’s struggles continued in Sunday’s singles as they failed to take care of business down the stretch, allowing Europe to retain the Ryder Cup in shocking fashion.
“We’ll be disappointed for sure,” said Stricker, who lost the penultimate match to Martin Kaymer 1-up on Sunday. “But we’ll be alright.
“I am disappointed that I let 11 other players down and the captains. Tiger and I at the end there tried to get some points. And I didn’t. So that’s disappointing.”
Team USA appeared to be heading to another Ryder Cup victory on US soil as they took a commanding four-point lead, 10-6, into Sunday’s final singles round.
But Europe had other plans as they steamrolled the Americans on the final day outscoring them 8-1/2 to 3-1/2 at the Medinah Country Club to win 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 in the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history.
It all came down to the last two singles matches between Kaymer and Stricker followed by the anchor match between Woods and Francesco Molinari.
Kaymer made a clutch six-footer to save par on the 18th hole. Woods ended up halving his match with Molinari but it didn’t matter as the final outcome was determined on the green at 18 in the group just ahead of him.
“We’ll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and we’re resilient,” Stricker said. “As golfers you have got to be. It’s the nature of the game. I’ve been down in some depths before that you’ve just got to pick yourself up and play golf again.”
Woods and Stricker failed to earn a single point as playing partners in the team sessions on Friday and Saturday, going 0-3.
This marked the first time a US team has lost more than a two-point advantage on the final day since Ryder Cup competition began in 1927.
The Europeans shock win brings back memories of 1999 at Brookline, Massachusetts when the Americans overturned a 6-10 deficit to win by a solitary point.
Woods’ missed putt on 18 summed up the Americans’ struggles on Sunday. He flubbed a four-footer to save par and then conceded Molinari’s par putt to halve the hole to round out the scoring.
“I went 1-up at 17, and I asked Joey (caddie LaCava) what was going on down at 18. My responsibility was to be able to get my point,” Woods said. “And then they said that Europe has a chance to win on this hole, or retain the cup.
“Then after that all went down, my putt was useless. It was inconsequential. So I hit it too quick, and gave him his putt, and it was already over.”