The US never recovers from horrible first day in losing another Ryder Cup on European soil

ROME — Tommy Fleetwood picked up his golf ball on the 16th green, setting off a wild celebration Sunday at Marco Simone Golf Club.

Anticlimactic? Sure. Four pairings remained on the course, even Fleetwood's, who needed one more hole to close out Rickie Fowler. But Fowler conceding that 2-foot, 8-inch putt on No. 16 guaranteed at least a tie in the match, which was all Europe needed at the time to win the Ryder Cup and redeem itself after an embarrassing performance two years ago at Whistling Straits.

In the end, Europe's 16.5-11.5 victory was not quite the blowout it appeared we were headed for after Friday, but it does not matter. Because from Italy to Ireland, from Scotland to Sweden, an entire continent is celebrating the home team's 10th Ryder Cup victory in 14 years.

Looking back, perhaps this result should not be surprising. Not only did the entire European team use the DP World Tour event at Wentworth two weeks earlier as a warmup - seven of the 12 finishing in the top 10 - but they were the home team.

And it's well documented what home soil and the energy of a home crowd means at the Ryder. Not only has the home team now won 11 of the last 13 Ryder Cups, but the last time the U.S. won in Europe, Justin Thomas was in diapers.

Now, that drought will be 37 years for the Americans when the event is next staged in Europe in 2027. Europe's Rory McIlroy already started the trash talking for the next Ryder Cup in 2025 at Bethpage Black in New York.

"I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup," the Jupiter resident said as the Europeans were drinking champagne.

"And that's what we're going to do at Bethpage."

US makes no excuses but long layoff a factor

The U.S. is not making excuses, acknowledging it ran into a buzz saw. But it certainly could not have helped that nine players had not competed in more than a month, or since the final day of the Tour Championship. Only Thomas, Max Homa and Jupiter's Brooks Koepka had played since.

That has been floated as a reason for its dreadful start in which the U.S. fell behind 6.5-1.5 on Friday, going winless in a single day for the first time in Ryder Cup history.

"Hard to say," Jordan Spieth said. "It's kind of a hypothetical. Clearly our start Friday, the entire day Friday, was not what we were looking to do. And it's really hard to come back on an away game when you fall so far behind.

"If you asked us when we would like to play the Ryder Cup relative to our schedule, I think we would probably say, give us a week after the Tour Championship or two weeks after and then go, instead of five."

Although U.S. captain Zach Johnson said Sunday "there's something to be said about rest and recovering and getting your game in a position where you can go compete," he believed a tune-up was needed. So he took the team to Italy a few weeks before the event.

Even though to a man they said it helped, everyone was thinking what Thomas said Sunday: "Obviously didn't show."

More: Emotional day at Ryder Cup with U.S. team tipping caps to Patrick Cantlay, taunting European fans

Johnson might be second guessed, and rightfully so, for a couple of his captains picks or his early pairings, or even his inability to inspire his team. But he cannot be blamed for his stars coming out as if this were a practice round at the Medalist.

Best buds Spieth and Thomas were 7-1-0 in Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups entering the week and went winless in Rome, going 0-1-2. Thomas at least won his singles match against Sepp Straka on Sunday. Spieth blew a 3-up lead to Shane Lowry Sunday and halved his match.

Koepka and Scottie Scheffler were embarrassed by Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg in Saturday's foursomes match, losing by the most lopsided score in Ryder Cup history, 9 and 7. Scheffler, the world's top ranked golfer, also finished winless with two ties and two losses in four matches.

"I felt like I was letting these guys down," Scheffler said.

Brooks Koepka wins, now 3-0-1 in Ryder Cup singles matches

Koepka recovered in his singles match, never trailing Aberg in a 3 and 2 win, to remain unbeaten in Ryder Cup singles matches. He is 3-0-1.

The most successful pairing was the one that included two Ryder Cup rookies, Homa and Brian Harman. They were responsible for the team's first full point, winning their foursomes match early Saturday, and then came back to win the four-ball match later that day.

Homa then defeated Matt Fitzpatrick in singles Sunday, the only player to win three matches.

But in the end, this was a team beaten by an inspired group of Europeans. They seized the momentum and, except for a brief time Sunday when the U.S. got back to within four points, kept their foot on the gas.

"It was the perfect storm," Spieth said. "They chipped in a lot. They holed a lot of putts from over 10 feet this week.

"They played as good golf individually as I remember watching all of them this year."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Team Europe outplays US from start to dominate and win Ryder Cup