Ryder Cup: Why has the US failed to win on European soil in 30 years?

Tom Watson won the Ryder Cup on European soil at The Belfry in 1993, a feat no American captain has achieved since.

Tiger Woods was still in high school and had won his third straight U.S. Junior Amateur title, Rory McIlroy sang into a plastic golf club in his parents’ living room, Greg Norman was the reigning Open champion and five members of the U.S. team this year weren’t even born yet.

To put it into better context, Manchester United had just won their first Premier League title, Bill Clinton had recently been appointed president and Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy.

That’s how long it’s been since the US last managed to win the Ryder Cup on European soil.

30 years. That’s not just any dry period. It’s a curse, one that spans a generation.

Watson, now 74 and making his second appearance as honorary starter in the Masters this year, was captain for the latest American conquest of Europe.

He rallied his experienced team to a 15-13 win over Europe at the Belfry in England.

Of his twelve players, only three were rookies: John Cook, Lee Janzen and Davis Love III.

The other nine players had a combined total of thirty Ryder Cup appearances. Captain’s picks Ray Floyd and Lanny Wadkins had each played in seven Ryder Cups.

Six players on that team, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Payne Stewart, Davis Love III, Floyd and Wadkins, have all since gone on to become World Golf Hall of Famers.

Europe had a one-point lead heading into Sunday’s singles and extended it by winning 3.5 points from the first five matches.

But the Americans rallied to win five games as Love secured victory by beating Costantino Rocca by one at the 18th in the seventh game.

So why hasn’t a team since been able to replicate their success?

There are many factors contributing to Europe’s success in keeping the Americans at bay on its own soil, and the most important is very much home field advantage.

Home advantage has been effective in recent years, with the exception of the Miracle of Medinah in 2012 – the last time a team pulled it off.

But it has proven especially beneficial for the Europeans, and that may be because they use it more strategically.

The DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, administers the Ryder Cup on the European side and insists the selected venue must also host an annual event on the DP World Tour.

The last European host venue, Le Golf National outside Paris, had been home to the French Open since 2002, while Gleneagles, Celtic Manor, the K Club and Valderrama had all been annual stops on the tour prior to their Ryder Cup years.

This year’s Marco Simone has hosted the Italian Open for the past three years, after its redesign was completed in 2021.

Two members of this year’s Ryder Cup team, Nicolai Hojgaard and Robert MacIntyre, won there in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Meanwhile, most American players tend to stick to the PGA Tour, with the exception this year of Brooks Koepka, who is the sole representative of LIV Golf, and who has little experience on the courses of the European circuit compared to their counterparts.

The PGA of America operates the U.S. Ryder Cup operation, but not the PGA Tour. And here lies one of the biggest differences between the two teams.

The PGA of America normally brings the tournament to major championship venues and recently partnered with courses to host both the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship.

The past six Ryder Cup venues in the United States – Hazeltine, Medinah, Valhalla, Oakland Hills, The Country Club and Oak Hill – have all been home to a major championship.

While the Americans will have experience in these majors, so do many Europeans.

“Their familiarity with their courses is not only good, it’s intimate,” Tom Lehman, who captained the K Club in Ireland in 2006, told Golf Digest. “They have put their Ryder Cup courses in their rotation on the European Tour years in advance.”

And that’s before the course is decorated with stands full of blue and yellow.

Both groups of fans appear to be in good spirits for their teams, but the Europeans undeniably do it in a special way.

Vocal renditions of ‘ole, ole, ole’ and the Icelandic thunder on the first tee create a unique bond between the multitude of nationalities that have represented the continent against an extremely patriotic country and in turn generate an electric atmosphere – one even the Americans themselves have admitted that they are struggling to replicate.

“They have a different way of doing it that is very unifying to their teams,” Watson told Golf Digest 30 years after his victory as captain.

“There’s all the singing and the coordinated support, and the European players are responding very positively to that. It’s a football mentality where the fans are all invested in their teams. But when you have Chelsea against Liverpool, you have two sides that are very partisan, but equally enthusiastic and offer the same support. The Ryder Cup isn’t like that; there is no right answer for our boys.”

Thanks to the home advantage, the team can also organize the course according to its own wishes.

For example, the Americans set up Hazeltine and Whistling Straits to their advantage with long, wide fairways for their bombers. Bryson DeChambeau’s 417-yard to cut the corner on the par-five fifth in Wisconsin, case and point.

Europe did the same at Le Golf National, but opted for narrow fairways that penalized wayward shots instead.

That European advantage is waning somewhat as Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and even Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton play more on the PGA Tour, either by pocket choice or by compulsion due to the tour’s stricter rules on playing designated events. .

The European style of play is also evolving due to their greater exposure to American ways, with long driving becoming a key part of the game.

For example, this year’s European team beats the US in average driving meters with 308.5 meters compared to 305.6 meters.

But it’s not just the course. The fact is that Europeans are also good at golf.

While they may not have dominated the world rankings as much as the US, they have produced some of the greatest Ryder Cup players in history.

The 1997 European team included Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie.

The 2002 team consisted of Montgomerie, Langer, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Westwood and Darren Clarke.

Not to mention Ian Poulter, the Postman and Mr. Ryder Cup itself, which has posted a record of 15-8-2 in seven appearances.

But with the changing of the guard in the European side and a strong squad in the tiring, hilly Marco Simone going his way, Zach Johnson is hopeful his ranks will ensure history does not repeat itself in the Eternal City.