Molinari makes history as Europe cruise to Ryder Cup victory

Europe won their fourth Ryder Cup in five years after defeating the USA on a score line of 17.5 to 10.5. In truth, it was comfortable for the Europeans in the end with star of the show, Francesco Molinari, winning five points out of five for Europe and in doing so, becoming the first man in the tournaments history to win five points.

It wasn’t all rosy in the gardens for the boys in blue however, as the USA took a 3-1 lead after the morning session on Day 1 with impressive displays from Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. Europe roared back in the afternoon though claiming all four foursome matches with the dream team of Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood, or ‘Moliwood’ as they’re now known, impressing.

Day two of the 42nd edition of the Ryder Cup, once again, saw the scales tipped in Europe’s favour with them taking a 5-3 win on the day. Moliwood cruised through their fourball and foursome matches while Paul Casey and Tyrell Hatton also put in a big display in their fourball session to defeat Johnson and Fowler. Rory McIlroy had a mixed opening couple of days with two wins to his name while Tiger Woods, recent PGA Tour Championship winner, endured a nightmare start with no points from four matches.

Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen

The singles on the final day is always a great sporting occasion and it was set up nicely for a possible USA comeback with Europe having a four-point lead heading into the day. Jim Furyk’s side flew out of the blocks however and halfway through the singles, the projected score read 14-14.

McIlroy was Europe’s opening man and he had to concede on the 18th taking five shots to reach the green as he managed to find a bunker then hit a water hazard. Justin Rose, world number two, was also out of sorts and was eventually beaten by Webb Simpson. Tommy Fleetwood was struggling without his partner in crime, Molinari, and put up a tame effort in losing to Tony Finau leaving the Americans with hope of a comeback.

However, Paul Casey led the Europeans back into it with a tie with Brooks Koepka before Spain’s John Rahm pulled off a fine victory against Tiger Woods. World number one, Dustin Johnson, was then defeated by the Postman, Ian Poulter, who added another great win to his impressive Ryder Cup CV. Europe were now flying and more wins were gained by Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and Sergio Garcia who went top of the leaderboard for most ever Cup points won with 25 and a half.

Francesco Molinari capped his five-star week with yet another win while Henrik Stenson cruised past Bubba Watson to keep the European train firmly on track. US Masters champion, Patrick Reed, managed to salvage some pride for the States by defeating Tyrell Hatton before Alex Noren holed an incredible 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th to defeat Bryson DeChambeau in a thrilling finale. A tremendous win for Team Europe.