This year’s Ryder Cup 2023 was over before the event barely started with the Americans schneider Friday morning, and ended abruptly, with Ricky Fowler’s surprising “No Mas” with four matches still competing.

By the time the American audience awoke to an early breakfast Friday morning, the fate of the American team was already decided after a 4-0 loss in the foursomes.

The true believers who set their alarms again Saturday morning hoping for an American turnaround, went back to bed shortly after tuning in.

They would have pulled the covers over their heads after Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka suffered a 9&7 dismantling at the hands of Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg.

Patrick Cantlay’s bizarre hat controversy, rumors of his pay for play demands and his gritty three birdies on the last three holes on Saturday afternoon gave hope again.

It also fuelled an Italian style – no punches thrown – rumble in the parking lot that provided the kind of drama we all had hoped for on the golf course.

Where The 2023 Ryder Cup Was Won & Lost

The American teams, present and past, consistently fail miserably when it comes to team pairings that require collaboration and trust. Not a trait we associate with American gritty individualism.

There was some early hope for a dramatic comeback in the individual pairings on Sunday that would have broken the previous record for comebacks.

But other than a few brief moments of sad delirium, the comeback didn’t materialize as Europe won 16.5-11.5.

Ricky Fowler’s controversial concession to Tommy Fleetwood was a merciful end for the US viewers, exhausted by the early waking hours only to watch the inevitable painful outcome for the overmatched Americans.

The result further confirmed that golf, much like tennis, has become an international game.

The Americans will be able to weigh in at the difficult and challenging Bethpage in the 2025 Ryder Cup. An iconic American venue, there’ll be no excuses if they disappoint there.