BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP
The European Ryder Cup team ambled into its post-match news conference like a dozen blokes picking out their favorite bar stools in their local pub. With three hours of liquid celebration already under their belts, some wobbled a bit as they walked. A couple pretended they couldn't hit their chairs on the first attempt.
They all looked like they'd been in similar circumstances many times -- often together -- waiting for last call in some corner of the itinerant golf world. They might as well have been a circus family or a vaudeville troupe. Frenchman Thomas Levet commandeered the proceedings from whatever golf functionary was nominally in charge of the normally formal affair.
European golfers Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, left, Thomas Levet of France, and captain Bernhard Langer of Germany walk off victorious.
(Jeff J. Mitchell -- Reuters)
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| _____ The 35th Ryder Cup _____
• Europeans close out United States with authority and style.
• Thomas Boswell: The Euros have more fun and, maybe as a result, win more recent Ryder Cups.
• Notebook: Davis Love III can't explain why the the U.S. team has struggled for a decade. _____ Basics _____
• Facts and figures
• Hole by hole at Oakland Hills
• U.S. player capsules
• European player capsules _____ Sunday's Results _____
Europe 18.5, United States 9.5 Singles: Europe 7.5, U.S. 4.5
• Tiger Woods, United States, def. Paul Casey, Europe, 3 and 2.
• Sergio Garcia, Europe, vs. Phil Mickelson, United States, 3 and 2.
• Davis Love III, United States, halved with Darren Clarke, Europe.
• Jim Furyk, United States, def. David Howell, Europe, 6 and 4.
• Lee Westwood, Europe, def. Kenny Perry, United States, 1 up.
• Colin Montgomerie, Europe, def. David Toms, United States, 1 up.
• Chad Campbell, United States, def. Luke Donald, Europe, 5 and 3.
• Chris DiMarco, United States, def. Miguel A. Jimenez, Europe, 1 up.
• Thomas Levet, Europe, def. Fred Funk, United States, 1 up.
• Ian Poulter, Europe, def. Chris Riley, United States, 3 and 2.
• Padraig Harrington, Europe, def. Jay Haas, United States, 1 up.
• Paul McGinley, Europe, def. Stewart Cink, United States, 3 and 2.
_____ Photos _____
• Day 3: Europe Completes Defense
• Day 2: U.S. Needs a Miracle
• Day 1: Americans Dig Deep Hole | | |
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"Sing us a song, Paul," Levet said in a perfect Brit accent. Then he began to sing, confidently, like a fellow who knows how to make his mates laugh after a few pints. "I'm so excited," he crooned, "and I just can't hide it."
One by one the Euros began introducing each other into their open microphones, pretending to conduct their own interviews.
"Now on the main stage, we have the Irish Monkey, Padraig Harrington," Levet said. "On the extreme radical left, we have the Mean Machine [Colin Montgomerie]. On the far right, we have The Midget [Paul McGinley]. Seated next to him is the fellow who lifts so many weights we just call him, 'Ahhhhnold.' [Paul Casey] "
"And, finally, here's the bad man himself, Mr. Trousers, Ian Poulter," Levet said.
And you wonder why the Europeans have captured seven of the last 10 Ryder Cups. The Americans have a corner on the world rankings but don't have nicknames for each other. They're so tight they sometimes refer to themselves in the third person.
"On our tour, we all travel together and spend a lot more time with each other, probably, than the Americans do. We tend to play for each other. And that's huge," said Montgomerie, the consummate European Ryder Cupper who gains magical skills once every two years. "And this week, what a team we were."
"We live for this," Sergio Garcia said.
The heroes of this European team, historic conquerors Sunday of a bludgeoned U.S. team of Tigers, Phils and III's, come from England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain and France, though their coach is German. They love cigars, peroxide in their spiked hair, and beer; but champagne, preferably sprayed rather than swallowed, is their favorite intoxicant.
They're drunk now, the lot of them. That's a promise. Either from joy or wine, probably both. As you read this, they're flying at 40,000 feet, probably aided by an airplane, though not necessarily.
"No one will sleep tonight," Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke said after his team had given America its worst beating -- by far -- in the Cup's 77 years, 18 1/2-9 1/2. "Our flight back home leaves at 5:35 a.m., and no one will sleep on that, either."
For non-golf addicts who lack a sense of what a nine-match margin of victory implies, it exactly equals the total margin of victory in the last seven Ryder Cups combined. In the Cup's first 57 years of existence, the United States lost only three matches, by a total of six points. So, these last three days roughly equal a century of revenge.
