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Winners and losers from an incredible Ryder Cup weekend
The Ryder Cup is over, our biennial reminder that team golf is the best type of golf. For three days in Chaska, Minnesota, the 12 Americans chosen to represent the United States and attempt to finally break the chokehold the Europeans had on this event were incredible, hitting the shots and making the crucial putts that haven’t really dropped since 2008.
Friday morning was incredible, Saturday afternoon was insane, and sprinkled in were moments we won’t soon forget. So who ended up a big winner from this great Ryder Cup week, and who will leave Hazeltine a bit disappointed in the way everything went down?
We dive deep with our winners and losers from the 2016 Ryder Cup.
Winners
Patrick Reed — What more can you say about this kid that should forever be known as Captain America? He was as clutch as any American has ever been in these matches, carrying the face of American golf on his back late on Saturday as he dismantled the best European team Darren Clarke could toss out in Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, and was then asked to take on the hottest golfer on the planet in the opening match on Sunday. What did he do against Rory McIlroy? Oh nothing, besides match the most fired-up person on the European side shot for shot, emotion for emotion, until Rory ran out of gas and Patrick was just tossing it into fourth gear.
Reed is a special type of player in this generation of logos, appearance fees and self-importance. He would rather win a Ryder Cup match than another million dollars on Tour. He carries around his USA yardage book for a full year in between these team matches, and is exactly the counter that Team USA needed in an Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and now Rory world.
Reed is the Ryder Cup. He’s exactly what this event is about. He’s loud, he’s excitable, he’s emotional and he’s locked in. Ten years ago it sure didn’t seem like we’d ever have a guy like Reed to represent the United States. Now he’s the face of this team going forward.
Thomas Pieters — The 24-year-old has tons of talent, but few knew much about him outside of his near-bronze medal performance at the Olympics.
But Pieters was a perfect compliment to a locked-in Rory McIlroy after that opening match, going 3-0-0 as a partner to Rory and then winning his singles match on Sunday thanks to a seven-birdie performance against J.B. Holmes.
The European team isn’t exactly trending young. When you look at their superstars, it’s a lot of guys in their late 30s and early 40s, so it has to be a breath of fresh air, even in defeat, to have another young stud that can produce in these moments (especially on enemy territory) that isn’t named Rory McIlroy.
Pieters was electric this week, and made enormous putt after enormous putt, sometimes when his partner was out of the hole.
Sergio Garcia versus Phil Mickelson on Sunday — The talk early was about Reed-Rory, but the real match of this Ryder Cup was two veterans of this event exchanging birdie after inevitable birdie.
Sergio becomes a different person in these Ryder Cup matches. The putting stroke looks solid and yip-free, the confidence pours out of him as each hole goes on, and unlike a lot of times at major championships, when he has a big putt, you almost know it’s going right in the middle.
These two combined to make 19 birdies on Sunday, including four in a row by Sergio to save a half point for the Europeans. When Phil calmly rolled in a lengthy birdie putt on the 18th green that looked like he would finally shake free of Garcia, Sergio rolled his in as well, fist-pumping as he should have after such an intense match.
Sergio-Phil on Sunday was exactly what makes this stuff so exciting. One guy was red-hot, and the other had to get to that level.
What a match.
Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker — Everyone knew that Koepka had a ton of talent, but he hadn’t been able to show it on a national stage quite like this. Given the opportunity, Koepka was incredible, winning three huge points for the Americans including a steamrolling of Masters champion Danny Willett on Sunday.
The two were a perfect compliment to each other, winning two matches before Davis Love III inexplicably sat Snedeker during the Saturday afternoon matches and replaced him with Dustin Johnson, the lone loss for Koepka all week.
But when the two did go out together, it was simple; Koepka bombs it around Hazeltine, and Snedeker makes the putts. Sometimes this whole process isn’t worth overthinking. Find two guys that enjoy each other, that have complimenting abilities, and let them loose.
Snedeker and Koepka were locked in all week, and Snedeker’s reactions were exactly what this Ryder Cup is all about.
Bubba Watson — If any other top-10 player in the world had been left off one of these teams, they’d be as far from Minnesota as possible. Bubba bucked up, accepted an assistant captain position from Davis Love III, and was a huge part of the support system that helps these players compete and win.
Bubba was emotional after the win, gave an incredible interview to NBC where he mentioned this moment was the biggest in his career (over the two Masters victories!), and won over a lot of fans that have soured to Watson the last few years.
Rafa Cabrera Bello — Just when it looked like Jordan Spieth and Reed would win another point for the Americans early on Saturday, Bello and Garcia stepped up in alternate shot, making huge birdies on the 16th and 17th to square the match, eventually gaining half a point for the Europeans over the best American team that Love had.
Bello was comfortable, and looked like he absolutely loved playing alongside Garcia, which makes the decision by Clarke to sit him in the afternoon and replace him with Martin Kaymer all the more confusing.
Bello was great in singles on Sunday against Jimmy Walker, winning that match 3&2, and was one of the bright spots for Europe coming out of Hazeltine.
Phil Mickelson — Two years ago Phil sat in front of the media and called out his captain, called out the system and basically called for a change in how the Ryder Cup process worked. People thought he was being rude, thought it was inappropriate timing, and rolled their eyes as the “task force” was brought to life.
Two years later and Phil is the toast of the town. Not only did he step up big in his matches (we already hit on his incredible singles performance, but Phil was able to win with a struggling Rickie Fowler and an up-and-down Matt Kuchar in the team portion, losing only to that red-hot European team of McIlroy and Pieters), but he helped convince these guys that this was their Ryder Cup to win.
Golf — Tell me this, if an 8-year-old was watching the action on Sunday, would he have not thought golf was absolutely the coolest? I think so. These three days were huge for the sport of golf and growing the game.
Losers
Martin Kaymer — Kaymer continues to be one of the most confusing great golfers of this generation, looking absolutely unbeatable at times and absolutely horrid others. He was barely any help in the team format, losing all three of his matches, and just eked out a win against Matt Kuchar on Sunday when the Cup had already been decided.
Kaymer has two major wins, a Players Championship trophy, and was huge in the comeback victory at Medinah, but one of the captain’s picks was putrid early on for the Europeans, being very little help as the Americans got the early lead and maintained it through Sunday.
Lee Westwood — When the Europeans made that epic comeback at Medinah, putt after putt kept dropping from all over, basically the complete opposite of what happened with Westwood on Saturday evening.
It was painful to watch, really, those missed putts on 17 and 18 for Westwood, who has been such a stalwart for Team Europe over the years. The one on 17 wasn’t easy, but the putt on 18 was so short some thought it might even be conceded. It wasn’t, Westwood shoved it horribly to the right, and that absolutely crucial half point was off the board for Europe.
On Sunday, Westwood did bounce back early, making the turn in 2-under, but a big comeback for Ryan Moore (eagle on 16, birdie on 17) squared the match, and Westwood once again struggled on the 18th, making a bogey to lose the match and the Cup for Europe.
Jordan Spieth — It wasn’t the best of weeks for Jordan Spieth, who struggled with his game for most of these matches while playing alongside the fire emoji that was Patrick Reed. Spieth mustered just two birdies in his Friday four-ball match that he and Reed lost 5&4 to Rose and Stenson, and was barely a factor on Saturday afternoon as Reed carried the team to a 2&1 win over those same Europeans.
Maybe the biggest issue with Spieth came on Saturday morning, when the Americans were 4-up with six holes to play against Garcia and Bello. Spieth made an absolutely horrible decision on the 15th when he tried a hero shot over the lake, and despite an almost perfectly struck putt on the 17th that would have put all the pressure on Bello, didn’t see that one fall either — two decisions that factored greatly in Europe's comeback in that match.
On Sunday he got beat by Stenson, who was 8-under over just 16 holes, taking Spieth’s singles record in the Ryder Cup and President Cup to a shocking 0-4-0.
Spieth is the perfect partner for Reed, and if he had played like he normally does, this team wouldn’t have lost a single full point.
The fans (mainly, the ridiculous ones) — I get being passionate for your country. I get wanting to yell and cheer and build up your guys. But screaming obscenities at players and barking in their backswings isn’t what golf is about. It makes you look like a fool and makes Americans look exactly like Danny Willett’s brother said we would.
It was a small percentage of the fans who were causing problems, sure, but it got a bit out of hand on Saturday. Hopefully in four years there is a better policy for patrolling the grounds and sending these fans out of the gate if they act up.
