Ryder Cup 2010 Results: Where Did the U.S. Go Wrong?
The 2010 Ryder Cup took on a very unique angle.
Tiger Woods' comeback, while it could have been the sole talk of the competition, was just a good side story to the competition between Europe and the United States of America. In fact, for once in the last year of Woods' life, golf was the primary media focus and it nearly worked to fruition this past weekend.
The Ryder Cup has been dominated by Europe in the past, but this year, the U.S. came up just shy of victory. Despite all-around solid performances from Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Rickie Fowler, the U.S. fell victim to a better European group.
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No one American is to blame, but with hindsight always being 20/20, captain Corey Pavin appears to be under the microscope.
Team USA was unable to use the slick weather conditions to any advantage in the early going. This ultimately caught up with them in the later rounds as Europe capitalized en route to another victory in the series. This clearly worked to Europe's advantage and made them the better team throughout, if not on paper at least on the course.
Once again, referring back to Pavin, the game was just better managed by European captain Colin Montgomerie. He had his team better prepared and with Pavin unwilling to conform with the changes that had occurred due to the weather and his team's play, Europe was able to willfully defeat the U.S.
Perhaps no U.S. golfer performed worse than Stewart Cink. Cink did not come through in the defining moments of the Ryder Cup and no one else really stepped up in the clutch either. This was a heart-wrenching loss that was very closely contested and well-played, though in the end Europe proved its superiority. Cink wasn't the only American that didn't show up throughout the tourney.
A more complete team effort just might have gotten the job done, but we will never know. Also, captain Pavin didn't seem to take his team's play to heart as the emotionless captain was left defeated earlier this morning amidst a mass European celebration.
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