EUROPE regained the Ryder Cup from the USA as star man Francesco Molinari became the first-ever European to win all five of his matches with a 4 and 2 victory over Phil Mickelson on Sunday.
Ian Poulter’s dramatic 2-up win against Dustin Johnson had sent Thomas Bjorn’s hosts to a guaranteed 14 points with Henrik Stenson 5-up on Bubba Watson with five to play, before Molinari finished the job.
“It’s been an incredible week,” said Molinari.
“It’s been a long week, playing five matches, but you know, again, I stepped it up when I had to and you know, that putt on 14 was great. Just amazing.”
Molinari, who became the first Italian to win a major championship in July’s Open at Carnoustie, said: “It means so much, more than majors, more than anything. It’s hard not to get emotional.”
team captain, Bjorn, added: “They have been amazing, the 12 of them, unbelievable. They were determined to set out and do the job themselves and for me it was an easy job to guide them in that direction.”
US captain Jim Furyk admitted his team had lost to the better side. “At the end of the day you have to tip your cap, they outplayed us this week and Thomas was the better captain,” Furyk said.
Jon Rahm had earlier dealt Tiger Woods a fourth loss of the Ryder Cup as Europe weathered an early fightback from the US at Le Golf National.
Spanish rookie Rahm won his first Ryder Cup point with a 2 and 1 victory over Woods, the American suffering just his second singles defeat in eight matches in the competition.
“To beat Tiger, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, on the Sunday, with a pivotal point, I was so aware of it, it’s the best feeling of my life,” said the 23-year-old Rahm.
Rahm’s triumph came after Thorbjorn Olesen, in the seventh match to tee off, powered to an impressive 5 and 4 win over the in-form Jordan Spieth to quell the US team’s momentum.
Jim Furyk’s men had pulled to within a point after claiming 3.5 points from the first four matches on Sunday, with Justin Thomas defeating Rory McIlroy 1-up in the opening clash.
A calamitous 18th hole for McIlroy saw the Northern Irishman find the bunker with his tee shot, as well as the water, as Thomas picked up his fourth point of the competition.
Paul Casey and Brooks Koepka halved the second match, while Webb Simpson beat Justin Rose 3 and 2 after carding six birdies to put away the Olympic champion on the Albatros course.
Tony Finau romped to a 6 and 4 win over fellow rookie Tommy Fleetwood, denying the Englishman the chance to become the first European to win five points from a possible five at the Ryder Cup.
Earlier, there was a glimmer of hope for the Americans when they closed to within a point midway through the afternoon, but some of their biggest names failed to come through.
Tiger Woods lost all four of his matches in France, capped by a 2-and-1 loss to 23-year-old Jon Rahm of Spain, the youngest player in the event.
A despondent Woods admitted that he “was a contributing factor” as to why the US surrendered the Ryder Cup to Europe, after losing all four of his matches at Le Golf National.
The 14-time major champion suffered only his second singles defeat in the match-play showdown with a 2 and 1 loss to Jon Rahm as Europe charged to victory.
His miserable Ryder Cup record now stands at 13 wins, 21 losses and three halves.
“It’s disappointing because I went 0-4, and that’s four points to the European team,” admitted Woods.
“I’m one of the contributing factors to why we lost the Cup, and it’s not a lot of fun.
“It’s frustrating because we came here, I thought we were all playing pretty well, and I just didn’t perform at the level that I had been playing, and just got behind early in the matches and never got back.”
The former world number one headed to Paris in high spirits after capping a magnificent comeback season from injury with his first title since 2013 at the Tour Championship last week.
But it all went badly wrong, losing twice in the fourballs alongside Patrick Reed and once in the foursomes with Bryson DeChambeau — all defeats coming at the hands of Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari.
Defeat means the US’s long run of failure on European soil in the biennial team competition goes on. The last time they won away was in 1993.
