Europe has won the Ryder Cup at Bethpage after a Sunday much more agonising than even the most die-hard pessimist could have imagined. They entered the singles with a total of 12 points secured, including half a point due to Viktor Hovland‘s injury, and it took blood, sweat, and tears to add the remaining two points to secure the Ryder Cup for another two years. The struggle was so intense that it wasn’t achieved until Shane Lowry, the eighth match of the day, came through.
This unusual Sunday at Bethpage has set several records, some of them quite curious. None of the expected ones, such as the biggest European victory away from home or the greatest comeback ever seen in this competition. Not at all. The event took a stranger turn.
For instance, Europe scored 3.5 points this Sunday, five of which came from ties. In other words, they only won one of the twelve singles matches. The hero was Ludvig Aberg. The Swede defeated Patrick Cantlay 2&1. Never since 1979, the first year Europe competed as such in the Ryder Cup, had only one match been won, whether by the United States or Europe, in the singles. The lowest number was two. The Americans held this dubious honour. It was in 2002 at The Belfry, and the only two who won were Scott Verplank and David Toms.
Moreover, if we look at the complete history of the Ryder Cup, that is, including the period between 1927 and 1977 when the United States faced only the islands, there was never a singles day with zero victories by either team. It should be noted that the format was different. During the early years, only eight singles were played on the final day, and later it changed to 16, with a double session of eight matches in the morning and afternoon. What did occur during that long 50-year period was that only one victory was achieved in the singles. In this regard, Ludvig Aberg has joined the club where Percy Aliss (1935), Sam King (1947), Arthur Less (1951), and Eric Brown (1959) were already members. Aberg, therefore, has become the fifth player in Ryder Cup history to be the only one to win his singles match on the final day.
Similarly, since 1979, this Sunday at Bethpage has equalled the largest points difference between two teams. The 8.5 to 3.5 with which the United States defeated Europe in the singles matches equals the existing record in this format. This same result was repeated in 1979, in favour of the United States, 1999, also in favour of the United States, and 2006 and 2012 in favour of Europe. In other words, it is the biggest singles thrashing of Europe by the United States this century.
On the other hand, the club of European players who have won the Ryder Cup away from home has grown exponentially. To the 37 who were already in the history books, ten more have joined: Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Rasmus Hojgaard, and Robert MacIntyre. The only ones from this team who had already achieved this were Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, both in Medinah 2012, with José María Olazábal as captain.
