After a convincing victory at the 2016 Ryder Cup, the Americans brimmed with confidence heading to Paris to defend their title. Armed with a team stacked with top talent, captain Jim Furyk and co. arrived at Le Golf National looking to win on European soil for the first time since 1993. Instead, they left beaten and battered — again — extending their poor luck across the pond.
“The Ryder Cup is The Ryder Cup, and our team just wanted it so much this week,” said Euro captain Thomas Bjørn. “That’s why they went out and did what they did.”
What they did was administer a thorough beating to the heavily favored Americans. Although many were picking the red, white and blue heading into the week, when the 28 matches were complete, the scoreboard showed a blowout for the Europeans as they won 17.5-10.5.
Francesco Molinari was the MVP for Team Europe, finishing the week with a sparkling 5-0-0 record in his third Ryder Cup appearance. Molinari teamed up with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood to go 4-0 in team play before taking down Phil Mickelson in his Sunday singles match to clinch the Cup for Team Europe.
“I can’t describe it,” Molinari said. “I couldn’t even dream of a summer like this.”
Check out highlights from the final day of the 2018 Ryder Cup below.