The United States Golf Team defeated Europe by a score of 17-11 in the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine Golf Club in Minnesota on Sunday, October 2nd.

The United States, led by young, rising stars Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, and 2016 PGA Player of the Year, Dustin Johnson defeated Europe in an overwhelming victory.  These players played a crucial role in winning the Ryder Cup for the United States, especially Reed who won four of his five matches.

Golf is known for being a quiet and respectful sport.  Spectators are generally silent while the professionals are playing and they cheer for everyone, whether they like the golfer or not.  The players do not show much emotion after hitting a good shot, except for an occasional fist pump.  However, the Ryder Cup has a completely different atmosphere.  This year since the championship was held in the United States, fans were booing the Europeans and cheering on the Americans with a lot of enthusiasm.    The players were also much more emotional after hitting good shots, sometimes even jumping and yelling.  This different atmosphere brings in a lot more fans into the game of golf. “I don’t like the way the crowd acts, especially towards the Europeans.”

“I don’t like the way the crowd acts, especially towards the Europeans,” said Wayne Hills Golf Coach Mark DuBois.

In a normal golf tournament, each player is on their own and there is no team play.  Also, it is usually in stroke play format, where the lowest score wins and the golfer plays against the whole field. The Ryder Cup, however, is match play, where you only play against one or two players and the Ryder Cup is also played in teams,  the US versus Europe.  DuBois also said that he “likes team golf because it is similar to the high school golf format.”

“I like team golf because it is similar to the high school golf format,” also said DuBois

The first session of play took place on Friday morning, September 28th in the alternate shot format, in which the two players of each team took turns playing the shots.  Each team played eight of their twelve players, in teams of two.  The United States won all four matches and took an early four to zero lead in the Ryder Cup.

The second session on Friday was in four-ball format, in which both players on each team completed the hole and the best score on each team counts towards the match. Three European teams won their matches and the United States only won one match.  This tightened up the score, making it five to three in favor of the United States.  This was a confidence booster for the Unites States, who had the lead after losing the last three Ryder Cups.

The third session of play took place on the following Saturday morning, once again in alternate shot format, in which the Europeans continued their momentum from the previous afternoon.  Two matches were won by the Europeans, one by the Americans, and the last remained a tie.  The score after three rounds was six and one-half to five and one-half, the US still holding their narrow lead.

On Saturday afternoon, the last session of team play took place, also following the four-ball format.  The Americans further strengthened their lead.  The US won three of the four matches, while the Europeans were only able to win one.  This created a three-point lead for the US, nine and one-half to six and one-half going into the final round on Sunday.

Sunday’s format is different than the other days.  It is singles, so each of the 12 Americans plays a match against each of the 12 Europeans.  The US needed 14.5 points to win the cup, so the US needed to win five of the 12 matches in order to take home the Ryder Cup.  The United States won seven matches and tied one, allowing them to win the Ryder Cup by a score of 17-11.  Matt Moore, a Ryder Cup rookie, clinched the Ryder Cup victory for the United States after winning the 18th and final hole in his match.

United States team captain Davis Love III, said that he believed the United States had “the best golf team, maybe ever.”  The US team sure backed up his remarks by putting on one of the most impressive Ryder Cup performances ever.