Rory McIlroy shed a tear as he watched Team USA celebrate their victory in the 2021 Ryder Cup. From September 29th to October 1st, 2023, McIlroy, the Northern Ireland Native, finally got his revenge by leading Team Europe to a dominant victory over a talented USA team. The Ryder Cup is one of the most anticipated golf events in the world. Every two years, a team of the best golfers from the USA and a team of the best golfers in Europe embark on a competition. This year’s USA team consisted of stars like Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Justin Thomas, and Jordan Spieth, among others. Team Europe boasted talent like Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, and Rory McIlroy.
This year’s cup ended with a final score of 16.5 to 11.5 in Europe’s favor. The American team was outpaced the entire Cup and showed very little fight.
Varsity golfer Jack Mazur ’25 said, “Max Homa was one of the only bright spots for Team USA.” Max Homa, despite the final result, had a very strong performance, including a chip-in to win a hole on day two. Other than Max, however, Team USA was rather pathetic and did not seem to care nearly as much as Team Europe. “The European team was better prepared and seemed to care more,” said Jack Mazur ’25.
This year’s Cup also contained some drama as hostilities between the two teams grew as the days passed. There was an incident between McIlroy and the caddie of Scottie Scheffler in which the caddie waived his hat in McIlroy’s face ahead of a putt, which resulted in the golfer releasing a verbal barrage at Scheffler and his caddie. Later in the cup, Team USA waved their caps to the fans after Patrick Cantlay won his match as a retort to McIlroy and Team Europe.
Despite the final result, the tournament was still fascinating and a few sparks from Team USA such as a Max Homa chip-in and a long, round-winning Patrick Cantlay putt kept things intriguing and fun to watch. It is clear that Team USA has some work to do before the next Ryder Cup in 2025 in New York but, nonetheless, this year’s Cup was an enjoyable one.
