Ryder Cup - Day 3 Review

Well, one of highest ever quality Ryder Cups is over and the US have deservedly won it with their biggest margin of victory since Walton Heath in 1981. The contest was much closer than the final scoreline suggests with the margin of victory at least partly due to Faldo's stupid gamble with the playing order. The reservations with this turned out to be well founded as his bottom loaded playing order backfired on him. The match was over by the time most of his top performers were coming down the stretch. Why he didn't move at least one of them further up the order to bolster the middle section I'll never know. They said the crowd was the US team's 13th man, but I'm not sure if it wasn't Faldo!

Still, take nothing away from the Americans who played superbly. Kim, Perry and Weekley were brilliant yesterday and the rest of the team weren't too shabby either! On the European side, Ian Poulter more than justified his wildcard pick, claiming four out of five points in a super performance to silence the critics. Graeme McDowell also played brilliantly and Robert Karlsson brought his fine form to the event. Unfortunately, two of Europe's biggest guns, Harrington and Garcia failed to sparkle and Westwood seemed to spend most of the week whinging about one thing or another. Despite his travails with the crowd, the match appeared to be played in the right spirit and featured a feast of fine golf.

Let's hope that under a less inept captain we can claim back the cup in two year's time in Wales.