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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, September 30, 2002

RYDER CUP
Europeans set the tone early

Longtime Maui resident Mark Rolfing, a TV golf analyst at the Ryder Cup, chronicled his observations of the final day for The Advertiser.

By Mark Rolfing
Special to The Advertiser

SUTTON COLDFIELD, England — This year's Ryder Cup was once again one of the most memorable ones. It shows that it has become one of the greatest events in all of sport and certainly in golf.

The Europeans clearly outplayed the Americans from the beginning on Friday, and their performance yesterday in singles play was astonishing.

Curtis Strange said before the matches that, on paper, yesterday's singles were really no match. Unfortunately for the Americans, they didn't play on paper — they played on a golf course. And they got whipped.

The captains of the two sides had completely different strategies. For Europe, Sam Torrance put out the best players first while Strange put his strongest last.

The European's strategy worked.

They built an early lead, got the crowd behind them, and that swell of emotion brought the level of play of their rookies at the end of the line up to a new level.

For Europe, Colin Montgomerie went out first. I was with that match, and think he played the best Ryder Cup match I've ever seen. He was 6-under through 14 holes, and demolished Scott Hoch, clearly setting the tone for the European team.

The real disappointment for the U.S. was that even though it lost the majority of the early matches, it still could have retained the Cup. The final four players, four of the best in the world — Jim Furyk, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods — did not win a single match among them.

Mickelson, the No. 2 player in the world, was thoroughly beaten by European Ryder Cup rookie Phillip Price.

All in all, it was a disappointing week for the veterans of the U.S. team.

Some of the Americans — particularly Love — were upset over Sergio Garcia's exuberance with the win, and thought his running out onto the 11th fairway after the Europeans clinched the Cup was uncalled for.

Even though Garcia lost his match to David Toms, he is now clearly the lifeblood of the European team, and will be for many years to come.

Paul Azinger was nearly the hero for the Americans when he holed the bunker shoot on the final hole to gain a tie with Niclas Fasth. But when rookie Paul McGinley made a very difficult 8-footer at the last hole to tie Furyk, it was over.

I think the win will be a real shot in the arm for European golf. But I also think the Americans will now look forward more than ever to the Ryder Cup in Detroit in two years.

I can't wait.