Five things we learned from the 2023 Ryder Cup: Is it time to level the playing field?

Rory has his best Ryder Cup, two years after his worst one

You would be hard pressed to pick a best player in the Ryder Cup between the top three Europeans in the world rankings – who also topped the strokes gained stats for the week – Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland. No pin was safe from Rahm’s piercing irons, while Hovland continued the form that saw him win the Tour Championship last month. But McIlroy had the most to prove having been reduced to tears as Europe were well beaten by the USA in Whistling Straits in 2021.

Registering just one point from four matches there, McIlroy turned it around this time to top score in the event with four points from five matches. His partnership with Tommy Fleetwood in the foursomes was formidable, as they shot five under in the alternate shot format on Saturday morning. The incident with Patrick Cantlay’s caddie Joe LaCava on the 18th green on Saturday evening “added fuel to the fire” for Sunday, according to McIlroy. There is arguably no better player in the world when that fire is sparked. Sam Burns had no chance in the singles as McIlroy played the best golf of any player in all 12 matches to dispatch the American 3&1.

Social media has an impact on live proceedings

On Saturday morning with the US team at its lowest ebb following the 9&7 loss for Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka in foursomes, Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir sent a tweet alleging there was a fracture in the United States team room, led by Patrick Cantlay and that him not wearing a hat was due to a protest over payment (or lack thereof) for the Ryder Cup. The Northern Irish journalist’s tweet went viral on social media, racking up 7.9 million impressions.

Given the nature of attending a golf tournament – many of the people there will be on their phones checking scores on apps or social media – word quickly filtered to the course. It led to the European fans raising their hats and chanting “hats off for your bank account” when Cantlay played a tightly-contested fourball match with Wyndham Clark against McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick. Now with a chip on his shoulder, Cantlay birdied the last three holes to win the match, including a 40-foot putt at the last. The US team all raised their hats in celebration, leading to his caddie Joe LaCava getting carried away and obstructing McIlroy’s putt to tie the match. That spat continued to the car park, and the rest is history, all largely sparked by a tweet which Zach Johnson called “irresponsible”.

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USA come in undercooked for the Ryder Cup

The United States’ record in foursomes away from home is a problem and Europe captain Luke Donald smartly switched the opening matches to that format in the hope that Europe would gain momentum. However, even Donald must have been surprised at just how bad the US team were in that opening session. Not only did Europe win all four matches, they were never even behind. The Americans grew into the event and won the final fourballs on Saturday 3-1, and matched the Europeans in the singles. When looking for reasons for the slow start, it is hard to ignore that the majority of players did not play a competitive event since the Tour Championship ended the PGA Tour season at the end of August.

Jordan Spieth said if he could choose, the Ryder Cup would be “a week or two after the Tour Championship and not five”. It ignores the fact he would have received an invitation to the DP World Tour’s flagship at Wentworth two weeks before the event on European soil, while Spieth would also have been more than welcome at the K Club a week earlier for the Irish Open. In Spieth’s case, he had a newborn baby to contend with, but that was not the case for all. As Paul McGinley said: “Would they go into majors like that? If you really want to prepare for the heat of battle – not having competed for four weeks, that is a risk.”

Shane Lowry is Europe’s hype man

It was a week to remember for Shane Lowry in Rome, if a fairly ho-hum event on the course with one win, one half and one loss. Lowry seemed to be everywhere on the course giving it socks, geeing up the crowd with fist pumps, and rising the crowd to greater roars. He was always in the centre of the action, even if he wasn’t playing, from jumping up and down in the background as Hovland earned a key half point on Friday evening, to acting like Rory’s bodyguard in the car park spat.

Earlier in his singles match against Spieth, Lowry holed a 5-footer to bring the match back to 2 down. He reacted like a man who had scored the winner for Offaly in the All-Ireland final. It fuelled Lowry to tie the match with Spieth and had Fleetwood not come through with the winning point, Lowry would have ended up being the one to clinch it for Europe. “This is a dream come true for me,” Lowry said. Nobody seemed to enjoy this week more than Lowry and we can safely say nobody will celebrate more than him.

Home advantage is too strong for close matches - time to level the playing field

The Americans were not best pleased with some of the behaviour from the crowds at Marco Simone Country Club and with the next Ryder Cup coming up at the notoriously raucous Bethpage Black in New York, expect the American fans to give the European team a hard time. As good as Europe were this week, you have to consider them underdogs for that event already, given how much of an advantage being at home has proven to be.

In the past nine Ryder Cups, the away team has only won once, and it was a comeback for the ages in Medinah in 2012. Otherwise, only the 2010 Ryder Cup in that time has been truly close. How to bridge that gap and create closer matches has no easy solution, but since analytics have been more actively used by both teams, the ability of the home captain to choose the course set-up to suit the skills of their players has given the home team an extra advantage on top of three days of fans cheering on their every shot. Perhaps the organisers could consider the set-up being allocated to a neutral party, or even the away team, to help level the scores.