Tiger Woods: Tiger Woods was back doing what he does best, playing his own golf ball, and on a humiliating final day for the Tom Lehman's charges, his ability to put red on a board which was a sea of blue was one of the very few high points for the Americans.
Yet again, Woods, like all of the American team, displayed an inability to adapt to a team environment and battle it out in a matchplay situation. But peel it back to the raw principles of the game - putting the ball in the hole in the least shots possible - and Woods positively revels in the challenge. Things change when it's out of his control and he has to rely or be relied on.
It's wrong to say Woods doesn't play matchplay well. A quick glance at the history books reveals the 30-year-old has won numerous matchplay titles, right from his three consecutive US Amateur wins through to his back-to-back WGC World Matchplay wins in 2003-4. Woods remained philosophical despite being on another losing Ryder Cup team.
"When you boil it down to just 18 holes matchplay, and especially when you have partners involved, you quickly realise anything can happen. The Europeans just seem to feed off one another and they made more putts than we did," said the world number one, who finished top American points scorer with three out of five.
Yesterday, Woods always had the measure of Robert Karlsson and eventually put the tall Swede out of his misery (3 and 2) at the 16th when the rookie landed his approach to the risk-reward par five in the water for the third time this the week.
Even though Karlsson landed the first punch by holing a 25-footer for birdie and a win on the opening hole, it quickly became "as you were" as Woods reeled off three birdies in the next four holes to redress the balance.
Just as when he won the British Open at Hoylake this year, you got the sense the 12-times major winner always had an extra gear should his opponent have the audacity to make a charge.
During the round Woods lost his nine-iron when his caddy Steve Williams slipped and the club dropped in the water-hazard by the seventh green. "That was interesting," joked Woods.
"I handed my ball to Stevie to have it cleaned and he was going to rinse the nine-iron in the water. He sure did that all right! He slipped on the rock and it was either him or the iron, so he chose the nine-iron," added Woods who saw the funny side of it but only got the club back at the 15th hole.
Amid the European dominance only Woods and the two wild-card picks, Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank, were able to register final-day wins for the Americans.
The paths of Woods and Cink crossed when the latter was walking off the 13th tee, having just drained a monster 60-foot putt at the par-three 12th to keep Sergio Garcia at bay. Woods was walking in the opposite direction up the 11th but made sure he got eye contact with his team-mate to give him the thumbs up through the gap in the trees.
Moments beforehand basketball legend Michael Jordan was following his golfing idol from the ninth green to the 10th tee. Through the muddy passageway Woods's cigar-chomping buddy was dishing out high fives to the adoring masses - well, low five in most cases. Onlookers witnessed two legends for the price of one.
