Thomas Bjorn will sport a new embellishment as a result of a forfeit to his European team that won the Ryder Cup – a tattoo, featuring the 17 ½ – 10 ½ winning scoreline at Le Golf National.
Jim Furyk’s concession to the Europeans was strangely familiar to many that were at the last, infamous press conference for a losing USA Ryder Cup team four years ago at Gleneagles…but Phil Mickelson was strictly on-message this time.
The “greatest US team ever assembled” – proclaimed by the Golf Channel’s Brandell Chamblee to general agreement from the US golf media – has been roundly humbled at Le Golf National.
Riding the passion of the perennial Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter beating the World No 1 and the new star Jon Rahm taking down the greatest of them all, Thomas Bjorn’s Europe withstood a mid-afternoon wobble to reclaim the Ryder Cup amid ecstatic scenes at Le Golf National.
Europe rallied from a morning full of misfortune to record their first session whitewash since 1989 and end the first day of the 42nd Ryder Cup with all the momentum and a 5-3 lead.
Ian Poulter was in the stands at the first tee as his team-mates started the first session with him on the bench, but after enjoying the fan atmosphere he was in the thick of it in the afternoon comeback.
The USA came out ahead of a topsy-turvy morning fourballs session with an unlikely 3-1 lead as the Ryder Cup got underway in front of huge crowds at Le Golf National in Paris.
No-one on the US team has more experience of Le Golf National or European golf than Brooks Koepka, and he’s got some scores to settle this week.
The first session at a Ryder Cup is rarely pivotal – only last time, when the US swept a foursomes session 4-0, and the rout of 2004, when the US managed just half a point in fourballs, could they be regarded as being the writing on the wall.
Golf is supposed (still) to be a pretty elitist sport, and golf in France is apparently more elitist than anywhere else.