Ryder Cups are won and lost as a team. But teams are composed of individuals. How did those individuals perform this week? In keeping with GOLF.com tradition, it’s time to issue a report card for all 24 competitors at Bethpage Black. And because captains, fans and the venue also played a part in the competition, we’re assigning grades for them, too.
Team USA
Sam Burns, 1 point (0-1-2) Grade: D
Burns appeared in two matches over the first two days and on both occasions was the worst player by strokes gained. The half point he earned in four-ball came largely on the strength of his four-ball partner, Patrick Cantlay. To cap it off, holding down the anchor match in Sunday singles, Burns three-putted the 18th hole for bogey, handing Robert Macintyre a tie that pushed the European team total to 15. That half-point boost was particularly important, as it left no room to question whether Europe would have won the Cup outright without the automatic half-point it earned when Viktor Hovland had to pull out with an injury.
Patrick Cantlay, 1.5 points (1-3-1) Grade: B-
On the plus side, Cantlay was Patty Ice in stretches, winning the lone American point (with Xander Schauffele) on Friday morning and keeping his cool on the first two afternoons while partnered with an underperforming Burns. But in Saturday’s four-ball session, he muffed a wedge into a bunker on 18, all but guaranteeing a 1-up win for Tyrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick. And then on Sunday, when Team USA came tantalizingly close to an historic comeback, he was the only American player to lose his match.
Bryson DeChambeau, 1.5 points (1-3-1) Grade: B
Ryder Cup results can be deceptive. A case in point is DeChambeau, who played better than his record reflects, having run into buzzsaws in several matches, most notably on Saturday afternoon, when he and Scottie Scheffler were mowed down by Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood. Though he tugged some irons and pulled some putts, he was dead-on in his dedication to the cause, an emotional team leader whose comeback from 5 down on Sunday to draw even with Fitzpatrick showed a ton of heart.
Harris English 0.5 points (0-2-1) Grade: D-
English played in just two matches, losing both. Neither was especially close. Was he set up to fail by being paired with Collin Morikawa in foursomes in a marriage that the stats suggested was doomed from the start? Maybe. But by any metric, English’s performance was lackluster enough that his captain put him out last on Sunday, knowing that he’d likely be up against the injured Hovland. Here’s another way to think of it. The only half point English earned was when he didn’t play.
Ben Griffin, 1 point (1-1-0) Grade: B
How do you grade a guy who didn’t get a chance to take the full exam? Having sat out all day Saturday, Griffin had played just once (and lost) heading into singles, and given how far down he was in the lineup, it looked like his match on Sunday wouldn’t matter much at all. Then Team USA mustered a comeback. The pressure mounted. And Griffin held his nerve over Rasmus Højgaard. Not Europe’s alpha, but you can only beat the guy they put up against you, and Griffin did. Makes you wonder what might have happened if he’d been assigned more tests this week.
Russell Henley, 0.5 points (0-2-1) Grade: D
Henley doesn’t bear all the blame for his two foursomes losses with partner, Scottie Scheffler. But he also didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. Sunday brought a dose of redemption, as he reeled off eight birdies, the most of any player, and held a 1-up lead heading into the last. Which is when it happened. The lasting memory of Henley in his singles match will be the putt he left short, and in the jaws, on the 18th hole — a putt that would have put away his opponent. Instead, Henley left the door ajar for Shane Lowry, who plowed through it with a birdie, earning the half point that ensured the Europeans would retain the Cup.
Collin Morikawa, 0.5 points (0-2-1) Grade: D
Two drubbings in foursomes, and a tie in Sunday singles when things had heated up and Team USA needed outright wins. No matter how you slice it, Morikawa was a clunker of a captain’s pick.
Xander Schauffele, 3 points (3-1-0) Grade: B
If DeChambeau’s record was worse than his actual performance, Schauffele’s was the other way around. As it was for much of his injury-interrupted season, Schauffele’s play wasn’t up to his lofty standards, and in two of his wins, he leaned heavily on his partners (Cantlay and J.J. Spaun). Still, he wound up on the right side of three matches, including a Sunday victory over Jon Rahm. That’s three points, tied with Cameron Young for the most by an American.
Scottie Scheffler, 1 point (1-4-0) Grade: D-
Though his Ryder Cup ended on an upswing with a big win over Rory McIlroy in singles, Scheffler looked out of sorts for much of the week and seemed perpetually perplexed by Bethpage’s greens. The Americans needed 14.5 points to reclaim the Cup; Scheffler alone could not have carried them to victory. But they needed their best player to contribute more.
J.J. Spaun, 2 points (2-1-0) Grade: A-
Calm, cool and collected, the breakout star of the PGA Tour season was the second best player for Team USA, after Cameron Young.
Justin Thomas, 2 points (2-2-0) Grade: B
True to brand, Thomas excelled at fan engagement. But over the first two days, the team needed more from the Ryder Cup veteran and captain’s pick. To be specific, more of what he showed on Sunday, when he overcame a balky driver to hand Tommy Fleetwood his first loss of the week in a match punctuated by a clutch putt on 18 that was also true to Thomas’s reputation.
Cameron Young, 3 points (3-1-0) Grade: A
A native New Yorker who cut his teeth at Bethpage Black and dreamed of being part of this occasion as a kid, Young could have crumbled under the weight of expectation. Instead, he put in a team MVP performance, punctuated by an epic putt on 18 to win his match and ignite a fiery U.S. comeback.
Europeans
Ludvig Åberg, 2 points (2-2-0) Grade: B
The big Swede lost more than he won on Thursday and Friday. But he gets high marks for his performance on Sunday, when he put up the lone dot of blue on a scoreboard bleeding red with a win over Cantlay.
Matt Fitzpatrick, 2.5 points (2-1-1) Grade: A-
Solid to spectacular in the partner sessions, Fitzpatrick remained a rock on Sunday while battling one of Team USA’s big guns, Bryson DeChambeau, to a tie. Yes, DeChambeau’s comeback from 5-down was impressive, but that didn’t happen because Fitzpatrick blinked. The upshot of the Englishman’s gutty performance was a half-point for the Europeans on a day when every table scrap was precious.
Tommy Fleetwood, 4 points (4-1-0) Grade: A
Deadly from tee to green and with the putter, too, Fleetwood was relentless, an assassin of such amiable demeanor that even some New Yorkers seemed hesitant to heckle him. Only a run of birdies by Justin Thomas, capped by a cold-blooded putt on 18, kept Fleetwood from an unbeaten record in what was an otherwise perfect week.
Tyrell Hatton, 3.5 points (3-0-1) Grade: A-
Known for self-loathing eruptions on the course, Hatton showed none of that this week. And no wonder. He was nearly flawless, the only mild hiccup coming on some short putts down the stretch in Sunday singles against Collin Morikawa, which ended in a tie.
Rasmus Højgaard, 0 points (0-2-0) Grade: C-
Like the children of Lake Wobegon, nearly all the Europeans were above average this week. The only subpar showing came from Højgaard, who didn’t get much in the way of opportunities but also made nothing of them when he did.
Viktor Hovland, 1.5 points (1-1-1) Grade: B-
Like English, Hovland’s record comes with an asterisk as he was scratched from Sunday singles with a neck injury. When all was said and done, he wound up with one win, won loss and one “envelope rule” tie—which is neither spectacular nor terrible and, given the circumstances, should probably be graded pass/fail anyway.
Shane Lowry, 2 points (1-0-2), Grade: A
Though he competed in just three matches, Lowry appeared to be everywhere, not just bagging birdies (and one chest-thumping eagle) but backing up his buddy, Rory McIlroy, in the face of relentless verbal abuse. Lowry has said that the Ryder Cup is “why I get up in the morning.” He can sleep easy knowing that he lived up to the moment with an epic birdie on 18 that supplied his team with the half point it needed to retain the Cup.
Robert McIntyre, 1.5 points (1-1-1) Grade: B
Neither a standout nor a bust, McIntyre was like a reliable role player in the NBA, coming off the bench to score a modest allotment of points.
Rory McIlroy, 3.5 points (3-1-1) Grade: A
McIlroy was a lightning rod for fan abuse all week, but even his detractors can’t deny he was electric. Never mind his Sunday loss to Scheffler, when both players seemed spent, Rory set the pace for Europe’s early romp, partnering successfully with both Fleetwood and Lowry while weathering sophomoric slings and arrows from fans classless enough to continue taunting as he was getting ready to hit. McIlroy has long made plain how much the Ryder Cup means to him, and how significant winning on foreign soil would be. He even went so far as to predict a victory. His cocky forecast no doubt rankled some. But that’s what the greats do. They talk a big game and they back it up.
Jon Rahm, 3 points (3-2-0) Grade: B+
Over the first two days, Rahm was up to his usual tricks, bowling over opponents with a combo of power and panache. Seemingly running out of steam, he lost his last two matches — a mark against him — but by then, the damage to the U.S. had been done . . . much of it by Rahm himself.
Justin Rose, 2 points (2-1-0) Grade: A-
Old reliable. At 45, and the longest-tooth competitor on either team, the unflappable Rose was spectacular when it mattered most, striking clutch putts and dead-eye irons, often in response to U.S. fireworks. His performance in Saturday four-ball against the marquee pairing of Scheffler and DeChambeau (six birdies in the first eight holes) was one for the ages. Perhaps it’s only fitting that a guy named Young handed him his one loss of the week.
Sepp Straka, 1 point (1-2-0) Grade: C
Straka wasn’t awful, but we’re grading on a curve in a class filled with A students, and measured by strokes-gained, he was the second-worst of the Europeans for the first two days. On Sunday, he came out hot but cooled off by the turn and wound up falling to J.J. Spaun.
The Captains
Keegan Bradley, Grade: C
Bradley poured his heart into this, but you don’t get A’s for effort. Give him credit for his energy and positivity — and for rallying his troops for a Sunday run — but some of his decisions will be picked apart for years to come, from the benign course setup to his stubborn insistence on sticking with pairings that showed no signs of life. Perversely, Bradley’s widely praised and selfless decision — opting not to put himself in the lineup — may wind up being recast in hindsight as a move that actually hurt the team.
Luke Donald, Grade: A
If he made any wrong moves, he hid them well. In his second consecutive turn as captain, Donald was a picture of poise and certitude, the outgrowths of confidence and painstaking preparation. At this point, he’s become like the brainiac in class you want to hate for getting everything right, except you can’t because he’s just too pleasant and respectful.
The Fans
Grade: D-
If you’re going to be loud and abusive, at least be creative, and pipe down when the guy steps up to the ball. It isn’t difficult to be an ardent fan without acting moronic. Too many at Bethpage failed to find that easy balance this week.
The Venue
Grade: B-
Bethpage Black is a beauty. It can also be a beast. But this week it was defanged, stripped of rough to 1) theoretically give the U.S. a competitive advantage while 2) producing excitement-sparking birdies. But birdies aren’t what make match-play exciting; pressure-packed moments are what make it so, which has nothing to do with scores relative to par. On a neutered course, the competition became more bomb-and-gouge than artful struggle, and less compelling than it could have been.
