Golf Update: Ryder Cup 2010- Americans show team spirit after their defeat
Where the Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell is basking in the glory for the Europeans, the American Hunter Mahan is really taking the defeat to heart. Even though the US Media has shown support for Mahan, he still felt horrible about letting the Irishman
take back the Cup that the Americans won in 2008.
Hunter asked for the anchor position, however he couldn’t play as well as he thought he would. The poor fellow couldn’t withstand so much pressure on the par-3 17th hole. Being two down and requiring winning the hole in order to take the game
further, things didn’t quite go as Mahan had planned. This move consequently led him to defeat and meant victory for the Europeans.
After the match, as Hunter was put on the spot during the press conference, he broke down into tears. First praising McDowell’s skills and how well he plays, his emotions climaxed at the time when Hunter said that Graeme beat him.
It’s a good thing that America’s media isn’t making fun of Hunter. The New York times quoted it as a chance for the American
team ‘to show that they can form bonds that are as powerful as those attributed to the Europeans.’
This was clearly highlighting the part when Phil Mickelson and other team members were consoling Hunter and not letting him be denigrated for his loss to McDowell.
Not only did the players alleviate Mahan’s embarrassment, they jumped in to rescue when Hunter was being questioned about the game and couldn’t control his emotions. For example, Stewart Cink interrupted in a question and said
"Hunter Mahan put himself into that position out there. He was a man in our eyes to put himself in that position, all right.”
Commenting on his teammate’s performance, Cink really praised the courage shown by Hunter Mahan. He said that not many would like to be the last player in singles match, since that spot is very pressure-filled. He said that Mahan was brave enough to do that
and in his eyes, he performed as a Champ out there.
The way the American team behaved made it very evident that they didn’t want anyone pointing fingers at one person. Which is true, the blame of their defeat isn’t solely on Hunter. Mickelson and Dustin Johnson were right to save Hunter during the press
conferences since they only played well in the singles.
“When I didn’t win any of my first three points, I felt more disappointment than I’ve ever felt. I let some of these opportunities slide,” said Mickelson.
Rickie Fowler played well on Monday and got half a point in the singles match against Edoardo Molinari. Nothing really explains Fowler poor judgement in the foursomes when he was paired with Jim Furyk. During the foursomes, Rickie played the ball he took
out instead of going for Jim’s tee shot that was in the mud. He was forced to concede the hole in a match which was ultimately halved.
Stewart Cink three-putted for a par on the 15th hole but missed the birdie putt on Monday and allowed Rory McIlroy to take half a point for Europe. Another player who didn’t play up to the mark was the FedEx Cup winner Jim Furyk, who only secured
half a point for America from three matches.
There were only a few players who really shined in the US team and surprisingly Tiger Woods was one of them. Tiger Woods unearthed his fantastic game again in this Ryder Cup after not such a great season. Woods really showed everyone that he’s still world
number one by carding seven birdies and one eagle to win over Francesco Molinari. Tiger argued that all his teammates are ‘unbelievable fighters’ and that they all tried their best.
By the looks of it, it does seem like the team had a lot of ‘team spirit’. It is fair to say that they would have won together and now they lost together as well.
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