Two years may have passed since the Oakland Hills Ryder Cup in Michigan but very little changed in terms of the outcome at this year’s event at the K Club, County Kildare, Ireland.

Team USA arrived in Ireland convinced that they had put the issues of team unity (or lack thereof) to bed for good. Tom Lehman felt he had assembled a solid unit well prepared to take the 36th Ryder Cup trophy back home and in the process prevent Team Europe recording their first ever hat-trick of victories.

However more embarrassment was on the way for the American team as they put up little resistance on their way to a record-tying defeat at the hands of Ian Woosnam’s European heroes.

The similarities to Europe’s victory in Michigan cannot be ignored. First, the score line was an exact replica of the 2004 tally: 18 ½ - 9 ½. Second, Team America were again packed full of stars (they entered the tournament boasting the top-three players in the world rankings) but again seemed to lack the chemistry required to succeed in a high pressure team tournament such as the Ryder Cup.

No-one can question the individual talent members of the American team possess but again questions will be asked why they cannot transfer their individual form and success to a team environment.

The Ryder Cup form of the great Tiger Woods was once again the hottest topic following America’s latest failure. It does have to be noted that Tiger doesn’t appear to bring his ‘A’ game to the most prestigious team tournament, but to look towards Woods’ form as the major factor in this latest loss would be foolish, especially if you look at what he brought to the team this year.

Tiger was the leading point’s scorer for his team at the K Club, accounting for nearly a third of his team’s points. Some sceptics may point out that the reason behind this is that Tiger played in the maximum number of matches. However, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Stuart Cink also played the maximum five matches available. Their totals? Furyk amassed 2 points, Cink, 2 ½ and as for World No 3 Mickelson……four losses and one tie accrued miserable total of ½!

Nobody would make the claim that Woods was at the peak of his powers, but only Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia scored more individual points for Europe with four each.

The major difference between the sides is that everybody contributed and seemed to genuinely pull for one another on Team Europe. Four other players amassed three points each and nobody on the whole team failed to score at least a ½ point.
Even Tiger’s decent point total was something of a disappointment, considering his exceptional play both before and since the Ryder Cup. Tiger has won six consecutive PGA tour events (most recently the American Express championship by a massive eight shot margin!) and is closing in on the late Byron Nelson’s record of 11 straight victories on the PGA tour.